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Main Description
This is a “parts kit” for a "Vintage" 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.
This is what we’d call a “Normal” humbucker kit – it’ll fit most every guitar ever built (with a few exceptions), and opens up a world of possibilities for you to design your own pickups from the ground up.
Included in the kit are the following parts.
2 x Bobbins (pole spacing, Material and colour dependant on selected options)
6 x Steel Filister Head Pole Bolts(5-40 UNC Thread, Head & Colour dependant on selected options)
6 x Steel Pole Slugs (3/16" Diameter & Colour dependant on selected options)
4 x Brass bobbin mounting screws (length dependant on selected options)
1 x Base plate (pole spacing and material dependant on selected options)
2 x Maple “spacers
1 x Steel “Pole screw keeper bar” (pole spacing dependant on selected options)*
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.
Optional product
1 x German Silver Humbucker Cover (Colour, pole spacing and style dependant on selected options)
This kit is a little more restircted then out normal humbucker kit (where you can pretty much build anything you can dream up!) - and thats completely intentional. This kit is designed to replicate one of the original humbuckers, warts and all.
So please bare in mind, that this kit only comes with the long leg bases, 5-40 UNC bolts, 6 screw poles, 6 slugs, and a base to accept them (the holes in the base are threaded for the pole screws).
Strictly speaking, a vintage humbucker would only be available in 49.2mm spacing, but we're offering these kits in the modern 52.5mm version too. Not strictly speaking, "vintage correct" - but its a nice consideration nowadays if you want the look, without some of the quirks.
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.
Now, the site (and this product) is capable of handling that – you want a Red humbucker with Gold poles, a brass base, an oversized Alnico 8 magnet and a 12 hole black cover? No problem! Knock yourself out – but, be aware, the supplied parts will change to accommodate the design.
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. A 12 screw humbucker kit will be supplied with 12 screw poles, and zero slug poles, the bobbins will both be specifically for screw poles, and you won’t be able to install slug poles. A 12 slug humbucker kit will be supplied with a close faced cover, not a traditional or 12 screw style cover. I’d like to think it was all fairly self-explanatory, but just to spell it out – what you’re seeing in the image, is what you’re going to get, and we will ensure all parts supplied are compatible.
Pole Spacing
I’ve written this out in email for about 4000 times by this point, so, hopefully, this is going to be fairly straight forward nowadays, however, it’s one of those things that delves a little more into myth and legend then it does into math and science, so it has the potential to get away from me a little. I shall try to keep this fairly concise.
Simpler times, simpler designs.
When Humbuckers were invented in the 1950s (atleast, as in a form we’d recognise today) by Gibson®, they came in one size, one shape, one spec. Pole spacing was 49.2mm (approximately, these things were being made in the fifties in relatively small numbers, tolerances weren’t as tight as they are nowadays), centre to centre on the E to E, there were no specific neck or bridge versions (the neck pickup was simply installed with the pole screws pointing towards the neck and the bridge had them pointing towards the bridge) and that’s the only way humbuckers were made until, at least the 1970s.
Its, honestly, not perfect – it’s VERY rare for any electric guitar to have a string spacing (at the bridge saddles) of anything less than 52mm, and if you look at any old Gibson® guitars, you can see that the strings don’t sit over the poles – I doubt this was intentional, but, honestly? It doesn’t affect the sound of the pickup in the slightest. It’s purely a cosmetic thing, and, well? You’re in good company I suppose considering Gibson®, to this day, produce most of their humbuckers in 49.2mm pole spacing.
And, if Gibson® were the only company to make guitars, that would be it! One spacing, no necks, no bridges, just humbuckers, and my job would be easy! However, that’s not the case I’m afraid.
The 1970s – Disco, Punk rock, and Copyright violation
I’ll spare you the history of lawsuit guitars, because, chances are, if you’re looking at winding your own humbucker, this probably isn’t your first rodeo, and your more than familiar with “what went on in the 70s in Japan” – however, whilst this period of guitars has a few weird twists and turns within the grander scheme of things, lets focus on some of the weird stuff that happened with the pickups!
