Unorthodox pickup shapes

[John B]

Quite a number of years ago T.V. Jones made a pickup that more or less looked like a pinball flipper - round on the bass side, narrowing to (close to) a point at the treble side. I think they were in a Koll guitar reviewed by Guitar Player.

I thought it was very cool-looking, and being a guy who goes for looks I was hoping it would catch on. But alas, it did not, and it went out of production after a brief period of time.

So some questions for you all, as I know next to nothing about anything, and even less about pickups:

1. Generally or conceptually, how would a pickup shaped like this sound? Warmer lows, brighter highs?
   
2. Would the bass side be weaker than the treble side, due to distance from the coil wrap?
   
3. Now the really stupid question: I assume he made a pinball flipper-shaped insert to wrap the wire around. If so, is this a standard way of making irregular-shaped pickups?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts,
John

[madialex]

Wider coil on the bass end and smaller on the treble should make the bottom end big and the top end bright

not too sure how those would balance though

[Possum]

it was fake....

The only difference that pickup had was the top was shaped like that, I played the prototype and know how it was made....

[David Schwab]

Rick Turner made the very first Alembic pickups this way.... wide on one side and narrow on the other.

The wide side will sound fuller because it's sensing a wider portion of the string.

Personally, I'd put the wider side under the treble strings.

Here's an old Fender steel with trapezoid pickups too.



The attached pictures are two old Guild basses customized by Alembic with Rick Turner's pickups. The second to last picture shows the dummy coils inside.

[John B]

The only difference that pickup had was the top was shaped like that, I played the prototype and know how it was made....

So it was purely aesthetics? I seem to remember some hype about how the pickup sensed more "stuff" and thus was bette than your average bear.

So the sound would have been the same as if a single coil with a normally-shaped top?

Oh yeah, how was it made (if it was any different than any other single coil)?

[soundmasterg]

That pickup by TV Jones was called the Electroflux. Initially he tried to make the actual bobbin with that same coil shape as the top cover, but it was very hard to wind the bobbin that way without breaking the wire all the time, so he just made the top cover that way with a standard shape coil underneath. These debuted on the Koll line of guitars, and last I heard, Saul Koll was still using them from time to time....I didn't know that they were discontinued, but then I haven't talked to Saul or TV in awhile. These pickups struck me as being similar to a Tele bridge pickup in sound and size and construction, but I don't believe it had a baseplate like the Tele pickup. TV Jones or Saul Koll could tell you more about them.

Greg

[David Schwab]

Oh.. I just read that the last picture I posted, of the Guild Bluesbird with the Alembic electronics is the same guitar heard playing the modal A chord rake in the introduction of the Youngbloods hit Get Together (it belonged to Lowell Levinger).

[David King]

I asked Saul about this yesterday and here's his reply:
"They are in fact an asymmetrical coil. The bass side is smaller than the treble side. In addition, he [Tom] uses a few different magnets for different strings."

Hopefully he'll have a chance to stop by and add a little more detail.

[soundmasterg]

Oh, I guess they changed it....at one time it just looked like a assymetrical coil from what I remember talking to Saul in years past. I could be wrong though!

It would be cool if Saul would join in the discussions here, but he's always really busy so I understand if he doesn't have time.

Greg

[John B]

Thank you all for your comments so far - this has been very informative. It would be wonderful to have input from Saul would have some time for some thoughts.

On another forum, I asked Rick Turner some questions regarding the Alembic pickups; he's extremely busy right now, but hopefully I'll hear some more back from him.

[Possum]

....

Yeah I remember that the one I tried was just a tele bridge with a fancy top. You'd have to wind an asymetrical coil real slow probably, I can see that happening.