Oblivion DC":vx3nhoo8 said:
I'm still really interested in trying out one of your pickups, James. Is there any new information you can update us with??
Sure, I can give you some info.
By the way, if you want to chat with me about stuff (you or anyone else), feel free to email or call. I'll respond here but it could be a while, depending on how busy I am and if I notice a post of someone asking me questions.
The idea I originally had for my pickup line was to have a lot of things variable about them, to more closely match what people want in a pickup for a given guitar. Slowly I began to realize a few things: 1) that would probably drive people crazy trying to choose a pickup, 2) a lot of the variables in the design only affect things subtly, and 3) there are enough things in common that people want in a pickup, that not much has to be variable as long as key points are addressed in the design.
So now I have a few bridge humbucking pickup designs that are really "dialed in" and well suited to lots of guitars. Part of that involves winding the north bobbin (closer to the neck) differently and/or with different wire so it makes a bit more focused sounding for that position (since the sound is naturally fatter there), while allowing the south bobbin (closer to the bridge) to be more open/dynamic (since the sound is naturally thinner there). The pickups can sound tight in a wide variety of guitars as a result. Part of that is also due to how they're wound, and the materials used. But the "icing on the cake" was figuring out how I could make the designs more suited to brighter or darker guitars without sacrificing much if at all. Previously the designs were a bit "leaned" toward a brighter guitar or a darker guitar, but now I shouldn't have to do that. I can still make custom builds if a guitar is particularly bright/dark/dead sounding (etc.) but now it's less complicated. Mostly the options for customization will involve what magnet is used, and if I need to consider changing any pole pieces to allow for "problem ranges" on a particular guitar (if the customer mentions the high 2 strings are really plinky sounding, for instance).
Here's what I have for designs at the moment. Each are available with A5 or C8 magnets (so it's like 2 different designs for each "design" listed below
Design 1: A high output bridge pickup measuring around 17K ohms resistance, full sounding with lots of harmonics, excellent articulation and tight attack. It's not overpowering but it's definitely hot. It's a very dynamic high output pickup. (It's like my high gain amp designs in that it walks the fine line between vintage and modern for some aspects of its sound, while definitely being high gain/high output.) Depending on the magnet used in the pickup it can cover a somewhat different range. A5 is still solid with tight attack, but is a bit more raw and has more warmth and growl. C8 makes the pickup more "in your face" without being outright brash, and it still has nice "classic" aspects and growl. Loose comparisons (I hate doing this) would involve "Duncan JB crossed with Dimarzio Super Distortion, less mid honk, tighter and with PAF-like qualities sprinkled in and better growl" (for the A5 version); "Duncan Distortion but less extreme/more open and with more vintage vibe when you want it, and with more growl" (for the C8 version).
Design 2: Medium to high output bridge pickup measuring around 14K ohms resistance. It has similarities with design 1 above but it's more open, less full/rich sounding. I guess you could say this is for folks who use tons of gain but want the sound to be really clear from string to string, and don't want a more full sound. Loose comparison (did I mention I hate doing this?) would be "Duncan Custom but a bit more woody with more warmth, and with PAF-like qualities sprinkled in" for the A5 version; and it's a bit more aggressive/tight with the C8 version.
Design 3: Medium to high output neck pickup well suited to match with either of the two above bridge pickup designs. It's wound differently from the bridge pickups and with different wire, so it measures around 12K ohms resistance. It's relatively full sounding but has nice chime so the neck position doesn't sound very dark. I used to struggle with neck pickup choices since lots of them sound "too fat", or if you go with a thinner sounding pickup for the neck it doesn't balance well with a high output bridge pickup. This solves that problem and sounds great doing it. The magnet I'd recommend for this pickup would probably be to match whatever magnet is in the bridge pickup (if someone buys one of my pickups for the bridge, that is) or by default A5 since the neck position naturally has more fundamental to the tone (so it doesn't need C8 for that "in your face" aspect unless you really want it).
Also: I can make a "calibrated version" of the neck pickup based on the bridge pickup. That is, a neck pickup made like the bridge pickup you choose but underwound (by comparison to the bridge pickup) to compensate for the difference in output/fundamental at the neck position. Some people prefer a "calibrated set" since the pickups will sound more similar. I don't mind doing this at all!
Remember that resistance readings don't tell you much about a pickup, including the output. A pickup with taller magnets than standard can sound significantly more powerful, and be wound exactly the same as one with shorter magnets. And that's just one factor. The type of wind you do is important (and I'm able to change up my winding pattern/tension quite easily since I'm doing this all myself). Then there's the thickness of the wire to consider. A "10K ohm pickup" could be wound with 42 gauge or 43 gauge wire for instance, and they'll have very different sound and output; 10K ohms of 42 gauge wire (such as used in most PAF type pickups) can be quite powerful compared to 10K ohms of 43 gauge wire (thinner); also it's possible to wind each bobbin differently and use mixes of wire for a pickup. I won't get into the different types of pickup wire insulation (partially because there are notable differences in the sound, but also because they can be more subtle in the sound differences than some people assume.) Then there are the pole pieces to consider, and they can affect the sound significantly. Magnets of different types--if all else is equal from pickup to pickup (and it usually isn't)--can have predictable differences in the sound, but it's hard to make direct comparisons unless you've swapped magnets in a pickup to hear the differences in the same design; even so, I've found A8 sounds different in my designs so far (not just the ones above, but all the ones which didn't make the cut) than in any other pickups I've swapped them into over the years! There are more variables...I could go on, but it gets boring and confusing since a lot of this is important in the proper context and that's hard to explain to someone who hasn't swapped one variable at a time to hear the differences each can make.
