Messing With Pickups In My Strat - Advice Needed:

[Von Herndon]

Hey, everyone...been away from about 4 years or so!!!! Wanted to pop back in and ask for some advice.

I have repaired a few 'broken' pickups for people - mostly changing out lead wires or fixing shorts - but I really don't know much beyond that. I have swapped magnet polarities successfully to create the out-of-phase effect. Recently, I resurrected an old 1982 HSS Fender Stratocaster (literally from the junk pile) and it has become a super fun project.

The 1982 MIJ Standard Stratocaster was given to me as a stripped body in need of a total rebuild.

I work in a recording studio and I support several bands, so my guitars performance is really important to me. I play a little of everything, but my Strat is most often used in rock/metal bands. I have a pair of Les paul's that work in my home studio. Both are equipped with the Epiphone HB8N Humbucker and they have excellent tone on recordings. My main two guitars are a Schecter Hellraiser with EMG 81TW and a Jackson San Dimas with a very old, 2001 GFS 'Double Slug' Humbucker measuring 14k.All of these guitars give me very similar tones through my 50 watt Marshall Half Stack and my Yellow Strat needs to follow suit.

I built a wire harness from 500k Alpha pots using 0.01uf tone caps on the twin tone controls. I modded the wiring to give the bridge tone control. My biggest 'gripe' with single coils is when you get them close enough to the strings to get good output, the magnetic pull on the strings makes them unusable. I found a really great solution in the form of Artec's stacked single coils with bar magnets and adjustable poles. I can set them 4/32" from the strings with no magnetic pull whatsoever.

I did not have a good bridge humbucker, but I did have several neck humbuckers laying around, so I used a Guitar Madness "Dirty Digits" in this project. It measured around 9.5k when tested. The guitar is a real joy to play, but the bridge pickup is very bright and harsh. In fact, I can actually get a good tone out of it by turning the tone control to zero!

While I could just purchase a pickup, my goal is to learn more about how pickups work and how to modify them.

My first thought was to pull out the (3) magnets and replace them with, perhaps a single A5.But I am not sure that's the correct approach. I thought perhaps I could fix it with stuff I have on hand, with a little help.

I dug through my box today and pulled out a few Gibson DSC Double Slugs, a few Artecs, a Gibson 490 that doesn't work, and a few Duncan HB103's. I also found several magnets, mostly ceramics and a couple of brand new, long, polished A-4's.

I took an Artec Milestone Classic Standard that measured 8.0k and has 42AWG, wood spacers and a nickel-silver baseplate. I pulled out the rough-cast A2 and installed a long, polished A4 and swapped the polarity so I can have the out of phase tone in the #2 switch position, which is something I use a lot.

So, here are my questions.

1. What makes my 'neck' position 9.45k "Dirty Digits" so shrill and harsh in the bridge of my Strat???

2. How "good" or "bad" does the Artec pickup I put together from scarp sound to you guys???

3. Which direction should I go if I want to come up with a passive humbucker that can at least give me sloe to what my other guitars are giving me sonically???

Thanks for your time and expertise...

- Rob

[big_teee]

1. What makes my 'neck' position 9.45k "Dirty Digits" so shrill and harsh in the bridge of my Strat???

The 9.45K doesn't tell us much.
The turn count, magnet type and height, would be more important in the brightness of the pickup.
The pickup position, how close to the bridge, that starts the bright pickup scenario.
If the Pickup is 43 or 44 wire, it could have a high DCR, and still be a low turn count.
If the magnet height is tall between the flats, that adds to brightness.
If the magnet type is Ceramic, that would also add to the brightness.
If you want to experiment for a warmer sounding bridge pickup, you might try some A3 rod magnets.
See if that changes anything?
GL,
T

[Von Herndon]

The 9.45K doesn't tell us much.
The turn count, magnet type and height, would be more important in the brightness of the pickup.
If the pickup is close to the bridge that starts the bright pickup scenario.
If the Pickup is 43 or 44 wire, it could have a high DCR, and still be a low turn count.
If the magnet height is tall between the flats, that adds to brightness.
If the magnet type is Ceramic, that would also add to the brightness.
If you want to experiment for a warmer sounding bridge pickup, you might try some A3 rod magnets.
See if that changes anything?
GL,
T

Thank you for your reply. Please excuse my ignorance. This pickup is supposed to have 43AWG wire and 3, thick ceramic magnets.