In short, when Hoshino Gakki (and whoever else was making the Tokais, Grecos, Burnys and Ibanez’ at that time) decided to essentially, copy, Gibson guitars (I think I’m on safe ground here, all this was put to bed in 1977!) they were doing it without really knowing a great deal about electric guitars (the entire idea being just over 20 years old, and Japan having a somewhat “frosty” relationship with the USA, I can’t say I’m overly surprised) and, seemingly, they’d not seen a great deal of them to actually base their “designs” off of, so, as you can expect, some things “got lost in translation”
The first, and most obvious “error” was one we’ve all likely made (multiple times if my returns emails are anything to go by!) – The messed up the pole spacing. 49.2mm (which is actually an imperial measurement, approximately, 1 15/16”) is seemingly, an insane level of accuracy for a non-critical dimension on a musical instrument part, and, Japan being a metric country, simply rounded up to 50mm.
And, the 50mm humbucker was born – functionally no different to the original design, just “made metric”
However, our Japanese brothers didn’t stop there!
Seemingly very early into their forays into this, they spotted the “bug” with the poles not lining up over the poles on the bridge pickup!
So… they’d set out to fix it – and, honestly? They actually did a pretty good engineering job on it! They (and I think you can spot where I’m going with this) made humbucker bobbins with a 52mm pole spacing, which brought the poles in line with the strings, AND (the clever part) to account for the increase in internal length of the bobbin to accommodate the poles, they increased the external length too, taking them from 66mm (which is the length of a the Gibson® bobbin, and, to this day, all 49.2mm bobbins!) to 68mm! (this has become mixed up a little over the subsequent years – 52mm bobbins are always 68mm long (as are 52.5mm, but more on that in a second!) and 50mm bobbins get a little muddled up. Sometimes they’re 68mm, sometimes they’re 67mm, sometimes they’re 66mm (ours are always 67mm)
Either way – we’ve got the very first “specific” neck and bridge humbuckers at this point! 50mm necks, 52mm bridges! And these lawsuit models got everywhere! (we still get emails asking for their parts to this day!) They were, by and large, very good!
But, it was too good to last, and Gibson® (and Fender®) went in with the legal hammer (as they had every right to!) and smashed up the whole thing. Hoshino Gakki would go to cement its Ibanez brand as something completely different to what it was in the 1970s, but the dye had been cast for humbuckers – Pandora’s box had been opened! Pole spacing had become a mess.
The Imperial “flip”
With the rise of the lawsuit guitars, Gibson® decided to get their jazz guitar brand out of mothballs and put it to some use in the far east in a real “cant beat em, join em” moment in the early 70s, and approached Matsumoku (Aria) to rebadge some of their models as Epiphone® – things like the Crestwood, the Wilshire, the Riviera, the Sasino and the Sheraton – all fairly kooky designs frankly (or keeping in tune with the Jazz thing Epiphone originally was) – and with these models, Gibson® gained access to 52mm spaced humbuckers.
Now this is purely hearsay (because no one’s really documenting this stuff!) but, presumably, Gibson® got good feedback on the pole spacing lining up with the strings over the bridge pickup, and approached their bobbin manufacturer, asking “make this for the USA stuff” – and, in the same way Japan made a rounding error from imperial to metric, the Americans made a rounding error going the other way – 52mm became 52.5mm (2 1/16”) (they even retained the 68mm bobbin length too!)
(And, if you’re interested in the history of this sort of stuff – Matsumoku were also making 48mm spaced pickups too – presumably another rounding error! It’s near extinct on humbuckers nowadays, but does survive on P90s and sometimes, single coils!)
Too many sizes! Too confusing!
