MEC "vintage humbucker" streamer pick up tear down (M RB 60160 4P AB45)

[Danage]

I've had a German made Warwick Streamer standard for... 23 years now. The pickup in this thing has always been a mystery. MEC don't sell them on their website, and I'm a curious sort. So you can buy the pickups on AliExpress... I've potentially wasted £22.99 here just to satisfy my curiosity. I'm assuming they have fallen off the back of the lorry that was delivering them to where ever the Warwick Rockbasses are made. So I bought one, solely with the intention of taking it apart to see how it is constructed, and maybe even swapping the magnets to give a different sound. I think they pickups are generally unliked... They are 500hz city... so much midrange. Personally, I do like them, but I feel I'm in a minority. 

Anyway, the pickup arrived. As far as I can tell it looks genuine and measured just under 7k in series. It is a completely sealed unit, just like the one on my bass. Whatever the goop is that they sealed it up with... its softer than epoxy, harder than silicone, and softens rather readily under the heat of a hair dryer. Pictures are worth a thousand words, but in short, it looks to be constructed from two Firebird pickup bobbins... 

WSC can be seen stamped on one of the bobbins. A bit of googling suggest that this might be for Woo Sung Chorus, who rebranded to "Roswell" "AB45" is also visible on the bobbin. MEC say they make all their pickups in Germany, so maybe WSC are their bobbin OEM.

So what to do now? I'm tempted to melt all the junk out and try a magnet transplant; swap them out for something alnico?

Anyway, if you've ever wondered what's in these things, or what kind of pickup it is modelled after... it umm... look like a firebird pickup!

[Doctor J]

If you bought it from China I would say there's a reasonable chance it's not quite the genuine article.

[Danage]

  On 02/04/2025 at 21:33, Doctor J said:

If you bought it from China I would say there's a reasonable chance it's not quite the genuine article.

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Yes. As far as I can tell though, it is indistinguishable from the genuine one I own. Also... It's a bit of a strange pickup to fake. They're not desirable.

 

In any case, I'll preserve and see where I get to with this little distraction.

[Danage]

If anyone is interested, the bar magnet is 67mm long and 5mm wide. Depth still to be uncovered (in all meanings of that word). So although it is a firebird-like construction, the dimensions are way different. 

[lemmywinks]

If it's the Streamer Standard Bolt On (with the one piece bridge and less contoured body) then it's the precursor to the Rockbass range, will presumably have the same spec pickup as the original Rockbass Streamers. The AE pickup might not be a fake as Rockbass stuff does show up on there from time to time including whole basses, most likely "unofficial" factory runs or QC failures.

 

I had that pickup in my German SSBO (single pickup version), didn't like it much and always thought it sounded a bit wet behind the ears, the opposite of what you want from a Warwick really.

[Danage]

  On 04/04/2025 at 12:45, lemmywinks said:

If it's the Streamer Standard Bolt On (with the one piece bridge and less contoured body) then it's the precursor to the Rockbass range, will presumably have the same spec pickup as the original Rockbass Streamers. The AE pickup might not be a fake as Rockbass stuff does show up on there from time to time including whole basses, most likely "unofficial" factory runs or QC failures.

 

I had that pickup in my German SSBO (single pickup version), didn't like it much and always thought it sounded a bit wet behind the ears, the opposite of what you want from a Warwick really.

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Yeah, it's definitely an oddity in the Warwick world. I'm currently in a reggae/ska band so the darker tones from it work well for me, but the general consensus is that it's not a popular pickup. Yep, mine is a German made SSBO too.

 

Trying to find alternative magnets of the same size is proving a struggle.

[Danage]

Got the magnets out 

 

67x13x5mm.

 

Can't find any alnico or ceramic magnets in this sizing commercially. Can find 67x12x5 neodymium... Not what I'm looking for though 

 

Anyone know where I can get alnico 2, 3 or 5 in that size?

 

Anyone know why the bobbins would be wrapped in copper foil like this?

 

Only other observation is that one bobbin was wax potted and the other wasn't. Maybe a QC failure that lead it coming to the general market?