Benson Pickups, Fender Squier upgrade

[tonyw]

Yes i use the solder sucker, but now i have a use for the wick, that just sits in my junk bin, i think i got that from Jaycar and the solder sucker was on sale somewhere, i think it was the blue shed.

[wokkaboy]

great tutorial Stan, I am learning a few tips and tricks as wiring is the weakest part of my builds.

Was also good to see a photo of you and Lozza, what a top bloke he is !

[stan]

Thanks wokka, yep Lozza is a top bloke

[Benson]

Great tutorial Stan , thank you for the write up and I would love to hear your thoughts on the pickups.
Let me introduce myself, my name is John Benson and I am the winder at Benson Custom Pickups.
I am a lover of great tone and enjoy helping people bring out the most from their instruments.

I wanted to chime in to answer a couple of questions that popped up.

Tonyw is correct regarding winders trying to add that mystic to their own builds. I myself really just put the bare facts out there as to my parts and process due to years of questions. I let the tone speak for itself.

We have never used any clever set names or gimmicks, my aim is just plain quality and tone

My medium scatter refers to my own winding technique.
I have had many that have asked about a heavier scatter which then a coil can get microphonic from loose wires and with a mild scatter, you can still end up with a 60 cycle hum. This is just me sharing as much as I can with everyone.

In regards to the Alnico 3 in the bridge. Through the years , everyone has always complained about the ice pick tones in the vintage bridge position, but people love the neck and middle. My set is wound to capture the classic neck and middle tones, then I over wind the bridge to balance and use alnico 3 magnets to smooth it out.
I get great reviews on how usable my bridge pickup is and still stays true to the 63 vibe.

Really the true test just boils down to how the pickups sound for you and how your guitar feels, good sound is just good sound!

Thank you for time and very thorough job building this guard. I enjoyed the read!

[WeirdBits]

Excellent. Thank you for the detailed info.

[stan]

Great tutorial Stan , thank you for the write up and I would love to hear your thoughts on the pickups.
Let me introduce myself, my name is John Benson and I am the winder at Benson Custom Pickups.
I am a lover of great tone and enjoy helping people bring out the most from their instruments.

I wanted to chime in to answer a couple of questions that popped up.

Tonyw is correct regarding winders trying to add that mystic to their own builds. I myself really just put the bare facts out there as to my parts and process due to years of questions. I let the tone speak for itself.

We have never used any clever set names or gimmicks, my aim is just plain quality and tone

My medium scatter refers to my own winding technique.
I have had many that have asked about a heavier scatter which then a coil can get microphonic from loose wires and with a mild scatter, you can still end up with a 60 cycle hum. This is just me sharing as much as I can with everyone.

In regards to the Alnico 3 in the bridge. Through the years , everyone has always complained about the ice pick tones in the vintage bridge position, but people love the neck and middle. My set is wound to capture the classic neck and middle tones, then I over wind the bridge to balance and use alnico 3 magnets to smooth it out.
I get great reviews on how usable my bridge pickup is and still stays true to the 63 vibe.

Really the true test just boils down to how the pickups sound for you and how your guitar feels, good sound is just good sound!

Thank you for time and very thorough job building this guard. I enjoyed the read!

Hi John, thanks so much for taking the time to read this, I appreciate your feedback.
Thanks for the extra info, it clarifies a lot.
These are a really slick and nicely made pickup, and before too long they should be in my guitar, I am very much looking forward to it.

[stan]

A few more pics, because we love them.

Just a tidy up here and also the addition of heat shrink to where the cap is near the ground wire, no point chasing a grounding problem I can fix now. End was simply deslodered, heat shrink tube placed over the braid, and resoldered.

There are three more wires too add:
They all connect to the ground of the Volume pot, two go to the output jack and one to bridge ground.

Apart from that, this is how it looks:

[andrewdosborne]

Nice soldering job Stan, a work of art!

[stan]

Thanks Andrew

[tonyw]

Nice work Stan