Now, I’ll be the first to admit – it’s stupid. Considering pole spacing doesn’t really matter – the idea that we’ve ended up with 3 “common” sizes (49.2, 50, 52/52.5mm) (AND, at least 5 “uncommon” ones, which I won’t touch on here!) is laughable. Sadly, it’s the world we live in as pickup winders, so we’ve got to make the best of it.
So, it’s probably worth de-mystifying all of this a little.
52/52.5mm
First thing to address – 52mm vs. 52.5mm? Believe me or not, they are 2 different things… there exists parts in both sizes – however, they are, by and large, entirely cross compatible (USUALLY!... but not in this case - bare with me here) A 52mm cover will fit onto a 52.5mm bobbin will fit onto a 52mm base, and a 52.5mm cover will fit a 52mm bobbin which will fit a 52.5mm base. (the only thing that needs to match the bobbin, is the keeper bar underneath) – in short, you’ve got 0.5mm of tolerance. It only really affects 52.5mm vs. 52mm (50 vs 49.2mm is over 0.5mm so the rule doesn’t apply) – so, to keep things relatively neat, we only stock the 52.5mm parts in kit form.
HOWEVER - this isn't true with VINTAGE SPEC humbuckers - because of the way the pole bolts thread into the base plates, it essentially robs you of the 0.5mm wiggle room (which would allow you to fit a 52mm cover to a 52.5mm bobbin, or visa versa!) - so whilst 52.5mm vs 52mm isn't really something you've got to fret over with a normal humbucker, go in eyes open with this kit - if your sourcing a cover elsewhere, make sure its 52.5mm!
Generally speaking, 52.5mm (or 52mm if that’s what you’re working with, I won’t judge!) is what some people will call “F spaced” – this is a bit of a weird name to be honest, because I think we can all agree that the “F standard for Fender®” – it doesn’t I’m afraid. I’ve no idea where that came from to be honest – I *think* it might stand for “Floyd” as in Floyd rose®, but don’t quote me on that. Either way, a Fender® Strat®, at the period of 52/52.5mm humbuckers being released, would have had a string spacing of 2 7/32”, or 56.4mms, E to e string – that is definitely, not 52.5mm, and it will not match up – however? If your working with a tremolo, 52.5mm is about as wide as your ever going to get on a humbuckers pole spacing, so, just like the Gibson® guitars of old? Embrace it. 52.5mm humbuckers are your best choice.
Its also, a great choice for a bridge pickup if your trying to match up strings to poles on Gibson® or Epiphone® guitars, or anything with a tune-o-matic/ABR style bridge.
However – be aware, when winding your 52.5mm humbuckers, that the internal is longer, so your winds are long, and as such, your pickup will have a higher resistance then if it was a 50mm or a 49.2mm.
50mm
Slightly more straight forward thankfully – 50mm is 50mm – its most commonly used as a “neck” pickup as part of a “matched set”, with a 52/52.5mm in the bridge, in an effort to keep the strings lined up with the poles. However, its often used “wrongly” with people assuming “50mm = neck, 52mm = bridge” – its true, most of the time, if you’re using a Tune-o-matic or ABR bridge – its not always true with tremolos – you’ll sometimes find that you get a better “string to pole” match by using a 52.5mm in the neck, especially with vintage spec Tremolos.
Electrically, you’ve not really got a lot to worry about though – they’re marginally longer internally then 49.2mm bobbins, but they’re longer externally by a greater degree (56mm vs 55.5mm internal, and 67mm vs 66mm external!) so you’ve a little more breathing room on a 50mm bobbin compared to a 49.2mm – handy for slightly more “modern” builds if nothing else!)
And, if your torn between 50mm and 49.2mm? Remember, whilst 49.2mm spacing is “historically accurate” – you’ve got WAY more options in 50mm when it comes to bases, covers and blanking plates. Might never come up, but, equally, it pays to be flexible with your designs, and 50mm gives you a lot more scope to make unique pickups!
