I don't disagree. But Sting and Dusty Hill both liked the older style and they seem to be resurging in popularity.Originally Posted by Rabbit
Sent from my LE2125 using Tapatalk
I don't disagree. But Sting and Dusty Hill both liked the older style and they seem to be resurging in popularity.
Sent from my LE2125 using Tapatalk
OK, second attempt at this post, first one I got to the end, and had a brain fart, I clicked "+ Reply to Thread" instead of "Post Quick Reply", and the whole post vanished! Lucky when I came back and tried again it asked me if I wanted to restore.
More minor progress on the pickup front.
This is a Mojotone hand tensioner used to put tension on the coil wire while it's being wound:
Sorry if the picture is kinda tiny. And here is what I came up with. Not as elegant, but functional:
I used a mig tip designed for 0.6mm wire and put a taper on it to make it look pretty. I figured that compared to the 0.06mm wire used to wind the pups, 0.6mm should be big enough to drive a bus through. No such luck. There is a video on how to load the mojo tone tool that makes it seem so easy, but i found I couldn't thread the wire through, it is so flimsy it kept bending before it got half way through. In the end I had to thread some 0.4mm wire I happen to have and solder the end of the coil wire to it and pull that through.
Some 2mm eyelet/grommets came so I was able to drill holes and install two of them on the second pup to see if that gave me a neater way to connect the coil to the leads and anchor them.
Here's the connection of the first pup without them. I used 5min epoxy to anchor the leads:
And this is the second one with the grommets:
See if you can guess which grommet was installed first :\
I won't be using these pups because I'm not happy with the way the top bowed up instead of staying flat. I'm going to try 2mm thick Ironbark.It's all been a learning experience.
What split on you? The closest that I have come to making the wood bass that you have are pickup rings that I made out of maple. Knowing what I know now, I would probably make them out of a softer wood. Maple was hard to sand to remove material and also had a high propensity to split...much like at your eyelet. I mention this because of the mention of Ironwood... We don't have that here in Florida so I had to look it up. Wow! that stuff is hard...like somewhere between Brazilian and Honduran rosewood hard. It looks like it might make a harder version of a maple fingerboard...A light fingerboard over a mahogany neck would look very cool...but I digress... Is there an advantage to using a very hard wood for the base of the pickup rather than an easier to work wood?
In any case...this is looking more and more like an Aussie Boutique pickup ;-)
hehe yeh, Australian hardwords kinda redefine "hard"....the kinda thing you use to hammer in nails when you don't have a hammer ') I'm using red ironbark for one of the fretboards. the axe will be spotted gum.
the advantage of using the ironbark wasn't about the base, although as a single layer bobbin base it would also apply, but it's stiffness I'm after. The so called rock maple bent up from the pressure of the winds in the coil.
The grommets look really neat - shame about the split!
PitBull Builds: FVB-4, LP-1SS, FBM-1, AG-2, TB-4, SSCM-1, TLA-1, TL-1TB, STA-1HT, DSCM-1 Truckster, ST-1, STA-1, MBM-1, MBM custom.
Scratch Builds: Pine Explorer, Axe Bass, Mr Scary, Scratchy Tele's.
The little voices in my head keep telling me "build more guitars"
Luckily I'm making new pups so i't no big deal, but a valuable learning experience. I used an imperial drill that gave a snug fit.I think using a slightly larger hole will give the grommet room for expansion. The other mistake I made with the first of those two grommets was belting the installation tool too hard.
Edit: to avoid a double post , a quick update. I wound a test pup using red ironbark flatwork. Wasn't sure if I had enough wire left. Turns out that I did and the ironbark worked out. I also tried using a slightly larger drill to install a couple of rivets/grommets. That also worked , no splitting.
Last edited by Rabbit; 11-06-2023 at 10:25 AM.
Well it's been a while, but I have been working on way too many other projects, some of which overlap, some of which are unrelated to guitar building.
I made new bobbins for the axe.They are alnico v pole pieces and the poles are reversed between each bobbin. The stuff between pole pieces is epoxy because wax just runs out when I pot them.
These wont be true humbuckers as the windings will be scatterwound . there will be a 10mm gap between pups. I also stained the upper flatwork black because I had recollection of them being black with the silver pole pieces. Turns out that was wrong, and I am going to have to make silver covers. I did a test to see if I could weld the 0.25mm stainless sheet. My welder stops at 10amp as a min and that's not low enough. My other options are silver braze, or to try making a plug and form and try to press them. not sure how that will go without crinkling the curves.
I will also have to play around with cams on my neck carving jig to get the profile correct for the shorter, narrower neck.
I am really impressed with what you are able to fabricate. Shaping up to be one of the coolest and scratchiest of builds ;-)
I keep thinking that you've built all the equipment, so if you like doing this, I am sure there's a market
Nice work there Rabbit, interesting way to go for customising. Refining a technique is one of the most satisfying outcomes doing this sort of thing. Keep the posts coming, I'm interested in the end results.
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