Valco pickups

[EFK]

Anyone have any details on the Valco single coils that look like big humbuckers? I've been searching and while there are some good photos to be found and some discussion, there aren't many construction details published. For example: bobbin size and wire gauge? The bobbin's look approximately like P90 size, but are they molded or made up in pieces? I imagine the wire diameter is.. @ 43 guage? I figure it would have to be to get 9.5 - 11K on there. Also - magnet dimensions? And is there a definitive alloy that was used? Anyone with any of these details or others, I'd be very interested!

[Possum]

I used to have that info and I made a one time clone of one. They are a bitch to make, you have to make the conductor plate out of thick steel and put a perfect sharp 90 degree bend in it, most bending brakes you can buy can't handle the gauge of steel used. I found a way around the small alnico magnets they used. These are very dark sounding pickups and don't have a lot of fans out there who'd buy them. There is a company that claims they are making repro's but if you open the cover up you just find a humbucker with one coil, nothing like the originals at all. The one I made nailed it but too expensive to make time-wise and I didn't like them much to begin with. The pole screws are ones you can't buy so you have to make them yourself and most likely will be the wrong alloy, though I didn't get any analyzed from a real one. I don't think anyone would care about them except Jack White (?) from the Whites Stripes band used one, I suppose with the right amp or pedal they could be cool for some.....

[David Schwab]

Here's a thread on them:

http://music-electronics-forum.com/t1271/

[jbforrer]

Hi EFK,

Been building a few p/ups from scratch along the lines of those vintage VALCOs.
Instead of those skinny Alnico bar magnets, did some experimentation with hand-selected/recharged ceramic magnets and found one can get a fairly-decent tone from such a pickup using these magnets . Typical winds of ~8K coils, 2.2H inductance with #45 heavy-build poly wire. Found the output and frequency response similar to a Strat SC.

Attached a sound clip I recorded with the p/up in the neck position of my test guitar. Think you'll agree this one has no issue with mud.

Cheers.
-JBF.

[big_teee]

Hi EFK,

Been building a few p/ups from scratch along the lines of those vintage VALCOs.
Instead of those skinny Alnico bar magnets, did some experimentation with hand-selected/recharged ceramic magnets and found one can get a fairly-decent tone from such a pickup using these magnets . Typical winds of ~8K coils, 2.2H inductance with #45 heavy-build poly wire. Found the output and frequency response similar to a Strat SC.

Attached a sound clip I recorded with the p/up in the neck position of my test guitar. Think you'll agree this one has no issue with mud.

Cheers.
-JBF.

Very Nice!
What amp are you using?
Sounds like lots of Reverb, I like it!
Thanks,
Terry

[Possum]

Well if one is recreating a vintage Valco you missed the point ;-) There weren't skinny alnico's in there just two fat rectangular magnets bolted to an end plate and to the conductor plate. The end plate is a magnetic return pole, most miss that point. Using a ceramic doesn't load the circuit like alnico does, so you're making something completelly different than a Valco pickup plus the wire you're using is light years away from anything that was used. The Valco pole screws if I remember (don't have my notes in front of me) had 10-32 headless screws, you have to do that right as well. There are lots of cheapo Japanese pickups with ceramic magnets that had a similar idea to the Valco's, its not an original idea by any means, and they made plenty of pickups that looked like humbuckers but inside they weren't. The one I made I copied every design detail and on the LCR meter got near identical readings to the real Valco.

[EFK]

Thanks everyone for your input. I was hoping for info as to bobbin dimensions, wire size and insulation, magnet dimensions and gauss etc. I know they're not a popular pickup but they do a few things really well; they are FANTASTIC slide pickups and while they are darker than typical, they are great through a bright amp or a mid-scooped amp (try one with a blackface - you'll be blown away). I guess I'll try to pick one up for under $100 and dismantle it; if I can do so, I'll post some pictures and dimensions here because I'm sure there are others out there who would like to see the specs. I'm not going to throw money into metals analysis though - have to guess on that, although I suspect any of the cheap low carbon 1010-1022 series will do.

[Possum]

Thats the idea, go to the source, buy one and take it apart. You wont find a perfect match for the metals and 50's screws were way low carbon compared to anything you can buy off the shelf today. For the conductor plates, just buy regular cold rolled steel of the same gauge and you'll be ok. For the pole screws buy the right size screws and cut the heads off and then slot with a jeweler's saw or whatever works. I used two humbucker bars glued together and magnetized as a unit, it worked really well and loads the circuit as it should. Use a good micrometer to measure the wire diameter and use the closest thing you can find. The biggest bitch is to do that 90 degree bend in thick plate steel, I ended up having to hammer it down in a vice, I got it right once, but couldn't repeat it the second time ;-) You'll get pretty close. I also used an undrilled bucker cover and made it all fit on a humbucker baseplate, the dimensions aren't quite the same as the Valco but I got the same LCR meter readings as the real Valco so all the metals worked together and it sounded like a real one when I got done. Have fun.....

[Claus H]

More valco pickup stuff

Valco/Supro pickup rewind video Searcy Rebuilds a National, Supro, Valco, Guitar Pickup. - YouTube

Very cool
Claus

[Possum]

McMaster Carr sells "fish paper" which is very good for building all paper bobbins from scratch, get the heaviest grade they sell.....

[David Schwab]

Here's how the thing was made:



You can look up patent 2683388 for some details.

[Sweetfinger]

I have sent a Valco pickup and some small dreams in a box to my metal fabrication guy. We'll see if some useful things come out of a little R & D.