49.2mm
The grand daddy pickup spacing! Your poles wont line up with your strings, they’re the smallest internal and external, and your limited on options when it comes to covers and bases. Doesn’t have a great deal going to it as a spacing I suppose, BUT, its what was done originally, and its likely what will be used until the world stops turning for American manufacturing!
Frankly, from a “what its doing in a guitar”, its no different to a 50mm spacing, but it does have a few little quirks that have carried over from its original, American/imperial roots.
The main thing to bare in mind, is that the screw side bobbins will only take 5 - 40 UNC bolts – M3 bolts (which are what most pickups come with nowadays) wont bite into the plastic – so, its 5-40s you’ll be needing (and its what you’ll get with a 49.2mm kit, even if you specify M3s!)
Interestingly, using 5-40 bolts on the screw side will actually increase the inductance of that coil (because of the higher ferric content (the thread diameter is 0.1-0.3mm wider, meaning more iron)) so, strictly speaking a 49.2mm spaced pickup has the potential to be “hotter” (although, there’s nothing stopping you using 5-40s rather then M3s in 50mm or 52.5mm spacing, so, its maybe a moot point)
And all that said? It’s a great spacing if your looking to “meet your heroes” – it’s the spacing, that was used on the original Humbuckers, and, whilst your limited in certain options (your probably not finding a triangle legged, 16 degree slanted, black plated low profile base in 49.2mm!) you’ve got a couple of “vintage correct” options that are pretty cool! (covers without copper under plate, threaded base plates etc)
Really though, its not the spacing for everything (although the amount of Seymour Duncans I’ve seen, spaced at 49.2mm, shoved in the bridge slot on a HSS strat, with the strings missing the poles by a good 5mm, would have me thinking maybe it is!) – I’d probably avoid it on trems, and I’d probably avoid it if I was making something “very modern”… its great for a vintage build destined for a Gibson® or Epiphone® though.
Covers and Base Material
I think I’ve covered pole spacing pretty well under the “pole spacing” header, so, whilst bases and covers are impacted by that aspect of humbucker “design”, I’ll gloss over it in this section and concentrate a little more on the impact covers and bases actually have on the signal being produced by the coils.
Its one of those weird things with humbuckers, I wont say its overlooked as such, but its certainly not widely embraced as you’d think.
So, with humbuckers – you’ve usually got 2 options of material when it comes to covers and base plates, either Brass or German Silver (sometimes called Nickel Silver, or just Nickel) and its commonly believed that “brass is ‘bad’ because it sucks out top end” and “German Silver is ‘good’ because it doesn’t effect the tone” – and, broadly speaking, that’s actually correct! But, as with most things, its not as clear cut as we’d like as engineers, so, I’m going to try to drag this topic well and truly into the light!
Ace of Base
So lets start at the bottom, and deal with “base plate material” – Brass vs. Nickel!
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Swap Graphs?
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Base #1 (Purple)
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Base #2 (Blue)
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We can see from the above, that, really? There isn’t a great deal of difference between the two options (I’ve included “no base” too, for completeness’ sake). If anything, a brass base plate, compared to German Silver, isn’t actually sucking out any top end, its sucking out a little of everything up to the resonant peak, but past that, its comparable to German silver – so we’d perceive that, not as “sucking out top end”, in fact, the complete opposite, we’d hear that as the pickup gaining a little definition, and likely, being a shade brighter! However, it’s a fairly small change in that regard, its certainly not as drastic as we’d be lead to believe in the old “Brass bad/Nickel good” argument.
And, we can see that both German Silver and Brass, and both having an effect on the signal compared to the “no base” version of the pickup (and this is telling, because the same happens on a Telecaster® bridge pickup, or a P90) – without a base, we’re actually retaining a little more of the signal above the resonant peak. Its an unrealistic dream to say “humbuckers without bases sound better”, simply because the mounting system for the pickups is pretty reliant on a metal base, but we can certainly see that the base material, whilst only a minimal change, is always losing “something”. They’re always going to cause a loss of something.
