Post by GuitarAttack Forum on Jan 13, 2014 7:12:44 GMT -6
When long-time contributor Dane asked me to build a pair of P-90 pickups for a new build, I agreed to post the progress on the Forum. Here we go....
A common question is "How long will it be before I get my pickups?" Normally it is a minimum of 2-4 weeks, sometime a little longer because I rarely keep pickups in stock.
First, I do not mass-produce my pickups; I build them to order. I am pretty obsessive about their sound and quality, and I do not want to go off-shore to save money on their production.
Second, I build and test all of the pickups by myself. I install the pickups in a real guitar and play them through a series of amps. If they sound bad I don't use them. That is the true test!
Third, I want the buyer to get a pickup they are comfortable with. I want them to understand what they are getting is custom and hand-made at a shop in the United States. I want them to understand the tone we are shooting for and that I'll stand behind the pickup.
Finally, I don't use parts kits for my pickups. I get the parts from a number of different sources and have a number of the parts produced locally. The magnets are particularly difficult in terms of consistency. I keep a small stock in my shop, but I normally source the parts when there is interest. Because the vast majority of my pickups are custom, keeping a lot of stock parts in the shop is impractical.
Dane decided he wanted a set of P-90s for a LP-style project he was starting. He posted the following questions:
1. Ok, is Alnico 5 stronger than 2 and how is tone changed, ie; brighter, warmer?
2. Is the wire gauge just like other wire gauge then? The 44 being smaller diameter than 42?
3. Finally, if I want to end up with a fat but not harsh P90 with good crunch but that cleans up nice what would you recommend?
I answered -
1. Generally, ALNICO 5s are stronger than ALNICO 2s...generally. I find a lot of magnets mislabeled and some are just better than others. That cheap 5 may be much weaker than a good 2, and vice versa. I have a box of magnets in the shop and match the magnet to the tone and the characteristics of the pickup. That is one reason - of the many - two of the exact same pickups can sound so dramatically different.
2. Correct -- there are generally three gauges of wire used in pickup building: 42 AWG (Gibson Humbuckers and Fender Strat pickups); 43 AWG (Tele neck pickup, some hotter humbuckers)l and 44 AWG (Super Distortion type humbuckers and really hot single coils).
3. For the P-90 I would go with a vintage-style wind. They generally don't sound that great really hot. We could also add an extra wind to give you some extra output for leads if you want a switch or push/pull pot.
4. BTW -- checking just the resistance of a pickup will not tell you whether or not it works. A humbucker will read 8.0k, for example, even if it doesn't have a magnet installed! A demagnetized Strat pickup will still give a resistance reading.
After a lot of discussion and PMs, we decided that the bridge would be about 8k post tap, 6.2k pre-tap...like a Strat and a P-90 in one. The bridge pickup would be about .2k less on each.
The next steps are (1) Wind a prototype coil and (2) Start getting the parts together.
More to follow,
John
A common question is "How long will it be before I get my pickups?" Normally it is a minimum of 2-4 weeks, sometime a little longer because I rarely keep pickups in stock.
First, I do not mass-produce my pickups; I build them to order. I am pretty obsessive about their sound and quality, and I do not want to go off-shore to save money on their production.
Second, I build and test all of the pickups by myself. I install the pickups in a real guitar and play them through a series of amps. If they sound bad I don't use them. That is the true test!
Third, I want the buyer to get a pickup they are comfortable with. I want them to understand what they are getting is custom and hand-made at a shop in the United States. I want them to understand the tone we are shooting for and that I'll stand behind the pickup.
Finally, I don't use parts kits for my pickups. I get the parts from a number of different sources and have a number of the parts produced locally. The magnets are particularly difficult in terms of consistency. I keep a small stock in my shop, but I normally source the parts when there is interest. Because the vast majority of my pickups are custom, keeping a lot of stock parts in the shop is impractical.
Dane decided he wanted a set of P-90s for a LP-style project he was starting. He posted the following questions:
1. Ok, is Alnico 5 stronger than 2 and how is tone changed, ie; brighter, warmer?
2. Is the wire gauge just like other wire gauge then? The 44 being smaller diameter than 42?
3. Finally, if I want to end up with a fat but not harsh P90 with good crunch but that cleans up nice what would you recommend?
I answered -
1. Generally, ALNICO 5s are stronger than ALNICO 2s...generally. I find a lot of magnets mislabeled and some are just better than others. That cheap 5 may be much weaker than a good 2, and vice versa. I have a box of magnets in the shop and match the magnet to the tone and the characteristics of the pickup. That is one reason - of the many - two of the exact same pickups can sound so dramatically different.
2. Correct -- there are generally three gauges of wire used in pickup building: 42 AWG (Gibson Humbuckers and Fender Strat pickups); 43 AWG (Tele neck pickup, some hotter humbuckers)l and 44 AWG (Super Distortion type humbuckers and really hot single coils).
3. For the P-90 I would go with a vintage-style wind. They generally don't sound that great really hot. We could also add an extra wind to give you some extra output for leads if you want a switch or push/pull pot.
4. BTW -- checking just the resistance of a pickup will not tell you whether or not it works. A humbucker will read 8.0k, for example, even if it doesn't have a magnet installed! A demagnetized Strat pickup will still give a resistance reading.
After a lot of discussion and PMs, we decided that the bridge would be about 8k post tap, 6.2k pre-tap...like a Strat and a P-90 in one. The bridge pickup would be about .2k less on each.
The next steps are (1) Wind a prototype coil and (2) Start getting the parts together.
More to follow,
John