rehab epi humbucker?

[ken]

You can't get started much cheaper than 'free'.

I have a couple of Epi covered humbucker here, and they weigh tons from all the wax they were potted with.
If you try to rewind your pickups, be very careful trying to remove the coil wire from the bobbins.

ken

[rjb]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I've also got a pair of Epi HBs that I might try to rehab "some day".
Just wondering, can some one offer insight to any of these questions?:

- Say you cut a slot in the baseplate, from the center line of the screw holes to the center line of the slug holes.
Might that improve clarity by blocking eddy currents?
- Same question for the cover.
- In another thread, a member (I forget who) said Epi HBs are machine wound at maximum possible Turns Per Layer;
the coils therefore have maximum possible distributed capacitance, and that distributed capacitance "kills the high end".
Does that statement make "scientific/engineering sense"?
I'm guessing the total coil capacitance is still considerably less than cable capacitance....
- An extension of the previous question:
I've also read that the coils are seriously overwound.
I realize that it might actually be easier to strip and rewind the coils, but...
would peeling the coils down to a reasonable turns count achieve the same goal?

And if you want more clarity, but don't care if the pickup sounds like a PAF, could this work?:
- Remove the screws, essentially converting to a single coil with series humbucking dummy coil.
- Then install a series/parallel switch to raise the resonant frequency in parallel mode.

I know the best (and funnest) way to find out is DIY, but (sparing the details)
my "workshop" is filled with three rooms' worth of junk and I can't even access the workbench.

Thanks,
-rb

[big_teee]

IMO rewinding is the only viable answer.
Lose the brass covers, with brass baseplate they will sound best in the bridge.
Keep the wind low to get the brass baseplate to work in the neck.
For me personally the best option is to throw them in the scrap metal bin.
Then start over with a nickel baseplate, and alnico magnets.
IMO real Parts are too cheap to waste time and money on inferior ones.
YMMV,
T

[David Schwab]

- Say you cut a slot in the baseplate, from the center line of the screw holes to the center line of the slug holes.
Might that improve clarity by blocking eddy currents?

I wouldn't worry about he baseplate all that much. DiMarzio uses brass baseplates on a lot of their pickups, and a lot of them are plenty bright. I don't think it has a huge effect on the tone. You can replace the baseplates.

- Same question for the cover.

Covers screw with the tone. They reduce the resonant peak and dull the high end. Makes the pickup sound too polite. The first thing I do with covered humbuckers is remove the covers! It's fashionable to leave them on now, but lots of people took them off in the 70s because they sounded better with no covers.

Having said that, I make some humbuckers with closed nickel silver covers. They sound fine. Brass covers could sound darker.

- In another thread, a member (I forget who) said Epi HBs are machine wound at maximum possible Turns Per Layer;
the coils therefore have maximum possible distributed capacitance, and that distributed capacitance "kills the high end".
Does that statement make "scientific/engineering sense"?

That sounds about right to me.

Unwinding the pickup could help. I have a generic DiMarzio looking pickup in a guitar... it has a ceramic magnet and is about 8k, so it's not wound super hot. It's a clean bright sounding pickup.

[big_teee]

I now only use nickel baseplates.
The nickel bassplate has less eddie currents and always IMO sounds clearer and brighter.
Especially on neck pickups.
Dimarzio does use brass on some pickups, I figured they just did it because of the cheaper cost.
I don't think Seymour Duncan use brass on hardly anything.
I have used some on bridge pickups when I first started winding, but never did like them on neck pickups.
Then I discovered Nickel parts, and I never looked back.
If you like the brass go for it! Use good hot magnets to go with them.
The problem I've found trying to take wire off of a import humbucker, sometimes they tape it all together with both start and finish on the outside.
It is real easy to break the leads, and not easy to work on like your own properly made bobbins.
T

[David Schwab]

DiMarzio might do it for the tone. On their Model One bass pickup, they have a thin sheet of brass laying on top of the bobbins.

And I don't think anyone would call a Super Distortion HB muddy. I have an Al DiMeola model pickup, and that's nice and bright too.

But nickel silver is a better material to use. Seth Lover wanted to use Stainless steel for the covers. That's what EMG does on their metal covered pickups.

You can take it a step further and not use a metal baseplate at all, as Bill Lawrence did.

[big_teee]

As I dable with both bass and guitar pickups, I see the need for both tone types.
Seems on a bass neck pickup it is hard to get bright enough.
Guitar is easier to get the happy mediums.
The SuperD I think is bridge only, and baseplate IMO is not as critical.
They are fun to experiment with, and I suggest that anyone that is getting started to do lots of experimenting.
T

[David Schwab]

People used to put Super Distortions at the neck too. The popular version was the Dual Sound pickup, which was the same thing with 4-conductor wiring. So you could switch the neck pickup into parallel.

Here's a Super Distortion and Dual Sound at the neck:



My gripe with over wound pickups is; while a like the drive you get from them with a lot of gain and distortion, I also expect my pickups to clean up and be bright and chimey. And what some guitarist call bright is not bright.

As an example, take the Bill Lawrence L-500, or L-500XL. It's a very hot pickup, but retains the top end. If you playing into a clean amp you get a nice bright snappy tone, like you might get from a single coil.

I think some guitarist like that muddy tone because it covers up sloppy playing! lol

[Lyrebird Steve]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]29619[/ATTACH]

These are identical to the "Epiphone" pickups I removed from some China made guitars.

Mag is ceramic ... 60mm (2.35") x 12.5mm (0.5") x 4.5mm (0.18")

No keeper bar, mag against slugs and screws. Black plastic spacers.

I have these with both brass and aluminium (?very light, non-magnetic, dull silver colour?) base plates.

In the "to recycle" bin.

[Lyrebird Steve]

Unwinding the pickup could help. I have a generic DiMarzio looking pickup in a guitar... it has a ceramic magnet and is about 8k, so it's not wound super hot. It's a clean bright sounding pickup.

I've thought about doing this, my version came in around 10.2k ... briefly toyed with the idea of "Super D" conversion.

I was going to re-tap the bobbins so they would take Hex Screws
I was going to re-wind with 44 AWG to around 14.5k (6300 turns on one + 6500 turns on the other) at 100 TPL.

No Spacers, No keeper.

Here's the guts of a circa 1975 Super D

(is that caulk ? looks and feels like it)

[dmartn149]

These are identical to the "Epiphone" pickups I removed from some China made guitars.

Yup Chinese LP