pickup construction

[truetone]

how do some of you guys put your pickups together, like putting the magnets through the bobbins and spacing them right.

[madialex]

Hi

Wow I like the name.......
Here ya go www.truetonetechnologies.com thats me

[truetone]

I'm actually TrueToneGuitars, I make replica vintage fender guitars. I would say relics, but I do alot more than relicing. I wind my own pickups, contour the bodies and necks like they did in the old days with rasps, I even cast my own pickup covers and knobs from original pre cbs parts(my personal guitar). I'll be setting up a new site in the next couple months.

[madialex]

I'm actually TrueToneGuitars, I make replica vintage fender guitars. I would say relics, but I do alot more than relicing. I wind my own pickups, contour the bodies and necks like they did in the old days with rasps, I even cast my own pickup covers and knobs from original pre cbs parts(my personal guitar). I'll be setting up a new site in the next couple months.

Cool, would love to see some of your guitars. Please post the link when you get it up and running. Peace

[madialex]

Get Jason Lollars book

If you can find a copy, it has all the specs you need for most pickups in it. I had a copy but sadly it is gone. I have seen some on ebay for outrageous amounts of money.

[truetone]

actually I have it, I contacted a guy from another forum and he gave me a copy of it for free!!! I also bought that new book thats been floating around this forum...the jason lollar book was more informative.

I'll send the link when its up, I'm in the process of making four guitars right now. I'll post pics when I get somthing done

[David Schwab]

but I do alot more than relicing.

I'm not picking on you... because you surly aren't the only person who says "relicing" ... but it's not a word! "Antiquing" or "aging" might be a better choice. Also a "relic" is an obsolete or outmoded object from the past. An Ondes-Martenot, lute or sackbut would be a relic, but not a Strat!

I propose an indefinite moratorium on that word!

...contour the bodies and necks like they did in the old days with rasps

Who did that in the old days? Fender? I really doubt it. Leo was a machinist, and he designed, built, and used machines to shape the bodies and necks. Probably also used things like pin routers and stroke sanders. This is why they are "slab" bodies with the edges rounded over with a router. They are easy to machine that way. Same true for using bolt on necks, and integrated fingerboards. The Fender neck is a real thing of beauty from a manufacturing viewpoint.

Having said that, hand carved necks are wonderful... tricky to get two exactly alike though. Do you really want to put all that effort into making copies of Fenders?

[truetone]

Don't worry, I wouldn't mind if you pick on me...probably deserve it

I state relicing only because it a referable word, I make copys of the original guitars, when time was spent making the guitars because there wasn't the ablility of the mass production like today.

Alot more is spent into the finishing to get the right degree of thickness and prefect tone. The neck are what I mainly spend most time carving.

I've spent alot of time in guitar stores, small shops with the originals and the large stores with all the options you could wish for. I see alot of people making replicas and they just don't measure up, I went to my local GC and played the custom shop "relic" and they feel manufactured.

I've done this for the last 5 years just for fun on the side as a hobby and I enjoy it so much I'm going to try to do it full time. I have alot of original ideas and my guitars are more TrueToneGutiars rather than copies of Fender guitars.

you'll have to check them out and make you own desicion,

[David Schwab]

Oh I agree with you... I don't think the custom shop guitars are anything to write home about. They just go down the hall to the rack of "regular" parts...

My whole thing about not making copies is most people will think you just got some parts and bolted it together (and usually that turns out better than a factory guitar!).

I wanted to make myself a Tele some 10 years ago, and my buddy I was building guitars with pointed out that no one would be able to tell I didn't just bye some parts... so I decided to expand on the idea, and made a set neck, carved maple top Tele with a thick (like a Les Paul) swamp ash body, and three pickups.

By all means a hand made Strat will be better than a factory made one, but think of the cool things you can so once you get away from that somewhat limited design.

[Spence]

Leo fender was not a machinist. I sometimes wonder where you get that idea from Dave. Look, he was an amatuer radio guy, tried his hand at law and had a stint in the navy. He certainly was keen to speed up his operations with pin routers and the like and was quite inventive with guitar-related machinery.

In answer to Truetone's question:
I'm a little suprised that you need to ask questions like that when you're already winding your own pickups.

Shaping contours with a rasp is a perfectly acceptable way of working. I can't see any problem with that.

Relicing may not be a word in the Oxford English Dictionary but it could easily find it's way in soon.

[NightWinder]

Not to mention you have a Illegal copy of Jason's book. Thats not very nice. Some frown on that. By what ever means, welcome to tha forum

[WolfeMacleod]

Wow I like the name.......
Here ya go www.truetonetechnologies.com thats me

I'm actually TrueToneGuitars,

And the funny thing is? "True Tone" has already existed for years, and were manufactured by Kay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Sears-Truetone-S...QQcmdZViewItem

You can get into some pretty hot water by riding on someone else's old reputation and name.

And:

Word Mark TRUETONE
Goods and Services IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: audio equipment for vehicles, namely stereos, speakers, amplifiers, equalizers, crossovers and speaker housings; personal stereos; stereo amplifiers; stereo receivers; stereo tuners; CD players; MP3 players; devices for wireless radio transmission; portable radios; radio receivers; radio sets; radios; radios for vehicles; electronic sound pickup for guitars and basses; guitar amplifiers; guitar effects processors; electron tubes; vacuum tubes
Standard Characters Claimed
Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Design Search Code
Serial Number 78661622
Filing Date June 30, 2005
Current Filing Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Published for Opposition April 11, 2006
Owner (APPLICANT) Visual Sound LLC LTD LIAB CO TENNESSEE 4922 Port Royal Road, B-11 Spring Hill TENNESSEE 37174
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE

[JGundry]

Visual Sound has basically staked a claim on an already existing Trademark that is no longer in use by Sears. If a Trademark is not enforced then the Trademark holder loses Trademark protection. So if you can find another Truetone that makes a product that is on their list and can prove that Truetone has not pursued them as a violator then the Trademark protection is lost. They don't even have guitar making on the list so I don't think you have a problem anyway. If you were operating under the name Truetone before June 30, 2005 then if anyone has a problem it is Visual Sound. Just because they staked a claim to the name Truetone they have no claim on the name if it was already in use by you before they filed for the Trademark. Trademark does not offer much protection. Being able to prove when the name was in use by you and having an original copyrighted logo offers more protection.

[NightWinder]

does'nt it have to be in the same classification? Under a s corporation , etc something very similar to the product.. Cars and guitar pickups are not nessisarily in the same classification. Ie' Truetone Female condoms, True tone electric guitar pickups, totally different.....or are they?
LOL, Wolfe....Layin it down...LOL Ah shit!!

[truetone]

Well I looked it up in the tradmarked names and it was available, I actually got it from another forum from a post where it was just use to describe the tone...a "True Tone". As for the lollar book, its out of print and I didnt pay anything for it... I just started winding my own pickups so thats why I asked.