Does this sound correct?

[mark]

Guys

Here is an ad on eBay about pickups. I'm curious as laquer is used instead of wax potting is this vintage correct?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Sliders-Class...QQcmdZViewItem

All are vintage Lacquered, not wax potted, to reduce high volume microphonics and provide protection to the delicate windings.

I should point out, I'm not flaming the guy, I know him and he is a nice guy. I'm just curious.

Yours Sincerely

Mark Abbott

[Spence]

fender did go through a phase of lacquer potting pickups. Not their best period. Wax potting is so much better.

[NightWinder]

??

He did do a nice "modern Winding shape" on his coil....Looks like he knows a bit.

[Mark Hammer]

I had to repair a laquered Tele neck pickup once. Blecch!!! The laquer certainly holds the windings nice and steady, but if you ever have to unwind one it's a royal P.I.T.A. More critically, the laquer can shrink over time and risk tearing the coil quite spontaneously, which is precisely what happened in this instance.

[NightWinder]

...

well, hell. Has anyone other than SK used the sanding sealer to pot? I've done a few and had some interesting results- I question the dry time, because after I played them, I stripped them and they were still wet near the center on in after a day or 2? Curious...whats the dry time?? Ive seen Strats also come in that were still wet from back in the day too....Bless Fender, They sure do keep the money rollig in for us guys : )

[David Schwab]

Most of the 70's Fender bass pickups I've had were lacquer potted, as are Rickenbacker 4001 bridge pickups.

I have a bunch of the plastic bobbin Fender pickups and they are also lacquered.

Once the solvents have evaporated it shouldn't shrink any more.

Rick Turner uses vanish on his horseshoe pickups. He said he tried wax and a few other things and the vanish sounded best.

Guess it depends on the tone you are looking for.

[mark]

Okay I do have a couple of questions. Here we go;

He did do a nice "modern Winding shape" on his coil....Looks like he knows a bit.

Nightwinder how can you tell?

What are the tell tale signs?

Rick Turner uses vanish on his horseshoe pickups. He said he tried wax and a few other things and the vanish sounded best.

David can you describe the difference in tone between lacquer and wax?

Personally I can't see how there could be a difference, but I have heard this sort of thing before about humbuckers.

Thanks for all the replies and advice.

Yours Sincerely

Mark Abbott

P.S. Good to hear from you again Mark Hammer.

[David Schwab]

David can you describe the difference in tone between lacquer and wax?

Personally I can't see how there could be a difference, but I have heard this sort of thing before about humbuckers.

I don't use wax myself, so I can't comment on it. There has been talk here that wax can dull the top end of the pickup, and it was speculated it was due to its dielectric constant, which was closer to water than air.

I've been using polyurethane and it doesn't change the tone as far as I can tell. I don't pot Gibson humbucker type pickups at all.

Here was the Tuner interview (FROM AMERICAN LUTHERIE, #64, WINTER 2000)... and it was Shellac, not varnish:

The other thing we have discovered is that coil-damping material is incredibly important. I used to superglue my coils. Now I am vacuum impregnating them in shellac, and the pickups are much mellower. Who'd of thunk it? And that's because there are physical coil resonances. With superglue-soaked coils you had a much more brittle-sounding pickup. Now we are using shellac, and I really like the results. They are a little squooshy, but you don't get any obvious ringing. They are very quiet when you tap on them, and they sound great. They are closer to the wax-soaked, and with the vacuum impregnation the shellac is going all of the way in. This is within the last month. I've been making magnetic pickups since '68, and thirty years later I'm still going, "Whoa! Lets throw out everything I knew and try this!"

Unrelated but interesting, in the same interview:

I've also done some interesting experiments rewinding classic pickup forms, Strat, Tele, P-bass, J-bass, Guild/Hagstrom Starfire, and Gibson Humbucker, using seven-strand Litz wire. This is seven strands of 44 ga. wire in parallel in a slow rope twist; the strands are insulated from one another. You can think of it as winding a pickup with Monster cable. The result is a pickup with extremely wide coil frequency response and incredible group delay or phase response. It takes the coil's electrical response out of the sound of the pickup and lets you hear the magnetic characteristics of the sound. Very interesting.... There is a strong part of the sound of any magnetic pickup which has nothing to do with the characteristics of the coil. It's what I call the magnetic response; it's the dynamic three-dimensional-geometric interface between the string, the magnetic field, and the physical dimensions of the coil.
The future is going to be in digital signal processing (DSP) devices that take that oversimplified signal and add the simulated complexities of wood and air. And it's coming, folks. It's not a pipe dream. I'm amazed that no one has really done it, but we are less than five years away from mind boggling DSP enhancement of Piezo pickups. All those little microphones that people are putting in guitars are going to be yanked out in ten years.

