Pickup identification

[jnohlic]

Hello everyone,

A friend has asked to rewind his pickups on his Hofner verithin 4600 (around 1964-1967 says he).
The picture is his actual guitar and I was surprise that I couldn't find any similar pickup cover on the guitars I checked online.

Has anyone any idea of the spec of those pickups ?
Even approximate ones : the type of gauge used at that time by hofner, the type of the pickup on those guitars, the type of the magnets.
Unfortunately, I don't have access to the pickup yet... I'm trying to know more to wind it when I visit him at the end of the month.

Thanks a lot !
Julien

[jnohlic]

I found it : this is a mini humbucker made by artec with a ceramic mag. The firm is Korean.
Thanks for reading !

[big_teee]

Rather than rewind the Artecs with ceramic mags, and brass baseplates?
If it were mine I would buy or build new pickups.
GL,
T

[jnohlic]

Thanks T for your answer, this is what I will do. I think I will make P90's in mini Humbuckers covers.
This is a secondary guitar for my friend and he told me he was hoping to get easy feedbacks with this instrument.
I searched on the forum but I did not find much about the ingredients that help a pickup feedback ?

A strong Magnet ?
No Wax potting ?
Many turns ?
All of the above ?

If anyone has a clue...

Thanks
Julien

[salvarsan]

I searched on the forum but I did not find much about the ingredients that help a pickup feedback ?

Less tension while winding makes a pickup more prone to feedback. The sounds are more like squeels and are not harmonically related to what the guitarist plays.

-drh

[jnohlic]

Does that mean such a design would be interesting for feedback (this is a hofner pup and you will find more here : Mr Glyn's guitar repair: Hofner Pickup re-wind) ?

thanks

[big_teee]

If you don't like hum?
You could stick with the mini-humbuckers.
Lots of ways to build them.
With magnet on the bottom, or magnets in the bobbins.
Make them mild or hot.
T

[kayakerca]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37058[/ATTACH]

(this is a hofner pup and you will find more here : Mr Glyn's guitar repair: Hofner Pickup re-wind)

thanks

So now I finally understand a technique to wind one of those bobbinless coils. Had to send one of those rewinds to another shop a few months back. That won't happen next time!

[Peter Naglitsch]

A bit late to the party...

If your friends Höfner is indeed from the mid 60's and hasn't been tampered with, there is no way the pickups can be made by Artec (except maybe for the covers). Höfner made their own (in)famous pickups, either as mini humbuckers or (in the same cover) a quite week single coil "half-a-HB". Looking at the picture my guess is that the picks have been replaces. Simple way to check: Are the magnets electrical conductive: Original pickups with new covers (alnico magnets as in original pickups), if not, they are aftermarket Artecs. My suggestion is of cause to find original pickups and have these (supposedly) aftermarket pickups replaced. I have repaired several of the originals as they have a tendency to fail (so be sure to check them before purchasing) but when working, they sound excellent and really with a good penetrating, dynamic but still rather balanced sound. If you want the originals specs they can easily be found (or send a PM).

Re feedback: As noted, you most likely do not want microphonic feedback as it is unmusical and probably not what your friend are after. If your friend want more feedback a la Hendrix and similar
https://youtu.be/53JpbrxM7O0?t=40
ask him to increase amp volume and step closer to the amp. That type of musical feedback is part of an resonance system were the vibrations from the amp is exiting the string on the guitars, feeding back that signal via the pickups to the amp, the signal from the amp (via strings/pickups) is amplified once again and helps exit the strings furthermore. Microphonic feedbacks occurs when the vibrations from the amp excites the windings in the pickup instead of the strings, like this
https://youtu.be/335jJjSX_3M?t=76
If your friend really want that type of sound, wind the pick loose, as mentioned. If he on the other hand wants the more musical feedback the recipe is as mentioned, TURN IT UP! step close to the amp and make sure the pickup does not squeal at al (=microphonic feedback) by potting the coil.

Good info on Höfner rewinding:
http://music-electronics-forum.com/t21301/