Anyone seen one of these?

[JoshG]

A customer dropped this one off yesterday and I've been trying to research it on the interwebs but can't find anything that looks similar. Any ideas?



Nothin' but zeros on my multimeter. Upon further inspection, the ground lead (finish) was broken so I resoldered it, tested again, and no love. I began the process of carefully tearing it down and taking measurements along the way. After giving the pickup a bath in some hot wax I was able to peel off a few hundred turns, hoping to find a break...but that didn't happen. Onward!



Once I got all the old masking tape, lacquer, and glue off and smoothed everything out, I started refurbishing the pickup using the same materials.



And now it's ready for a spin.



Spun. 5010 slow and careful turns of 43pe, 5.38dcr.



Done.



I suspect at one point there was a metal cover for this and I've contacted the customer to see if he's got it- we'll see. If not, I'll help him find something so I can wax pot the whole thing and seal it up.

We've got a blizzard going on here and being able to spend a couple of hours on this pickup made for a fun afternoon. Good times, good times.

[FunkyKikuchiyo]

I seem to VAGUELY remember some German made instruments from the 70s (can't remember the name) that had pickups that looked something like that. Probably just my imagination though.

What is the wire that you peeled off? It doesn't look like PE...

[JoshG]

I'm not sure what the awg is on the old stuff but it feels finer than 43. My best guess on the insulation is formvar. Since I don't have any 44 or 43 single build formvar on hand, I went with 43pe.

[WolfeMacleod]

rewound about a million of those or something very similar. Should have had gold foil on top, sandwiched under a "toaster-top" type cover. DeArmond, Rowe....maybe a Rick.

[JoshG]

I was just hunting around a bit more and found this: 60's Kay Vanguard - NGD - Pics & sound clip.

Looks very similar. Hmm.

[JoshG]

Found it! Numbers on the bottom match up even. Nice. A Kay Foil pickup.

[big_teee]

I guess the magnet was riveted in the bobbin.
A closer look of that would have been nice, but probably couldn't see much with the rivet job.
I guess the Magnet was Ceramic?
Could you tell before you taped it up?
Later,
Terry

[JoshG]

I have other photos that show the magnet, but yeah- the rivet job makes it a bit difficult. Alnico bar, but not certain on the grade. I velcro'd it onto my archtop jazzbox and checked it out this afternoon and liked very much what I was hearing. It'd be a breeze to whip a couple of these up. I'm smitten.

[Sweetfinger]

yeah, that's one of those old Kays. I have one here that needs a rewind and I also need to fabricate three more bobbin/magnet/baseplate assemblies because I only have the covers for three more. Old Kay pickups seem to have a high mortality rate.

[JoshG]

Thanks for chiming in Sweet. You too Wolfe! I really had a blast getting this one back up and running...and I want to make a few more too. A fine sounding pickup and simple in it's design. Very responsive and funky sounding! Sweet, by any chance would you be willing to part with one of the covers? The dude I rewound this for doesn't have it and I know it would make him incredibly happy if I handed his rewound bobbin back to him in an original cover. PM if you like.

[JoshG]

Just a little update for anyone who's interested: I measured the old coil wire over multiple areas and it came up as .0015 which, according to Salvansans Coil Estimator (thanks so much for that incredibly helpful bit 'o genius!), is likely 47awg - or to factor in a bit of stretch, 46awg. Interesting!

[David King]

Josh do you have a Gauss meter? That could help determine the magnet grade (though you would have to charge it up to full capacity and then find a known bar magnet of similar dimensions etc.)

Somehow 46 AWG seems more likely, I've never head of a pickup that used 47 but either gauge would explain the higher probability of failure over time.

[JoshG]

Hi David- yes I do have a Gauss meter but due to the points you brought up (you would have to charge it up to full capacity and then find a known bar magnet of similar dimensions), plus the fact that it was a repair for someone else, I didn't go further in trying to determine the magnet grade.

Nonetheless, I learned quite a bit in attempting to repair it, the dimensional measurements I took, etc. as well as with the rewind that followed. Should I happen to find one of these pickups for myself, I'd feel totally comfortable tearing it apart completely, charging up the magnet to full strength, and finishing the task of finding out exactly what makes it do what it does. Checking eBay now!

Have you ever used 46awg on any pickups yourself? If so, what was the end result?

[Peter Naglitsch]

Thanks for sharing. Is the base plate made of ferrous material?

[JoshG]

Ferrous metal, yes. Measured thickness of .038

Metallurgy is something I'm interested in, but unfortunately I don't have the capability to perform an advanced chemical analysis of metal alloys that were used in the base.