Pickup Options For 63 Kay LapSteel?

[big_teee]

I have a 63 Kay Lapsteel in the shop.
The original pickup is gone.
The owner and crew decided to cut out the pickup hole and install an old 50mm Creme bobbin humbucker.
It has 12 small allen screws per bobbin.
They got it installed and it didn't work.
When I checked the coils for continuity, there was none.
Each coil is open.
The Pickup is a glued together ceramic job, owner called it a Dimarzio, not sure of the make?
The pickup has 3 ceramic magnets, one big in the middle and a small on each side.
Bobbins and magnets are glued to a brass baseplate.
The Lapsteel strings are wide spaced and the pickup poles didn't line up with the strings.
So, the options are to rewind the glued together pickup, or come up with an alternative.
I have Soapbar covers that would work on the string spacing.
Either build a humbucker in a EMG 35 type cover.
Or build a sidewinder in a similar type soapbar cover.
So my question has anyone used a sidewinder for Lap Steel?
I will try to get some pictures of the Lapsteel and the pickup.
The body looks like this one, but with a large humbucker hole in the plastic control plate.
http://cdn1.gbase.com/usercontent/ge...omiba2q_ss.jpg
T

[big_teee]

I ended up making a 53mm humbucker pickup, with chrome cover, from some import parts I had laying around.
The lap steel has some flat wound strings on it, and they sound dead to me.
Thinking about putting on a set of EB Slinkys.
Is there a rule of thumb of strings used on 23 inch scale lap steels?
Having trouble getting it as bright as I think it should be, and right now have a 500k CTS volume pot, and a 1 meg Tone with a .047uf cap.
Going to change the cap to a .022uf, and change the strings,

[Quarter]

For string gauges, John Ely has a handy page with some good info and a handy chart that you may find helpful John Ely on String Gauges

[big_teee]

Those string sizes seem awful big for a little 23 inch lapsteel.
.058 on the low E?
I do agree with the dull sound of the flatwounds.
That is what is on it, no telling how old the strings are.
I had to keep making adjustments to get it brighter.
I will tell the customer to buy whatever strings he wants.
He probably wouldn't want the slinkys on it, so I'll leave them off.
So right now the pickup is a fairly hot wound humbucker with brass baseplate, and a chromed brass cover.
I ended up with a 500k volume pot, and a 1 meg tone pot with a .022uf tone cap.
The Brass baseplate, and brass cover are not my first choice, but I made it out of some import scrap parts.
That was all I had in 53mm, and all the customer could afford.
So for now I am done with it, and it will sit here till he gets his finances back in the black!
T

[Quarter]

Those string sizes seem awful big for a little 23 inch lapsteel.
.058 on the low E?

Yea, pretty typical with lap steels. Rule of thumb is that the shorter the scale, the heaver gauge string needed to maintain good tension. You can get away with a bit lighter gauges, but things can get a bit loose and floppy and can cause issues with intonation and tuning as the loose string(s) will deflect more.

[big_teee]

Yea, pretty typical with lap steels. Rule of thumb is that the shorter the scale, the heaver gauge string needed to maintain good tension. You can get away with a bit lighter gauges, but things can get a bit loose and floppy and can cause issues with intonation and tuning as the loose string(s) will deflect more.

Thanks for the help.
I took it back to him yesterday, and he played it for me.
It sounded great, he likes a darker tone than I expected.
He agreed that it does need strings, I'll leave that to him.
He's going to play it a while, I told him we could tone cap it anyway he wanted.
The 53mm humbucker worked out great.
T