Where to get pickup parts specifications?

[rob440]

Does anyone know of any sites that have information on pickups like wire guage, how long the wire is, the magnet diameter and length ect. I want to wind my own pickups but dont want to reinvent the wheel. If you know a place besides stew mac that sells the parts I would like to hear about it too. Thanks.

[tubesornothing]

Get a hold of Jason Lollar's book on pickup winding - he does not sell it anymore, but you might find it in the library.  Mojo also sells pickup parts.  Check out google and youtube, there are a number of sites out there.

[adamasd]

What are you looking for? I have a large amount of pickup info that I have compiled over the years. When ever I come across a pickup I like the sound of I have take measurements of everything I need to remake it, so I have loads of that stuff. I have been meaning to get it all on the web but no time to get it all into the computer. I certainly could do a few though if you have any requests.

adam

[rob440]

Thanks guys. I have been looking for but not finding the loller book if anyone has it I would love to even have scans of it.  Adam, right now I am planing on making jazzmaster, telecaster and strat pickups for some guitars I am building. Any information you may have would be appreciated.

[adamasd]

I have plenty of strat and telecaster pickup specs, some old style some new all good. I am also fairly certain I have specs written up from an early 60s JazzMaster I worked on. I will dig some info out for you when I get back to town on Monday most likely.

adam

[rob440]

Thanks so much Adam! I will look forward to recieving them.

[Fresh_Start]

rob - don't know if any of these links are useful but I stumbled across them while looking for something else:

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=3408

http://designed2wind.alphalink.com.au/

Hope this helps,

Chip

[rob440]

Thanks Fresh!

[G._Hoffman]

Well, Allparts sells most of the parts, but they are the same stuff Stew-Mac sells.  I'm sure there are others out there, but those are the ones I can think of. 


Gabriel

[adamasd]

My trip out of town may have turned into my moving out of town so things have been abit hectic for me. I have dug out some strat and tele info, have not found the jazzmaster stuff yet. I should have some time this weekend to copy it into the computer for you, and try and dig out some jazzmaster info as well.

If I do move I will have access to one of the best sounding tele bridge pickups I have used and will be definitely be getting the info off of that so I can have one for myself and I can also post the info here for you as well.

adam

[rob440]

Thanks G, I will check out allparts if nothing else possibly avoid stewmacs rediculous shipping charges. Adam I have my jazz  body routed, it will be ready for paint soon but it takes a realitively long time for me to complete these things. When you get a chance please do post them. I have been searching on the web for these specs and havent found anything of consequence yet.

[adamasd]

Sorry about my slowness on this, its been insanely busy for me these past weeks. I spent the morning looking for the jazzmaster pickup info, no luck yet, but it is somewhere. I probably will not be able to get anything into the computer untill next week anyways. I need to get a mouse before I can do such things apparently, I am unable to draw these things into the computer on a track pad. I am going to start sticking all my collected pickup info on my website, this includes lots of pickup diagrams and winding info along with loads of other goodies like patents for alot of the great pickups and patents for many ideas that never made it anywhere but seem like great ideas.

adam

[Geo]

Hey adam,
It sounds like you could have THE definitive pickup spec site! I think the guitar community could really benefit from your knowledge if you set this up!

[adamasd]

COULD being the operative word here.

I have been wanting to get this stuff up for awhile, partly as a way to get me to organize all this info i have collected over the years and also so some of it will get used, most of it will never get any use by me, I do not have the much time. As of now it is all sprinkled throughout a few dozen notebooks at least. So I have to page through them all and find the pickup info and try not to get distracted by all the other various sundry items I happen upon. Unfortunately distraction is one of my favorite past times. My free time is starting to clear up so I am hoping I am going to be able to get to work on getting this stuff and some other electronics stuff organized and on the web.

adam

[adamasd]

and back again. Computer death, again.

and now I have a computer hobbled together from my previous two computers.

two very different laptops do not combine well, but all is working except the fan so far. So after about 30 minutes it overheats and shuts down.

Hopefully this "computer" will last and I will figure out the fan so I can get all this info up on the web. Or maybe I will finally give in and get a reliable computer for a change.