Real world, we’re probably going to “hear” a German silver base as being a little warmer, a little smoother, a little more forgiving (evident in the wider peak) and we’re going to “hear” a brass base as being a little brighter, a little more cutting, a little crisper.
So, with that in mind, it does beg the question – is brass as bad as we’ve all been led to believe?
Well? Probably not, at least from a tonal point of view – we’re not seeing any enormous impact on the signal, we’ve not seeing a huge change to the shape of the plot, frankly (with uncovered pickups!) Brass vs. German silver bases is little more then an extra option for “seasoning”, and I suppose, that’s to be expected, the base is on the bottom, it’s a long way away from the strings, and with all of this stuff, the bigger impacts are things that sit between the coils and strings, not beneath!
However, there are one huge point of note here.
Soldering to Brass!
Brass is an absolute pig to solder to! Its far more conductive than German Silver, so it wicks the heat away from the point you want to solder to, making it difficult to make a good, solid joint. This isn’t a massive issue when the only solder joint you need to make to the base is the ground wire for the hookup, but it can be a real pain if you’re fitting a cover, where you’re making a couple of small spot weld to hold the thing in place. German Silver, by comparison, is a poor(er) conductor, it doesn’t wick the heat as effectively, so soldering to it is much easier.
Frankly, when the humbucker was invented, chances are, German silver wasn’t chosen as the preferred material because it had some wonderful, musically adjacent alloy that left the humbucker sounding closer to the “ideal” – it was probably chosen because it was easier to solder to. It costs more to produce then brass, but, frankly, its quicker to work with, introduces less risk during pickup assembly (better to make your spot welds with a solder iron then with a small gas torch!) meaning less tools required, meaning less training, and less fire risk! (a weirdly big deal in guitar manufacturing!)
Bases – a conclusion
If you’re building an uncovered humbucker, and your happy soldering the ground connection onto the base, brass is as good as German silver! Its slightly cheaper, and it’s brightening the pickup ever so slightly. It’s probably so small a change that its below our comprehension, but at least you know now, what’s happening. You can lean into it if you want to, or don’t. Just be aware, brass isn’t bad! (And that’s likely going to be the last time I type that, because things are about to get interesting!)
Covers
I know this is purely a personal taste thing, but I don’t think they’ve ever invented anything that looks as good as a covered humbucker in a Gibson® (and I’m a Fender® man!) so I certainly won’t be using this section of the write up as a stick to beat anyone who feels the same way! Covered humbuckers are beautiful! However, they’re one of those things where, the “truth” about their impact on pickups has become lost along the way, so, just like bases, let’s see if I can bring a bit of perspective to the whole thing.
So, just like base plates, you’re dealing with 2 different materials when it comes to covers – either Brass or German silver again (the “no cover” option is at least viable here though, where with the base plate, its more of a hypothetical, and, technically speaking, Stainless steel covers did exist, but it was short lived, and I don’t believe it ever went past the prototype stage of the initial humbuckers!)
And, we’re back to the old trope! “Brass sucks out top end, German silver doesn’t affect the sound” – so lets get straight into the graphs.
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Swap Graphs?
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Base #1 (Purple)
Cover #1 (Purple)
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Base #2 (Blue)
Cover #1 (Blue)
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Now, that graphs actually REALLY unfair, but, real world? Its true I’m afraid. If I go grab you a Classic 50s, slap a Chrome plated German Silver cover on it, that’s what’s going to happen to your signal. I think we’d all agree, that that is definitely “an affected sound” right?
Now, before we get into what’s going on with German Silver, lets agree too, that brass is doing EXACTLY what we thought it would do too. Its sucking out a huge amount of voltage from the resonant peak, and its making the pickup sound very woolly. We’d definitely perceive that as “top end has been sucked out”.
So, the weird thing here, is that German silver is actually sucking out a lot of top end too! Not as much as brass, but its still having a big impact! Now, the reason as to why, is quite interesting.
