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If you've never heard of it, the Fender Performer is an obscure model that was prototyped in the US in the early 1990's, and then manufactured in small quantities in Japan for a while. They made guitar and bass versions. They have long pointy triangular headstocks, skinny necks, diamond-shaped pickups, and a body kind of like a Parker Fly. They look like something George Jetson would have played. There's a small club who own and worship the few examples out there.
Anyway, a client is having several of us Luthiers build up semi-replica of a Performer bass in 32" scale. Skinny neck, narrow string spacing, most of the general shape and look. My buddy Keith Horne is building most of it. I built the neck structure, and I'm making up a custom bridge for it. I made the mistake of revealing that I make my own custom pickups too, so now I also have the job of making up a pair of these diamond-shaped pickups for it too.
Through some helpful owners of genuine Performers, we've got some good photos and dimensions. I think I have everything I need to make up the external shell look and fit right. I'm going to make up a master pattern and a silicone mold, and cast them in epoxy.
My questions have to do with the guts inside. Remember, I'm talking about 4-string bass pickups here. From the pictures I've seen, it's pretty basic. Two coils, presumably humbucking, each with two 3/16 A5 rod magnets, one under each string. A compact P-Bass pickup, with the coils angled to fit into the offset diamond shape. They appear to be narrow, tall coils, about the width and height of Strat coils. Maybe it sounds more like a split-coil Jazz pickup?
Do any of you know anything more specific about these Performer pickups? Have you worked on one, or know any information on the formula that was used? Is there anything unusual about them that I'm missing?
If I can't find any other info, I'll just build them as they appear. Some custom Strat-like flatwork, wind them to maybe 6000 turns, RWRP. A general purpose humbucking bass pickup. It's a one-off project, so I'm not going to be doing any extensive R & D to shape the sound.
Anyway, a client is having several of us Luthiers build up semi-replica of a Performer bass in 32" scale. Skinny neck, narrow string spacing, most of the general shape and look. My buddy Keith Horne is building most of it. I built the neck structure, and I'm making up a custom bridge for it. I made the mistake of revealing that I make my own custom pickups too, so now I also have the job of making up a pair of these diamond-shaped pickups for it too.
Through some helpful owners of genuine Performers, we've got some good photos and dimensions. I think I have everything I need to make up the external shell look and fit right. I'm going to make up a master pattern and a silicone mold, and cast them in epoxy.
My questions have to do with the guts inside. Remember, I'm talking about 4-string bass pickups here. From the pictures I've seen, it's pretty basic. Two coils, presumably humbucking, each with two 3/16 A5 rod magnets, one under each string. A compact P-Bass pickup, with the coils angled to fit into the offset diamond shape. They appear to be narrow, tall coils, about the width and height of Strat coils. Maybe it sounds more like a split-coil Jazz pickup?
Do any of you know anything more specific about these Performer pickups? Have you worked on one, or know any information on the formula that was used? Is there anything unusual about them that I'm missing?
If I can't find any other info, I'll just build them as they appear. Some custom Strat-like flatwork, wind them to maybe 6000 turns, RWRP. A general purpose humbucking bass pickup. It's a one-off project, so I'm not going to be doing any extensive R & D to shape the sound.
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