What type of pickups are this?

[cenizasblancas]

I have had the magnets made 58mmx10mmx5mm in all alnico grades/ceramic and rubber and also with holes for pole screws and allthough the rubber ones are fairly powerful I still dismiss them as not sounding like Dearmonds.

Why the rubber magnets are more powerfull? what diferences are between the other magnets? are they the same?

[jonson]

Why the rubber magnets are more powerfull? what diferences are between the other magnets? are they the same?

I didn't say the rubber magnets were more powerful I said they were powerful. They just don't sound as good to me as alnico or ceramic.

[nekodensha]

Andrew, I presume you mean the de Armonds, not the Teisco variety?
The material in Jonson's photo actually looks deceptively like a fabric or very closely woven fine wire mesh of some kind, though I can't imagine wire mesh doing wonders for the pickup's sound.

I have some Ric toaster shells and I need to cover their open slots to hide my primitive bobbins, hence my interest in what the 'gold foil material' actually is. I've been using carbon fiber strips fixed with copper foil at the margins to do that job; it beats the stock black plastic, but only just. It doesn't look anywhere near as nice as the De Armond "foil".
Anyway, maybe I'll just stick to what I'm doing now (pardon the pun) or epoxy some forbon or nickel silver sheet there instead. Using delicate materials is not a good idea for me.

[David Schwab]

The material in Jonson's photo actually looks deceptively like a fabric or very closely woven fine wire mesh of some kind, though I can't imagine wire mesh doing wonders for the pickup's sound.

It's just embossed, and very thin. Wire mesh wouldn't affect the tone as much as a solid cover.

[the great waldo]

Hi Nekodensha

Something like this is what you´re looking for. A4 Card Embossed Foil Droplets Gold 190g/CLEARANCE x2 | eBay

Cheers

Andrew

Andrew, I presume you mean the de Armonds, not the Teisco variety?
The material in Jonson's photo actually looks deceptively like a fabric or very closely woven fine wire mesh of some kind, though I can't imagine wire mesh doing wonders for the pickup's sound.

I have some Ric toaster shells and I need to cover their open slots to hide my primitive bobbins, hence my interest in what the 'gold foil material' actually is. I've been using carbon fiber strips fixed with copper foil at the margins to do that job; it beats the stock black plastic, but only just. It doesn't look anywhere near as nice as the De Armond "foil".
Anyway, maybe I'll just stick to what I'm doing now (pardon the pun) or epoxy some forbon or nickel silver sheet there instead. Using delicate materials is not a good idea for me.

[nekodensha]

Thanks Andrew. Good to know the type of card that's suitable- it may be the option that ends up being used, so I appreciate it.
I've actually been busy chasing up fine wire mesh suppliers- I like the possibility of using something relatively durable (and thin) that will give a fairly similar look.

At least one Chinese manufacturer makes fine wire mesh in nickel silver and aluminium, though it's far easier to find the stuff in brass, copper and stainless, which I suspect may not be so trebley useful.

[David Schwab]

Thanks Andrew. Good to know the type of card that's suitable- it may be the option that ends up being used, so I appreciate it.
I've actually been busy chasing up fine wire mesh suppliers- I like the possibility of using something relatively durable (and thin) that will give a fairly similar look.

At least one Chinese manufacturer makes fine wire mesh in nickel silver and aluminium, though it's far easier to find the stuff in brass, copper and stainless, which I suspect may not be so trebley useful.

Stainless is good is it's not magnetic. EMG used to use fine brass screening for shielding. I've used it and It doesn't affect the tone from what I can tell. Nickel silver would be good, but I wouldn't use aluminum.

[jonson]

That's just an inch wide embossed fabric. Local hobby shop has reels of different types and widths in the card making section. I looked all over the place, like foils from the top of butter packs and coffee jars to gold and silver xmas wrappings and found some very fine ali mesh localy. It didn't alter the pickups qualities but didn't look right so just went for something near and pleasing. If you can salvage the origional stuff when repairing an old Dearmond then good but on a new one go with what you like. As Cenizasblancas said at the start of this thread that he liked the sounds and it's not a vintage Paf or Fender that the great unwashed want to have looking like a real bugger.

[nekodensha]

David, thanks for the materials advice. Nickel silver would also be my preference, but I have a little fine brass mesh to hand so I'll probably try that to start with.

Jonson, sadly no De Armonds here. I'm only really limited by what suits the look of the guitar, so long as it's less than 1/2 a millimetre thick and a pick won't scuff it too easily.

[cenizasblancas]

As Cenizasblancas said at the start of this thread that he liked the sounds and it's not a vintage Paf or Fender that the great unwashed want to have looking like a real bugger.

It´s true Jonson, for my, the more important thing is the sound, Soon i´m going to build this pickup with the magnets dimension you write about, Shea from Magnets Hold, told my that he can make other type of magnet dimensions, so i´m going to buy from him.

[jason lollar]

The only time I have seen alnico in those is the solid cover stratotone pickups. I dont know how many of the pierced cover dearmond rowe pickups I have taken apart- 50, maybe 70? All rubberised magnets so far, johnson you got lucky to find alnico. i have repaired so many of those I got sick of them and wont do them any more It is embossed paper like a mailing lable- arvey makes something similar or use to. I have seen some diamond pattern peircing ones that used a thin black plastic underlay

[Sweetfinger]

The majority that I have disassembled have actually been Alnico magnets... but the ones I've looked inside the most have been the "hershey bar" style, which I've only seen with Alnico. Any of them with adjustable poles are certainly rubber. The ones with the raised "pebble grained" bar are Alnico. I've never seen ceramic. There are lots of Japan made pickups that look kind of like Dearmonds that have ceramic bars.
The gold or silver foil is just embossed paper like others have pointed out. The "toaster" looking ones have a thin sheet of black plastic. If someone really wanted to make these pop you could use thin celluloid or any plastic material like sparkle, pearloid, or a diffraction drum covering material like the rare and groovy looking Silvertones with the colored insert that matches the guitar color instead of the foil. If not, 'tis the season. Cut up a greeting card!
A nifty modern option would be to have your insert pattern/design photo-etched on a thin metal sheet which could then be coated or plated. There's a place just down the road that does that sort of thing.

[nekodensha]

And to think, after all these truly excellent ideas... I wandered out into the shed to find my brass mesh (which of course had vanished due to being a required component) and found a piece of really thin non-magnetic stainless. I wanted a tweedy retro looking pickup, but I've ended up with something that looks like a PAF that's spent time in a blast furnace.

Sweetfinger I'll probably end up going for something a bit more spartan here, but I'd like nothing better than to give the full sparkle/pearloid/etched-metal Teisco treatment to a non-Teisco guitar some day. (Especially a bland modern Strat or LP clone). In which case, rest assured that all of your suggestions, plus all the previous ones suggested in this thread, an extra pickup or two, and way too many rocker switches will be used.

I might even sneak in some of my mother-in-law's Christmas card, once the trauma of spending Christmas holidays with the in-laws has faded enough. It's hard to overdo anything with that type of guitar.