Out of the shed and into the light

[Alabam]

Just thought i would post a pic of my first set of pickups,along with a neck/middle sound sample.
Thanks lads for all the tips and advice you have posted, it helped a lot.

[Possum]

....

Wow, I thought you were talking about Spence and Shed Pickups, Spence coming out into the light, makes no sense since Spence does all his pickups in black light rooms for that day glow kind of tone.

Pickups sound good by the way, cool...

[spud1950]

Those are great looking and sounding pickups.Can you give some details on the construction? I'd really like to hear a more extensive sound sample to get a better idea of what they sound like in the other positions. Nice job!

[Alabam]

reply to Spud and Possum

I`m in the process of putting another set i am making into my Strat, they have a different magnet set-up.
I`ll post more samples later when i check these new ones out, meanwhile this other sample i have attached is the middle pickup, the drum backing i got from the tune "Wipe Out", i was trying to emulate the Buddy holly chord solo out of "Peggy Sue".
The '55 Strat sound was what i was after in creating these pickups.

I am patenting my coil winding system and construction so that will have to wait for a while lads.
Many thanks to you and Possum for your "thumbs up" replies.

[Possum]

$$$$$$$$$

Patenting? Are you aware how incredibly expensive that is? I read you can get a temporary patent for about $500 but a real patent after that I think is more like $5,000. To top that off your application could be rejected after all that.

[SK66]

Those sound good, and have something of a unique look to them. However, I don't think it's worth getting a patent...If you would like to try to market them with protection, a provisional patent may be worth doing.
The hardest thing about getting a patent is the research to see if the same has ever been patented, and worse; if the same has ever been published about or produced.
Looking at your pickups, and hearing them, I can not see/hear anything that has not been done before.
If you would like to ask me off-line as to what I think about their patent-ability based upon what I might know, feel free to e-mail me.
If you do go forward with the patents,

Best of Luck to you!

[Alex/Tubewonder]

Cost of patent application and yearly fees for upholding it are peanuts compared to cost of enforcing the patent. That is having watch dogs on the market spot investigating every suspected infringement. But if you get to sell millions of them you set 1$ from each one sold towards fighting copy cats in courts.

Bear in mind, patent application requires full disclosure including "prefered embodiment" of invention. Once the patent office makes its preliminary assesment the application is made public so anyone can submit objections.
Suppose in the end the patent is not granted. Application was public so whatever you thought was a revolutionary technological advancement is now in public domain.

so what are you afraid of? Any of the big boys copying your design? It will happen whether you have a patent or not if they find it interesting enough. Good guys should in such case approach you and offer a licensing deal. Bad guys you can't do much about.

BTW - cool design, how much for a set?

[Possum]

....

The Steinberger guitar is a classic example of patent hell. PBS did a documentary years ago about this, wish I could find it. Anyway, The Steinberger guitar was patented by the inventor, and was a new (well not really) guitar design and started to sell really well. So well that the Koreans made copies and started selling them too. To make a long story short he lost everything he owned fighting them in court and in the end sold the company to Gibson or someone like that. I'm sure there are still copies being sold even now.

[David Schwab]

The other thing about Steinberger is that Ned got a patent on his instrument, and that patent (which included the composite neck) actually infringed on Rick Turner's patent for the graphite neck, so Ned in turn had to license Turner's patent. When Turner was protecting his patent against somebody (I don't remember who...) he actually had Ned appear in court!

From what I understand, Ned sold the company to Gibson because it was impossible for him to meet demand for the instruments. Gibson in turn was never able to make them correctly, so that's when they started making the versions with wooden necks and all. Now they get their necks from Moses Graphite, who has his own patent for the construction of a graphite neck, but not the neck itself.

I've met Ned a few times back in '94, though I didn't ask him about this stuff... but my partner worked with him when he was starting up the NS Double bass, so he got all the dirt!

Another good patent story is with Kinman pickups. He had his patent first, and then DiMarzio patented an almost identical design, but he couldn't make it up to NYC to fight it. Meanwhile Duncan's Kevin Beller patented another design almost the same as both Kinman and DiMarzio, just by making enough changes to show he made improvements on the prior art.

Then you take someone like EMG. As far as I know they never got any patents, even though they probably could have. But all their secrets are sealed in epoxy.

[Alabam]

Ok lads, you`ve got me convinced this is not the way to go.
I put in a nonprovisional application for a patent, cost about $37.
I then got a reply that my application was incomplete, probably because i didn`t use a patent lawyer, also the extra fee`s they wanted topped $750.
So its back to the shed to generally piddle about.
By the way, the ones i showed earlier were a rough job and need refining anyway to finish them of to a professional standard, so thats my next job.
I`ll keep in touch on how things are going.

[Alabam]

Quote-(BTW - cool design, how much for a set? Aleksander Niemand)

I`ll let you know Alec as soon as i get this pickup design up to standard, when i get the time, then maybe even my own Web page, who knows.
I thought when i retired i`d have all the time in the world but that theory has gone straight out the window.

[Alex/Tubewonder]

Quote-(BTW - cool design, how much for a set? Aleksander Niemand)

I`ll let you know Alec as soon as i get this pickup design up to standard, when i get the time, then maybe even my own Web page, who knows.
I thought when i retired i`d have all the time in the world but that theory has gone straight out the window.

Retirement is the time to devote to your passion. This will take all your time and then some. But it will also keep you young at heart and active. Go for it.

As for a set of pick-ups - I can wait.
Thanks for answering.

[SteikBacon]

Seen this?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBQPk...eature=related

[Alabam]

Seen this?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBQPk...eature=related

I take it you mean the bridge pickup looks like the ones i made.
Its hard to tell from the video.
Anyway, i found this photo of the guitar on some Forum accompanied by the following statement.


"I noticed the hot rail pickups but not the logoless headstock. It would make sense that Frank would want a shorter scale length, to feel more like like his SG. I understood the Frank’s Hendrix guitar was the one that was burned in the famous photo."

I checked out the hot rail pickups but none of them look like the ones i make.

[David Schwab]

I checked out the hot rail pickups but none of them look like the ones i make.

Not the Hot Rails, but the Duncan Hot Stack looks like this:



They didn't have the logo back in the 80's, and often came in a burgundy colored cover. I had one in a Strat back then, with two Vintage Stacks.