To explain this well, is going to get pretty boring, but, considering your entertaining the idea of winding a humbucker, presumably for fun, this might be right up your street, and its worth knowing, so bare with.
The ”problem” with humbucker covers, isn’t actually to do with their material per se. Its more to do with the conductivity of the things, and, as I said earlier – when something is placed between the coils and the string? That’s when we see a big impact.
So the above graph, is a Chrome plates cover in both instances right? The thing with electroplating, is that, primarily, it’s a cosmetic thing, its got to look great hasn’t it? And the way you get an absolutely immaculate finish on your electroplating, is to first, plate the part in copper.
That gives the plating material (be it Chrome or Nickel or Ruthenium or Gold) a better “bed” to adhere, so its less likely to show the “grain” of the Brass/German silver, and its less likely to fail in the short to medium term. Copper “underplating” is most definitely “the norm” when it comes to humbucker covers (and most electroplating) because it gives the best possible finish.
However – copper, is also, VERY conductive! (Way more than brass or German Silver!) so what we’re actually seeing with the above graph, whilst real world (you buy a chrome cover? Its got a copper underplating!) – its not really a true reflection of Brass vs. German Silver – its Brass + Copper + Chrome vs. German Silver + Copper + Chrome!
THIS, is a true representation of Brass vs. German Silver (vs. Brass + Copper+ Plating vs. German Silver+ Copper + Plating vs. Nothing)! A pickup fitted with a completely unplated covers! Just the bare alloy! (its actually a Telecaster® neck pickup, simply because we don’t carry humbucker covers in raw brass – no ones ever asked for them to date!)
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White - Uncovered - [email protected]
Red - German Silver w/No Copper Unplate - [email protected]
Pink - German Silver w/ Copper Underplate - 16.4dBv @ 7.37kHz
Blue - Brass w/No Copper Underplate - [email protected]
Green - Brass w/Copper Underplate - 9.8dBv @ 7.81kHz
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And we see something very interesting! Raw German Silver actually isn’t as bad as we think, is it? We’re still losing a fair bit of voltage at the peak, but no where near as much as we are with a copper underplate.
And we can see that in a slightly more “real” test with a humbucker, comparing a copper Chrome plated/coppered German Silver cover to a Chrome plated cover WITHOUT a copper under plate!
So that does give some credibility to the “brass bad/German Silver good” argument. I still can’t sit here and say “German Silver doesn’t affect the pickup”, but we can say that, if German silver covers aren’t plated/aren’t copper underplated, they have the least effect, the copper underplate has an impact, and brass is having a huge impact. Covers affect pickups. Its as simple as that. If you’ve got a humbucker you adore that’s currently uncovered? Chances are fitting a cover, regardless of material, is going to change it considerably.
Now, to round this out before we get into the next part, it may seem that I’ve not covered all the angles here. I promise you; I have! I’ve just had to trim this down so it doesn’t turn into a dissertation – so, quick and dirty? “What I’ve missed”
Cover material behaves the same regardless of base material.
The characteristic changes from having either brass or German Silver as the base remains after the cover has been fitted, but the affect of the cover is unchanged (so a brass base plate will still suck out a little of the signals voltage before the resonant peak AND a Nickel cover will still do its thing – so, moving forward from here, we’ll just be focusing on German silver bases and covers, just to keep it stream lined)
If this is all an expression of conductivity between coil and string, does the “colour” matter?
It does! But only one with gold! And, the higher the grade of gold, the more it matters! To keep it brief (as brief as it can be and still contain a graph) – gold is more conductive, so gold plated covers have a greater impact on the pickup then Chrome/Nickel/black/etc (which, seemingly, don’t cause any more or less effect – even to the point of a Chrome plated/no copper cover behaving the same as an unplated cover!)
Gold, however, does, arguably, sound worse!
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Blue - Uncovered - [email protected]
Purple - German Silver w/ Copper Underplate & Chrome Colour- 18.7dBv @ 7.21kHz
Green - German Silver w/ Copper Unplate & Gold Colour- [email protected]
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So covers are bad?!
