DIY pickup build

[bassman7755]

Anyone done this ? considered it ? am I completely nuts for even thinking about it ?

 

OK so the back story is that I have a couple of hohner jack 5 string basses that have non standard sized and string spaced pickups. Well I say non standard but they are basically 4 string jazz fitments i.e. 91/94 mm single coils  but since there is 5 strings over the 4-string sized pickup, standard jazz pickup pole pieces are completely out of line as you see here:

 

 

 

 

So I'm thinking of  3D printing some bobbins with the right spacing spacing and winding them myself using a cobbled together pickup winder built from an rechargeable  drill.

 

Should all that the original pickups are EMG selects which are apparently ceramic blade pickups and they sound decent enough, very punchy/dynamic but I want a bit of old school grind/clank on one of them so want some alnico Vs on one of the two bases.

 

Yes I have approached a custom builder (bloodstone) who will do the custom pole piece spacing for a very reasonable extra £15 making the pickup set about £100 so which now I think about it is a bit of a no-brainer but ... wheres the fun in that eh ?.

 

Edited October 18, 2021 by bassman7755

[bertbass]

I tried many years ago and couldn't stop the wire breaking.  Doesn't stop me from thinking it might be fun to try again though.

[Hellzero]

I modified an old Lenco turntable in the 90's to wind my own pickups. Breaking wires are all about finding the right speed... At 78 RPM, it was becoming challenging...

 

And pole pieces placed exactly under their corresponding strings is pure bullsh*t as the magnetic field is the same even between the adjacent pole pieces unless you put your string so close to these pole pieces that they will attract the string and create very weird harmonics making you think your instrument is always out of tune.

[bassman7755]

7 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

And pole pieces placed exactly under their corresponding strings is pure bullsh*t as the magnetic field is the same even between the adjacent pole pieces unless you put your string so close to these pole pieces that they will attract the string and create very weird harmonics making you think your instrument is always out of tune.

 

But as you can see the middle string is way out of whack and measuring the output with it seemed to be slightly lower, not by much though, if I couldn't see it I probably wouldn't even notice. But your right in that its a case of 80% aesthetics 20% function probably in this case.

 

I also fancy the idea of trying to make a concentric coil humbucker, wierdly there seems to be zero info on the net about building such a thing. The idea being that you reverse wind an outer coil (that has slightly fewer winds to compensate for the increased diameter).

Edited October 19, 2021 by bassman7755

[Maude]

On 19/10/2021 at 15:22, bassman7755 said:

The idea being that you reverse wind an outer coil (that has slightly fewer winds to compensate for the increased diameter).

 

Which achieves what? 

 

That's not meant to sound as abrupt as it does. I'm genuinely interested in what this does to the sound. 

🙂

[PaulThePlug]

Howzabout getting some plain style sealed look covers from the bay for £4 the Pair...

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-String-Guitar-Parts-Sealed-Pickup-Covers-2x-for-JB-Style-Guitar-Instrument-/255184357305?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

 

Then it will no longer look odd to your eye

[lemmywinks]

Could just try rail pickups instead of ones with individual pole pieces?

 

I think Bartolinis and some EMGs are rails under the covers.

Edited October 23, 2021 by lemmywinks

[bassman7755]

3 hours ago, Maude said:

 

Which achieves what? 

 

That's not meant to sound as abrupt as it does. I'm genuinely interested in what this does to the sound. 

🙂

 

Hum cancellation - you've essentially got a humbucker but with one coil inside the other. 

[bassman7755]

2 hours ago, lemmywinks said:

Could just try rail pickups instead of ones with individual pole pieces?

 

I think Bartolinis and some EMGs are rails under the covers.

 

Yeah the original pickups are emg selects which I think are blades, but I was specifically looking for something with more old school sound so wanting to try something alnico V based.

[lemmywinks]

7 hours ago, bassman7755 said:

 

Yeah the original pickups are emg selects which I think are blades, but I was specifically looking for something with more old school sound so wanting to try something alnico V based.

 

The EMG Select J pickups you get in those old Cort builds (they're licensed in house pickups, not real EMGs) are a bit puny and wet sounding, also usually coupled with a pretty naff sounding preamp. Barts are a huge upgrade, can get pretty trad Jazz sounds out of them. Aquilar are also bar magnets underneath the covers I think, again would knock the Selects out of the park.

 

The Select P pickups are quite decent though IMO, I've actually put those in basses I like to play rather than taken them out as with the J pickups!

[Matte_black]

I'd replace the pickups with a "closed" set with bar magnets.

If you decide to give it a go, I should have some AlNiCo5 bars long enough for those pickups... it would solve (if you're having it) the problem of the magnets not picking up the movement of each string.

As far as I know, though, on many 5ers you'll find 4-strings-sized J pickups.

[BigRedX]

On 19/10/2021 at 15:22, bassman7755 said:

I also fancy the idea of trying to make a concentric coil humbucker, wierdly there seems to be zero info on the net about building such a thing. The idea being that you reverse wind an outer coil (that has slightly fewer winds to compensate for the increased diameter).

 

That would be almost completely signal cancelling. A humbucker works because both the winding of the coil and the magnetic polarity is swapped around between the coils. This means that any "background noise" and some very high frequencies (determined by the distance between the two coils) get cancelled out and the rest of the sound of the strings gets through. If both coils are around the same polarity pole-pieces then everything will be cancelled out. That's why there is no information on them. They don't work.

[bassman7755]

4 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

That would be almost completely signal cancelling. A humbucker works because both the winding of the coil and the magnetic polarity is swapped around between the coils. This means that any "background noise" and some very high frequencies (determined by the distance between the two coils) get cancelled out and the rest of the sound of the strings gets through. If both coils are around the same polarity pole-pieces then everything will be cancelled out. That's why there is no information on them. They don't work.

 

Yeah I think I must have misunderstood the concept, it was probably just a plain old coil tap.

[bassman7755]

12 hours ago, Matte_black said:

I'd replace the pickups with a "closed" set with bar magnets.

If you decide to give it a go, I should have some AlNiCo5 bars long enough for those pickups... it would solve (if you're having it) the problem of the magnets not picking up the movement of each string.

As far as I know, though, on many 5ers you'll find 4-strings-sized J pickups.

Thanks for the offer, for now I'm going to 3d print some bobbin ends with the correct hole spacing and see how that goes (I've already bought a bunch of pole pieces)

Edited November 9, 2021 by bassman7755

[Rexel Matador]

I've done it - it can be frustrating if/when the wire breaks but it's totally doable. I did it using a hand drill just like you're suggesting.

I downloaded an app on my phone called Magnetic Counter. I stuck a neodymium magnet on the chuck of the drill, and then placed the phone as close to it as I could - it counts each time the magnet goes past so you can get an accurate count of the windings. You may have thought of this already, but it's a good tip if you hadn't!

[Rexel Matador]

Also, you can do stacked coils for hum cancelling I think, rather than concentric

[bassman7755]

7 minutes ago, Rexel Matador said:

I've done it - it can be frustrating if/when the wire breaks but it's totally doable. I did it using a hand drill just like you're suggesting.

I downloaded an app on my phone called Magnetic Counter. I stuck a neodymium magnet on the chuck of the drill, and then placed the phone as close to it as I could - it counts each time the magnet goes past so you can get an accurate count of the windings. You may have thought of this already, but it's a good tip if you hadn't!

 

Ah didn't realise you could use the phone do it but I bought some magnetic counter thingy off ebay for a few quid that will do the job.