Would you be so kind as to comment on the Artec (mentioned above) that I built from junk parts???

[big_teee]

Not sure what you have?
A picture might help?
When you say 3 magnets, is that 3 rod magnets, or 3 bar magnets on the bottom?
The bridge pickup on a strat is notorious for being bright.
I compensate, with shorter height between the flats, more turns, and A3, or A2 rod magnets.
Ceramic magnets wouldn't be a sound I would look for in the bridge, but that is personal pref.

T

[big_teee]

Also, you could go to a bigger tone cap for the bridge pot.
Instead of a .01, try a .047-.050uf
T

[Von Herndon]

Not sure what you have?
A picture might help?
When you say 3 magnets, is that 3 rod magnets, or 3 bar magnets on the bottom?
The bridge pickup on a strat is notorious for being bright.
I compensate, with shorter height between the flats, more turns, and A3, or A2 rod magnets.
Ceramic magnets wouldn't be a sound I would look for in the bridge, but that is personal pref.

T

The bridge humbucker in the YeloStrat (shown above) has three bar magnets, like a Gibson 500T.

[Von Herndon]

Also, you could go to a bigger tone cap for the bridge pot.
Instead of a .01, try a .047-.050uf
T

I have 0.01uf on all my guitars and the Strat is the only one with an overly bright condition. I often roll the tone to zero while soloing for the 'coocked wah effect' that it yields.

[Von Herndon]

Appreciate the replies to this thread...

[Von Herndon]

If I removed the triple ceramic bar magnets from my 43AWG, 9.5k humbucker, and replaced them with one Long A4 magnet and two wood spacers, what effect would this have???

[big_teee]

If I removed the triple ceramic bar magnets from my 43AWG, 9.5k humbucker, and replaced them with one Long A4 magnet and two wood spacers, what effect would this have???

Sure, why not!
You could try the full gamut of magnet types!
A2, A3 A4, A5.
A2 & A3 would be where I would start.
GL,
T

[Von Herndon]

Found the right combination after a couple of pickup builds...

Nickel-silver baseplate

Twin bobbins, 42AWG wire, scatter wound, 8.1k combined

Maple spacers

Machined aluminum keeper bar

Long, polished A4 magnet

Absolutely fantastic and articulate. Gives solid crunch crunch when played through my 50 watt Marshall.

[copperheadroads]

Machined aluminum keeper bar

I didn't know that was even a thing .

[Von Herndon]

I didn't know that was even a thing .

Most keeper bars are stamped and are not flat. Some actually fit loosely in the pickup because the bar is a different height than the spacers or helper magnets. Most times, the winder just depends on the potting to keep things quiet and I've seen this is in many top shelf pickups...including Duncan, Lollar, Fralin and Thro-Bak.

[copperheadroads]

Most keeper bars are stamped and are not flat. Some actually fit loosely in the pickup because the bar is a different height than the spacers or helper magnets. Most times, the winder just depends on the potting to keep things quiet and I've seen this is in many top shelf pickups...including Duncan, Lollar, Fralin and Thro-Bak.

I am aware of the keeper stamped or machined ,The reason i commented was "Aluminum" it's not a ferrous material & It's usually made of steel , i have not seen Aluminum being used .

[Helmholtz]

I'd expect some difference between a low carbon steel and an aluminum keeper, because:

1) A steel keeper directs the magnetic flux of the permanent magnet to the pole screws, increasing the sensitivity of the screw coil. An aluminum keeper is magnetically non-existent
2) As aluminum is a much better conductor than steel, it will increase Eddy current losses and lower treble response.
3) Steel slightly increases the inductance of the PU , while aluminum doesn't.