Even though I am really liking this cobbled together "computer" with its 30 minute operating limit.

Although I would not rely upon me and my "computer" to get this done. Keep digging for the information you want, it is out there in other sources, I found it, so can you. I will do my best to get stuff up and if you have anything on this subject that you would like to contribute I would be glade to put it on the web. Happy to host files on this subject.

For now I will be around to help in ways I can and try and get website stuff sorted out.

Although I am feeling pretty happy and confident about my "computer". I like to think it will live a long life.

adam

[rob440]

Glad you are computing again! I have been finding a good deal of information but the jazzmaster seems to be the most elusive. I was able to figure out the ploe spacing from the pickup covers (wish I could find these in more colors like basic black ). The magnet length is guesable but I found different figures. I know that may not matter but I want to have the best shot at a good sounding pickup from the start. I have found parts except the jazz flatwork which seems really easy to make anyway. I am in the painting stage on this guitar now so maybe soon I will shift my attention to the pickups.

[adamasd]

The Jazz Master pickup is ultimately Fenders P-90 clone, just a few differences, from memory;

P-90 has a 1/4" coil height, jazz master was slightly thinner, but not by much, possibly the same.

P-90 used two alnico bar magnets and adjustable pole pieces, Jazzmaster used non-adjustable Alnico poles.

I do not remember the guages off hand but the Jazz Master used slightly havier guage wire for the coil then the P-90.

So make a P-90, adjust the bobbins length and width to fit in the JazzMaster pickup covers, use individual pole pieces and wind the bobbin untill full. Use 1 Guage thicker wire then the P-90, if you want go 2 guages thicker for the neck pickup for abit more treble, or do them the same, you will have plenty of variation in sound without the pickups being different.

do that and you will get a good sounding pickup. Try and find some 1/4" PVC sheet for a spacer in the bobbin instead of winding right on the magnets. This will give you a sturdier bobbin and make it so you can try different magnets. See how the long ones compare to the short, play about with it. The difference in sound from winding on the coils and a 1/4" spacer is next to nothing. Same with the pole spacing, space them to your strings instead of a stock spacing, Fender did it that way because it was cheaper, not because it was better. It is not going to to make a huge difference in the sound but the anal andy in me likes things to line up and be symetrical, you will notice a slight difference in playability and little in sound if any.

And just fill that bobbin, sure Fender did not fill the JazzMaster bobbin all the way, but they had fancy winding machines, the original hand wound prototypes probably were filled. Your winding is going to be sloppy compared to the machine, so you will get less wire in the same space, so fill that bobbin. Do not pot untill you have tried it, it is a real pain to change once potted. If it ends up being to dark, sustainy, or loud for your tastes remove a couple hundred turns and see how it changes, just remember you can not change one of those characteristics without changing the others. Focus on keeping even tension on the wire while winding, let the wind be a little sloppy if that means the tension is even, but do not go overboard on the slop. Do both mediocrely and you will get good resaults.

You do all that, and you will have a great sounding pickup. It may not be a real Jazzmaster pickup but you will need expensive winding machines to achieve that. Its not like your Jazzmaster will be real either, but I bet it will be better.

adam

[rob440]

Thanks Adam, I appreciate all that information, it will come in handy when I wind ( or try to wind) these pickups. I guess if they suck I can always spend the big bucks with seymour duncan or one of thier competitors. I have to try it though after all my experience with amplifier mojo debunking pickups are probably really simple.

[adamasd]

Pickups are pretty simple. When you start out you will most likely break the wire alot, in the beginning just start over every time you break the wire. Keep at it until you can get get 1/3 to half way through without break, if you make it that far you got tension down pretty good, just solder any breaks and put a small piece of tape on the splice. Mostly you need to get the tension down and all will be well, to much tension and you stretch the wire and end up with alot breaks, not enough tension and you have a microphonic pickup which can be cured by potting but a loosely wound coil has never sounded right to me. It might just be that I know its loose and I let that effect my perception of its sound though,  I tend to do that. Just get the technique down and you will be able to wind a pickup in an hour, so making a change or rewinding or remaking tends not to be much of a deal.

good luck