Fiber flatwork vs plastic bobbin.

[Alan0354]

There is a measurable difference between capacitors and resistors of different size/ construction. The question is: Is the difference big enough to be useful as an ingredient in your creation?

Jury is still out. I don't believe it, but I yet to have A/B comparison. At the moment, I tend to believe that the value of the resistors make more of a difference. I remember from experiment that changing the value change how the tube operates, the amount of harmonics ( even). Like if you look at high gain amp like Mesa, they put high value resistor in front of the grid of the next input stage and it will make the sound softer as large input signal will drive the grid into +ve and start conducting. Old Marshall don't have that and when you crank up to ten, it sound breaking up......not the good breaking up, it is like cracking!!! If you put a scope probe at the input of the stage, you'll see it all clipped and most of the harmonics disappeared and the DC shift further compound the problem. That's how I remember when I got back for a month and actually trouble shoot it. If someone change to a lower value metal film resistor and hear the breaking up, they will claim that it make it sound worst. Point is to ask why!!!

Tubes change characteristic when the bias is changed, so finding the sweet spot to me is more important. Unlike BJT that it behave so ideal it sound clinical!!!. I think that's the reason people using MOSFET as power stage because the Drain curve is more similar to the tubes.......more prone to even harmonics. BJT collector curve is just flat after the knee!!! But still, MOSFET don't have problem when driving +ve like the tubes.

[CRU JONES]

Ok. So, what you are saying is; you want to wind some pickups with us? Great! I think we all could appreciate your expert EM theories. Can I direct you to the beginners corner?

Just remember the first rule of pickup makers forum: don't talk about TPL! As long as you don't talk about TPL, you will be fine. Ok, good luck

Ethan

[Alan0354]

Ok. So, what you are saying is; you want to wind some pickups with us? Great! I think we all could appreciate your expert EM theories. Can I direct you to the beginners corner?

Just remember the first rule of pickup makers forum: don't talk about TPL! As long as you don't talk about TPL, you will be fine. Ok, good luck

Ethan

No, I have no interest in winding pups, just a question here about the plastic bobbin. I don't know what you mean about TPL, why don't you put a recording of the sound of your pup since you are the expert. I do talk about amps and I stand by my words, wonder how much do you have? I will look into borrow a cassette if anyone still have one. I am sure not ashamed of what my amp sound and my guitar playing in the 70s even if it's from a hand held recorder.

[FunkyKikuchiyo]

No, I have no interest in winding pups, just a question here about the plastic bobbin.

With all due respect, you didn't have a question so much as a rant. You pretty much blew off any explanations/answers you got and just talked about how it doesn't matter and how stupid it is to say there are any differences... any questions you asked were strictly rhetorical.

[FunkyKikuchiyo]

Just remember the first rule of pickup makers forum: don't talk about TPL! As long as you don't talk about TPL, you will be fine. Ok, good luck

I don't remember seeing this problem. I do know that many guard their TPL findings very closely and that it is hard to describe, but I wasn't aware of the rule.

I'd amend it to say: First rule of Pickup Maker's Forum: Don't talk about Pickup Makers Forum.

[David Schwab]

There's certainly no rule about talking about TPLs and it has been bright up many times.

[Mike Sulzer]

How do you explain the winding pattern make such a big difference? I don't think it work like this as this is distributed capacitance and it drown out the highs. I don't know, I just question and it has to make sense like when you talk about the larger area of coil give larger inductance, it rings the bell right away. There must be still something we have not thought of.

I do not see how a small amount of capacitance, distributed or not, can kill off a lot highs relative to a large capacitor in parallel.

A huge factor in the apparent highs in a pickup is the Q of the circuit. Different winding patterns have different resistances as well as different capacitance. Maybe it is the resistance that matters.

[Alan0354]

With all due respect, you didn't have a question so much as a rant. You pretty much blew off any explanations/answers you got and just talked about how it doesn't matter and how stupid it is to say there are any differences... any questions you asked were strictly rhetorical.

Nop, there are a few agree with the plastic bobbin don't make no difference if you read the whole posts.

[Alan0354]

What is TPLs?

[David Schwab]

What is TPLs?

Turns Per Layer.

[Alan0354]

Turns Per Layer.

Thanks

Why is this a sensitive word?

[David Schwab]

Thanks

Why is this a sensitive word?

I think that was a joke.

[Alan0354]

I think that was a joke.

Thanks, I don't know the pup maker's inside joke.

[ScottA]

If nothing else, it should be pretty obvious from browsing this (or any other gear centric) forum that much of what makes pickups specifically, and guitars in general, perform as they do is poorly understood.

I would encourage you to roll up your sleeves, do some design and experimentation, and develop your own data. Read and absorb the information that is available, but keep an open mind and a healthy level of skepticism. In my experience, much of the accumulated, phenomenological knowledge and data-base is somewhat flawed or at the very least misinterpreted.

Given the age of the technology, it really is amazing that there is still so much room for good engineering and science to be done around the electric guitar.

[Alan0354]

If nothing else, it should be pretty obvious from browsing this (or any other gear centric) forum that much of what makes pickups specifically, and guitars in general, perform as they do is poorly understood.

I would encourage you to roll up your sleeves, do some design and experimentation, and develop your own data. Read and absorb the information that is available, but keep an open mind and a healthy level of skepticism. In my experience, much of the accumulated, phenomenological knowledge and data-base is somewhat flawed or at the very least misinterpreted.

Given the age of the technology, it really is amazing that there is still so much room for good engineering and science to be done around the electric guitar.

I don't know pickup that well as the winding obvious make a difference on the sound. Also human ears are much much more sensitive than any instrument can measure, so most are judged by human ears and it's all perception.

As for the electronics like amps and effect. There is no money to attract real talent in my opinion. High caliber people can find a $100K plus job easily and they are not willing to go backwards and earn much much less. Other than big names like Marshall, Mesa, Fender and maybe Peyvey, who can even support a person at $100K+ earning with health and retirement benefit? You be lucky to get $50K if you are selling boutique amp and is slave labor. As I said before, I left this in 1978 and came back for about a month in the mid 90s. I am so surprised this is really like time in a bottle, I can just pick up where I left off. Putting a source follower using a MOSFET to lower the B+ instead of variac is one of the biggest invention since 1978!!!! I get used to environment that new technologies every year and are revolutionary, not evolutionary if you can even call that in the music field. I was not even into these music electronics until an established maker of music related field found my ideas interesting and approach me to go into business just three months ago!!! Before that, I just had my amps in the tool shed and guitar in the case or just on display collecting dust for years. If the agreement don't come through, I would drop this like a rock and go back to my pursue of higher education. Only reason I even entertaining this is because that's how I started my career and it's like coming back in full circle to end my career.

I cannot even blame on the designer in this field alone, end user is just as stubborn. Their "ideal" sound is still the ones from the 60s!!! If they use that as a standard and reject others that is different, then they are forcing the industry to stay with the old and obsolete design and blind copying.