[NightWinder]

Okay I do have a couple of questions. Here we go;



Nightwinder how can you tell?

What are the tell tale signs?



David can you describe the difference in tone between lacquer and wax?

Personally I can't see how there could be a difference, but I have heard this sort of thing before about humbuckers.

Thanks for all the replies and advice.

Yours Sincerely

Mark Abbott

P.S. Good to hear from you again Mark Hammer.

Sorry, I did'nt see this before : ) Seems like a very modern coil. Nice and even. Also In The picture there is'nt a hard glare on the coil. I noticed when Photing coils if they have a harder scatter (wider) the glare is not there soo much so his pattern is spread out as well. It could have been just the way he took the picture. The leads are tight and snug to the eyelets also. Seems there is noo slack. However we have not heard them so....You know how that is. I thnk it looks good

[kevinT]

noticed too (and you've probably have too) that a coil glares more in photos when you have higher tensions...and the tighter the wind, the more shiney it gets....in my observations. another way to get an idea of how tight/compact the coil is...

[mark]

Here is a couple of clips of another Australia winder Mick Brierly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0ujlz8GFEE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ4wWixlPmA

I think I must prefer the early clean tones of the neck middle combination of the first clip, but it is hard to tell what is going on with the amp?

The second clip is a bit too fat sounding to me for a Strat.

http://www.myspace.com/slidersvintagepickups

Here is Slider's clip again for comparison.

I think the 57 classic does sound very hollow and funky.

What do you guys think?

Yours Sincerely

Mark Abbott

[Raksasa]

Hi Mark,

Was cruisin' this forum and saw the post above. Just wanna make some comments.
Just for your info, I know about the Brierley pups in the clips you posted above.

In the first clip (goin' thru' H&K), Scotty is usin' 10k hotwound A5 Brierley pups to his spec.
I know, coz' I asked him on another forum. Also some sort of rail S/C sized bucker in the bridge (not a Brierley).

Pete's Brierley pups (2nd clip) are also custom wound to his specs & use A2 mags.

All the Brierley's you are comparin' to are not his trad Vintage A5 pup winds, they are custom winds.
He does do trad A5 vintage type winds tho'.

So, to be honest (not sayin' any pups are better than another), I do not think using those clips is a fair comparison.
It is not vintage A5 compared to vintage A5 winds.

Let alone the gat, amp, recording method variations.

Just wanted to make sure you know what you are comparing here.

Cheers,

Raks

[mark]

Dear Raks

Thanks for the reply. I have heard of Mick doing a lot of over wound Strat pickups, and that really isn't my thing at all.

Though I had no idea what was on those recordings.

I think this is the deal will getting anything done to your guitar is what do you want done and what is the specialty of the guy who will do the work?

I had been meaning to talk to Mick, though in previous private messages he didn't seem to know what I was after.

I also don't take pickups reviews in HC all that seriously as I can't recall ever reading a bad review?

Anyway, I will have talk to him at some stage.

Yours Sincerely

Mark Abbott

P.S. What do you think of Sliders clip?

[NightWinder]

Here is a couple of clips of another Australia winder Mick Brierly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0ujlz8GFEE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ4wWixlPmA

I think I must prefer the early clean tones of the neck middle combination of the first clip, but it is hard to tell what is going on with the amp?

The second clip is a bit too fat sounding to me for a Strat.

http://www.myspace.com/slidersvintagepickups

Here is Slider's clip again for comparison.

I think the 57 classic does sound very hollow and funky.

What do you guys think?

Yours Sincerely

Mark Abbott

Second youtube clip is it.....Listen closely' you can hear the ring. First youtube did'nt do it for me, But I suspect playing ( A bit tooo much oomph in articulation- too much slag)- I know, I'm a bitch!LOL...I'd play that classic 57"clip til the sun sets dude!!Premo man!...call it what it is. I'm currently playing and recording with a BlackBelt Bridge and a Sd Designs Platnuim Paf in the neck ( Dave Stevens, old possum rat here). I know, It's contadictary to belief, but I really like other peoples stuff too- Besides, the SD is only in one guitar, But I'd tear that Mickey Dickey in something like this: I'd peel paint on this!LOL!

[David Schwab]

I'd peel paint on this!LOL!

Clown burst!