1.94" steel spacers (screw keepers)

[Lpone]

"Yep... When I first got started doing 'buckers, I wrote Big_Tee and said "hey wtf, over??" He found my innocent dismay entertaining..."
Yep I said and or thought a few swear words myself!

[Corona Blue]

UPDATE:

Just a couple of pics to freshen up the thread.

I snapped these pics over a month ago and meant to post them. Out of curiosity I dissected an old Japanese PAF clone taken out of my first electric guitar, a bolt-neck SG "Kopy Kat" from 1975. This was the bridge pickup, DCR 7.6K. Nice, bright, clear sounding PAF clone (I replaced it in '78 with the then popular Dimarzio Super Distortion). The Japanese PAF isn't all that rich or complex sounding, but it's not bad sounding. I later ran it as a neck pickup in one of my Paul's and it kinda found a home there for a long while. Anyway, this pic really illustrates the point of our thread... take a good look at the keeper where it meets the underside of the bobbin... notice the gap? The magnet bar measured .125" in height... To be honest, the pickup never had a feedback problem while in the neck, but in the bridge it tended to be an issue.






And here is the Japanese keeper along with our previous three...





Thought this would be of interest to some of you.

Best,

CB

[RedHouse]

Not to mention the nice plywood spacers, the "correctness" mojo peddlers (not MMS) would have a field day with a pickup like that.

[big_teee]

Not to mention the nice plywood spacers, the "correctness" mojo peddlers (not MMS) would have a field day with a pickup like that.

I'm pretty sure if You started UnTaping Everybody's Humbuckers there is no telling what all you would UnCover and Find!
Hi Brad!
Terry
Edit Note*
Mine Included!

[RedHouse]

I'm pretty sure if You started UnTaping Everybody's Humbuckers there is no telling what all you would UnCover and Find!
Hi Brad!
Terry
Edit Note*
Mine Included!

AFAIK, usually everyone uses either plastic or wood, some splash-out on maple but most use those 1/8" (bar-stock) wood pieces from Michaels/BenFranklin/JoAnnes and other arts-n-crafts sources. I'm ok with plastic as it makes zero difference to the tone of a pickup what the spacer is made of.
(unless it brings in some microphonics)

Back in the 70's we got some real surprises from Japan, they were using all kinds of weirdness inside those old Teisco pickups.

Hi back at'cha Terry.

[Jim Shine]

I'm pretty sure if You started UnTaping Everybody's Humbuckers there is no telling what all you would UnCover and Find!

I have an older humbucker I had to put new leads on. Inside I discovered Seymour Duncan signed the magnet.

[Jim Shine]

I went to order some of these keepers from Mojo and they are out of stock! I don't see the right size available at Allparts. Any other sources?

[freefrog]

I found out about this stuff after reading Dave Stephens' posts about alloys and also having the experience of buying a handwound humbucker that sounded harsh until I exchanged the mojo keeper, screws and slugs to those of an old Seymour Duncan - much better, creamier tone. That made me a believer about the metals.

PS I like Mojo screws and slugs, definitely not the keepers. All the ones I had were thrown in the trash!

I resurrect this thread to confirm that the Mojotone keeper bar shown above tends to generate a harsh tone with hand wound coils. I'll try the same keepers with machine wound coils and I'll post my feelings about it.

Footnote: is the kind of keeper bars shown below really vintage correct, as stated by the brand who uses them ? Until now, I've never seen a vintage Gibson keeper with large beveled holes...


http://www.kleinpickups.com/images/S...eper%20Web.jpg

[copperheadroads]

I can't see the image now but I have seen it before & it may not be exactly vintage correct but it is done when you clean up the hole in the keeper .
When drilling the holes in the keeper ,when the drill bit exits the other side of the keeper bar it creates sharp edge/exit wound sort of speak . & using a larger drill bit to clean up the hole takes care of this & can create the little bevel like in the pic

[freefrog]

I can't see the image now but I have seen it before & it may not be exactly vintage correct but it is done when you clean up the hole in the keeper .
When drilling the holes in the keeper ,when the drill bit exits the other side of the keeper bar it creates sharp edge/exit wound sort of speak . & using a larger drill bit to clean up the hole takes care of this & can create the little bevel like in the pic

Thx for the info! :-)

[JGundry]

The bevel is not vintage correct. You need a hardened steel fixture to hold the bar to be drilled to avoid a big burr. Any burr in the keeper with this method is easily removed with a file.

[freefrog]

The bevel is not vintage correct.

Thx to confirm that. :-)

The pic has been deleted. Maybe the maker had posted a generic pic, ignoring that an idiot like me would scrutinize and question such details... :-))

[David Schwab]

AFAIK, usually everyone uses either plastic or wood, some splash-out on maple but most use those 1/8" (bar-stock) wood pieces from Michaels/BenFranklin/JoAnnes and other arts-n-crafts sources. I'm ok with plastic as it makes zero difference to the tone of a pickup what the spacer is made of.
(unless it brings in some microphonics)

Back in the 70's we got some real surprises from Japan, they were using all kinds of weirdness inside those old Teisco pickups.

Hi back at'cha Terry.

Yeah, what the spacer is made from makes no difference at all. The old patent label pickups I had used mahogany because they had lots of scraps of mahogany at Gibson!

Plywood is actually more stable. I'm sure the plywood in the pickup above were scraps from plywood guitars. Also those spacers are taller than needed.

If you really want to take the baseplate out of the equation as far as feedback, etc., use a non metal baseplate. Mojo sells those fiber ones. I have been using them lately.