This is a “parts kit” for a “Fan fret” 8 string Humbucker, and contains everything you’d need to make your own pickup, EXCEPT the wire for the coils, the hook-up wire, any tape used to protect the coils after winding, and solder. Fanned Fret® guitars don’t ALWAYS come with fan fret humbuckers! I cannot stress this enough, a lot of times, a fan fret guitar will come with a “normal” humbucker (so the poles aren’t in line with the string), installed at an angle, or a soap bar humbucker (which is actually a bass pickup!), again, installed on a slant. That’s absolutely fine, and makes very little difference to the way the guitar works, but, there will be times when your working with a Fan fret guitar, that it has the specific routes for these VERY specific type of pickups. The main give away is that the north and south poles will be in line with the string. Included in the kit are the following parts. 2 x ABS Bobbins (pole spacing, pole style and colour dependant on selected options) 14 x Steel Poles (pole style and colour dependant on selected options) 4 x Brass bobbin mounting screws (length dependant on selected options) 1 x Base plate (pole spacing and angle dependant on selected options) 2 x Plastic “spacers” (dimensions dependant on selected options) 1 x Steel “Pole screw keeper bar” (pole spacing dependant on selected options – none supplied if 16 Slug design)* 1 x (Magnetised) Bar Magnet (dimensions and material dependant on selected options) 2 x height adjustment bolts (colour to match poles colour) 2 x height adjustment springs. 2 x 2mm “surface mounting” screws. Optional product 1 x Steel “Pole screw keeper bar” (pole spacing dependant on selected options, IF, 12 screw design is specified) Everything is dependant?! I think it’s fair to say, when it comes to guitar parts, humbucker parts kits are about as complicated as it gets I’m afraid. This is the very sharpest end of “tinkering” with guitars, and, to put it simply, there are so many variables involved in this stuff, that even before we account for “how much wire are we putting on the bobbins”, you’re dealing with potentially thousands of different combinations. Just be aware that things can wander outside of the stated specifications, and whilst we try our best to specify what parts are being supplied clearly (they’ll be itemised on the invoice), some parts shipped may differ from those specified under the “technical & diagrams” tab to ensure your design works. Don’t worry too much on it, it will only be things like bobbin screw length and spacer height (to account for taller magnets) – everything else is pretty straight forward. Angle doesn’t match! This one threw me when we were designing these kits – for some reason I’m not quite sure of, guitar manufacturers aren’t matching the routes on Fan fret humbuckers to the angle of the bridges – so whilst you will find fan fret bridges in 11, 18, 21 and 26 degree versions, the pickups seemingly stick to either 6 and 12 degrees (and seemingly, theres very little logic as to which routes are used with which bridges!) – so, it’s a measuring job sadly. Its not too bad, simply take one of the corners, and use a protractor to find the angle – it will, hopefully, be close to either 6 or 12 degrees. Height adjustment? I have never seen a fan fret humbucker mounted from a humbucker ring or pickguard. They are ALWAYS surface mounted, and screwed directly to the wood inside the route. HOWEVER, the bases we supply with this kit, have threaded mounting holes, which will function in the way a regular (suspended) humbucker wound. Purely because its easier to drill out a threaded hole to accept a screw then it is to tap an oversized hole to accept a bolt.
Fanned-Fret® is a registered trademark of Novax corporation. Axesrus® is not affiliated with Novax®
