Making a 8 string Fan fretted pickup, help needed.

[Peteus]

So, like a few other people on here I'm planning on making an 8 string fanned pickup set. This is due receiving a custom guitar with alot of issues and horrendous pickups. I would have to say that in 6 years of playing, I have never played a pickup that bad. Hence I have decided I can do better.

So I have done a fair amount of research but, this site was down when I wanted to ask some questions. So here my intended build:

I'm planning on making a humbucking set with a fairly high output but, planning on keeping some clarity. They have to be at 30 and 22 degrees and I'm planning on using slugs and screws for my first attempt and 44 AWG making some bobbins similar to those which vik guitars made for a 9 string with wooden tops. I'm also planning on using glass fibre as my base plate due the quanties I have available to me (I'm a composites research engineer).

So my questions are:

1. The orientation of the north/south of the bar magnets. Does it need to follow along the strings or can they be at angles and follow the line of the pickups?
2. Seeing as my pole pieces are on angles is it worth getting a angled bar magnet to match i.e. a parallelogram?
3. The dimensions of the bobbins seem to be fairly similar from the pickups I own dimarzio, BKP and Seymour duncans with varying magnets. Should I just make my bobbins to a standard size?
4. Is it ok to make my bobbins from 100% wood?
5. Final difficult question what would be a sensible amount of winds to go for due to the extra length of the angled bobbins?

Sorry for a huge first post, I have been stuck pondering this for ages now.

[Peteus]

Sorry realized that this should have been in the beginners section. Is there any specs online where I can find suggested winds?

[Mike Sulzer]

1. The orientation of the north/south of the bar magnets. Does it need to follow along the strings or can they be at angles and follow the line of the pickups?
2. Seeing as my pole pieces are on angles is it worth getting a angled bar magnet to match i.e. a parallelogram?
3. The dimensions of the bobbins seem to be fairly similar from the pickups I own dimarzio, BKP and Seymour duncans with varying magnets. Should I just make my bobbins to a standard size?
4. Is it ok to make my bobbins from 100% wood?
5. Final difficult question what would be a sensible amount of winds to go for due to the extra length of the angled bobbins?

1., 2. The magnet magnetizes the pole pieces and they magnetize the strings. The field directly from the magnet is not relevant and so orient the magnet in the most convenient way that gets the job done. I do not see any need for a parallelogram, but I would probably avoid special bar magnets and use all slugs and put small neos on the back of each each.

4. Wood works. I prefer plastic for possible issues of dimensional stability in humid climates. Also some oily hardwoods can be difficult to glue when using small pieces.

5. I suggest trial and error until you get the sound you want.

[Peteus]

1., 2. The magnet magnetizes the pole pieces and they magnetize the strings. The field directly from the magnet is not relevant and so orient the magnet in the most convenient way that gets the job done. I do not see any need for a parallelogram, but I would probably avoid special bar magnets and use all slugs and put small neos on the back of each each.

4. Wood works. I prefer plastic for possible issues of dimensional stability in humid climates. Also some oily hardwoods can be difficult to glue when using small pieces.

5. I suggest trial and error until you get the sound you want.

Cheers for the help, I may use fibre glass for my bobbins as well and use my veneers placed on top. Also I like the idea of small neos on each pole piece.

I guessed as much with the winding part. I will have a guestimate and go from there. I'm thinking my first few goes arn't going to be that smooth and they will get better with time.

I will demo my work once I have finished them