scottosan
Well-known member
Video comparison at the bottom.
Okay. Gonna nerd out, but I think it’s important to understand what goes into a pickup. A lot of people think it’s just wires around a magnet and similar spec pickups should sound similar, but there’s a reason there’s so many flavors of pickups on the market. Coming up with a new model is actually easier than trying to copy a pickup.
I was getting a little frustrated that I could not get as chunky of a feel of my Psykes compared to the original Dirty Fingers. I was really tying to keep similar specs but decided to just wind how I felt it needed to be wound and to mess the the magnet placement and different metal spacers to fine tune, since my magnets that flank the main magnet are also a little more narrow than the originals.
Aside from the magnet, It’s amount of winds/inductance that determine the output of a pickup. The DC resistance is not a reliable indicator unless it’s the same gauge, magnet, and construction and materials. The thing with inductance though is that the ferrous material in the vicinity of the coil also affect the inductance/output. A bobbin with the slugs removed has a much lower inductance than a bobbin with slugs installed, so the metal spacers, screws, slugs, all affect that. The original DF has a single .19 spacer. I had to use 2 spacers. , the magnetic gauss presented at the screw and slug heads (near the strings) varies based on the composition of those materials. Since it is cost prohibitive for any custom fabrication for steel spacers, I spent much time with testing out existing spacers of varying carbon content from what’s available on the market as well as the screw composition to get me in the ball park for inductance, and gauss at screw and slug tops.
After all of that, I got as close as I could from a constructions standpoint. I was still a short on the inductance reading per the published specs. But again, you can go by DC resistance alone. Per spec, the older pickups were around 16k. Likely back in the day, the wire gauges were somewhere in between 43 and 44awg. Using more consistent wire now days, I decided to add more winds to get a closer inductance. Instead of the 7000 winds per original, I went with 7150 son that I could get the inductance to match.
The original measures 7.1h. The one I have now, is 6.9h. Mine measures 17k. The original 16k. So, since the original still has a higher inductance. As I suspected, the wire used for the original likely was between 43awg and 44awg and that’s why the lower resistance.
Additionally, the amount of turns of the bobbin before you fill 1 layer left to right (TPL) affects to tone. The higher the number, the brighter and tighter and lower the warmer and looser. I have to factor all of this in.
Anyway, this is absolutely as close as I’m going to get matching a machine wound pickup by hand. But, I’m excited and it was a great learning and validation experience.
Recorded loud enough for the unpotted Dirty Fingers to squeal
Added 10/29
Shortened and levels adjusted
Okay. Gonna nerd out, but I think it’s important to understand what goes into a pickup. A lot of people think it’s just wires around a magnet and similar spec pickups should sound similar, but there’s a reason there’s so many flavors of pickups on the market. Coming up with a new model is actually easier than trying to copy a pickup.
I was getting a little frustrated that I could not get as chunky of a feel of my Psykes compared to the original Dirty Fingers. I was really tying to keep similar specs but decided to just wind how I felt it needed to be wound and to mess the the magnet placement and different metal spacers to fine tune, since my magnets that flank the main magnet are also a little more narrow than the originals.
Aside from the magnet, It’s amount of winds/inductance that determine the output of a pickup. The DC resistance is not a reliable indicator unless it’s the same gauge, magnet, and construction and materials. The thing with inductance though is that the ferrous material in the vicinity of the coil also affect the inductance/output. A bobbin with the slugs removed has a much lower inductance than a bobbin with slugs installed, so the metal spacers, screws, slugs, all affect that. The original DF has a single .19 spacer. I had to use 2 spacers. , the magnetic gauss presented at the screw and slug heads (near the strings) varies based on the composition of those materials. Since it is cost prohibitive for any custom fabrication for steel spacers, I spent much time with testing out existing spacers of varying carbon content from what’s available on the market as well as the screw composition to get me in the ball park for inductance, and gauss at screw and slug tops.
After all of that, I got as close as I could from a constructions standpoint. I was still a short on the inductance reading per the published specs. But again, you can go by DC resistance alone. Per spec, the older pickups were around 16k. Likely back in the day, the wire gauges were somewhere in between 43 and 44awg. Using more consistent wire now days, I decided to add more winds to get a closer inductance. Instead of the 7000 winds per original, I went with 7150 son that I could get the inductance to match.
The original measures 7.1h. The one I have now, is 6.9h. Mine measures 17k. The original 16k. So, since the original still has a higher inductance. As I suspected, the wire used for the original likely was between 43awg and 44awg and that’s why the lower resistance.
Additionally, the amount of turns of the bobbin before you fill 1 layer left to right (TPL) affects to tone. The higher the number, the brighter and tighter and lower the warmer and looser. I have to factor all of this in.
Anyway, this is absolutely as close as I’m going to get matching a machine wound pickup by hand. But, I’m excited and it was a great learning and validation experience.
Recorded loud enough for the unpotted Dirty Fingers to squeal
Added 10/29
Shortened and levels adjusted
Last edited:
