Multiple Magnets in a Humbucker.

[RCI Guitars]

So, I was farting around on the internet today...looking at what other pickup makers do...like we do...
I was on www.bareknucklepickups.com checking them out. Its incredible that they have gotten so popular, so quickly and the are considerable more expensive then most of the builders on the market.

I was noticing one of the more popular modern humbuckers called the "Aftermath" claims to have 3 Ceramic magnets in the bridge position pickup with 15.7k resistance.
I was trying to imagine how they fit all 3 bars in there...do the stack them? Noticing the design of the pickup, it has double screw rows instead of 1 screw/1 slug and now I figure that they have one regular Ceramic bar between the humbuckers and maybe a smaller one on the outside on the of both sets of screws?

Has anyone ever done anything like this? thoughts?

[David Schwab]

now I figure that they have one regular Ceramic bar between the humbuckers and maybe a smaller one on the outside on the of both sets of screws?

Yep. Bill Lawrence used to do that with the Gibson SuperHumbuckers. The Dirty Fingers are the same way.

[big_teee]

Like David said the Dirty fingers, had a main magnet and two flanking magnets.
Gibson Dirty fingers
T

[jason lollar]

dont forget they deduct 20% for VAT if you purchase outside of great britain so thier bucker set that cost 220 pounds which is 345 dollars is reduced by 20 % which is 69 USD making a set of buckers 276 USD- its not out of line. People selling handmade pickup sets for alot less are just slitting thier own throaghts in the long run- youll never be able to have any tooling made and eventually you wont be around the next time an old customer wants to buy something again. To me the most important thing is to be availible when your customers want you which means you have to charge a realistic price and that price is usually much more than you think- I learned that lesson years ago
bare knuckles- theyve been around for almost 10 years meanwhile hundreds of small makers undercharging have come and gone. The idea of "i will undercharge everyone else untill I get famous" is usually as successful as trickle down economics
anyway the second and third bar magnets are usually ceramic and they are often 1/8" square by 2 something long- you can buy them from several suppliers

[RCI Guitars]

Mr. Lollar,
Thanks for adding to this post. I guess I was uninformed as to who BKP was and how long they have been in business...I just heard about them recently.
I was under the impression that they were a mass producer of guitar pickups like Dimarzio or Seymour Duncan...not in any way putting down any of their work.
And you are right...I found a set of BKP's on eBay for $355.00 and $177.00 a pickup is a very reasonable price for a handmade quality Guitar pickup.

I have some close friends in the industry that swear that they are the best pickups in the world...maybe I am envious that I haven't reached world domination among some groups of players....yet!!

Thanks to everyone that chimed in and gave me an education on the 3 magnet design...sounds like something I should plan of experimenting with over the winter months here in the mountains.

[copperheadroads]

I just built an high output humbucker with triple Alnico 8 magnets ,can anyone guess the the outcome compared to if I just went with the single A8?

[rjb]

I just built an high output humbucker with triple Alnico 8 magnets ,can anyone guess the the out? come compared to if I just went with the single A8

It weighed more?

[RedHouse]

Some might say they (amoungst others) have leveraged the "Pickups de jour" aspect on LPF and other forums quite sucessfully. Several makers round here do that too.

On a personal note, I had a recent customer swap-out his set of BN's for a set of my own in his LP, but that's the only experience I've had with BN's myself.

[David Schwab]

I just built an high output humbucker with triple Alnico 8 magnets ,can anyone guess the the out? come compared to if I just went with the single A8

It should be a little louder and brighter.

But the thin is that often multiple magnets are used when the pickups are wound really hot, Those pickup tend to be dark sounding, so the extra magnets helps retain the high end.

try it on a lower wind pickup and see what you get.

[ReWind]

After learning to appreciate the complexities in sound and feel of a P-90 with two different magnet types, I've been very interested in trying the same in a humbucker.

Great info all around, fellas. Thanks!

[big_teee]

After learning to appreciate the complexities in sound and feel of a P-90 with two different magnet types, I've been very interested in trying the same in a humbucker.

Great info all around, fellas. Thanks!

That is the same thing I was wondering?
If you could mix and match the magnets, and taylor the sound in a bucker.
Maybe a A2 in the middle and then small C8s on the side.
Maybe get a little more of that P90 brightness?
With that A2 Tone.
Probably Not!
T

[jason lollar]

"I have some close friends in the industry that swear that they are the best pickups in the world...maybe I am envious that I haven't reached world domination among some groups of players....yet!!" Oh you know we all get that sort of comment- best in the world- and we all get the comment - I dont like them- you cant take what people say dead seriously.
i just jumped on you a little because we are all working in this industry- I think we should avoid critisizing each other publicly particularly when its not entirely accurate, there are plenty of people out there that can do that for us. I have seen several people so eager to get a sale they say things about other makers that makes themselves look bad- a few people have been so bone headed the "civilians" turned against them and now they are thought if as cranks. thats the beauty of the internet- you can reach far more people than anyone ever imagined but you can also put your foot in your mouth

[big_teee]

"I have some close friends in the industry that swear that they are the best pickups in the world...maybe I am envious that I haven't reached world domination among some groups of players....yet!!" Oh you know we all get that sort of comment- best in the world- and we all get the comment - I dont like them- you cant take what people say dead seriously.
i just jumped on you a little because we are all working in this industry- I think we should avoid critisizing each other publicly particularly when its not entirely accurate, there are plenty of people out there that can do that for us. I have seen several people so eager to get a sale they say things about other makers that makes themselves look bad- a few people have been so bone headed the "civilians" turned against them and now they are thought if as cranks. thats the beauty of the internet- you can reach far more people than anyone ever imagined but you can also put your foot in your mouth

We all make the best in the World don't we!
T

[David King]

I strive for best in solar system but Best in Galaxy and Best in Universe are very very far away right now.

[David Schwab]

On a personal note, I had a recent customer swap-out his set of BN's for a set of my own in his LP, but that's the only experience I've had with BN's myself.

That's where you see that "best" is relative. Everyone likes something different. I had a guy bring me a Les Paul with an up and coming maker's set of PAF style humbuckers. He just had them installed. I've read rave reviews of these things. We both hated them.

He replaced them with the Slash edition of the Duncan Alnico II Pros.