Now this ones a very loaded question, and I don’t really have an answer for you to be honest. Electrically? If I was sitting here trying to sell you a Hifi, I’d definitely say that any, essentially, cosmetic component that altered the signal to as big an extent as a humbucker cover does, is a very bad thing indeed, however, guitars/pickups aren’t hifi!
As holistic an approach as this might be, as much as this might sound like “feel good mumbo jumbo” – pickups, really, are more a case of “we like what we know” – and considering most of us will have heard humbuckers with covers (and I’d go further then that, most of us have liked humbuckers with covers, we’ve liked humbuckers with copper under plate, we’ve liked humbuckers without copper, we’ve liked humbuckers without covers and we’ve liked humbuckers with brass covers! We’ve liked humbuckers with gold covers!... you get the idea) – its just a case of horses for courses.
As a very rough rule of thumb – covers are going to make the pickup feel more rounded, softer, and less defined. (and the more conductive, the greater that effect) – its not good or bad. Its just what it is. You might absolutely love the tone of a brass cover, you might hate it. It all depends on your frame of reference I’m afraid.
Is this true for all specs of pickup?
I’ve got partial graphs for this which prove the point, but I’ll spare you those. In short, yes – it doesn’t matter if it’s a humbucker wound with 42 AWG plain enamel or 44 AWG Polysol, it doesn’t matter if its 12 screw Alnico 5 or 12 slug ceramic, it doesn’t matter if the pickup cost £300 or it cost £3, it doesn’t matter if it’s a Telecaster® Neck or a P90 or a Strat® single coil you’ve buried under a humbucker cover -the cover is always having the same general affect. Sometimes it works in the pickups favour (Historically accurate humbuckers do sound better with covers!) sometimes it works against the pickup (Epiphone® Casino P90s, even with unplated covers, don’t sound quite right!)
And I think that about covers cover and base material, in very broad strokes, but there is, I’m afraid, one more aspect to this. So, lets get it over with!
Cover style
With cover material and plating options seen to, I think its probably worth while taking a look at cover “style” too. However, from our point of view, and within the scope of this kit, its not really “true”.
We offer this kit with a cover specific to the pole choices (so traditional is 6 screw poles, 6 slug, it takes a traditional cover with 6 holes, a 12 screw kit comes with a 12 hole cover, a 12 slug kit comes with a cover with no holes, you get the idea) and whilst I’m going to prove that cover style DOES effect the tone of a pickup, and its worth considering, you’ve got to remember that the pole choice on your pickup has its own effect separate to a cover.
This is because we are increasing/decreasing the amount of ferrous material within the coils. A screw pole is 3mm diameter (roughly) a slug pole is 4.75mm – a slug contains more iron then a screw – and this will increase the inductance of a pickup, which will cause the resonant peak frequency to be lower. As a quick rule of thumb, a 12 slug humbucker will be darker then a traditional and a 12 screw humbucker will be brighter – quite considerably too.
It’s a little beyond the scope of “covers and bases”, so I’ll go into greater detail in a separate section, but for the time being, know that your pole choice is having an impact AND your cover choice is having an impact.
So, for clarities sake, I’ve done these tests using a traditional humbucker, with a German Silver base – 6 screw poles, 6 slug poles, regardless of cover style, and all covers are chrome plated over copper over German Silver (again, its not the “tonal ideal” but it’s the most common composition you’ll find in the real world)
The common believe is this. “the more/bigger the holes in the cover, the ‘better’ the pickup is going to sound” – so, in theory, a 12 hole cover is going to sound better then a 6 hole cover is going to sound better then a no hole cover. And that makes sense considering what we’ve seen above, and, really, this is just an exercise in “sticking conductive material between coil and string” right?
<Insert Graph for Cover Style>
As we can see from the bode plots, on the whole, there isn’t really a great deal of difference between the 6 hole, 12 hole and “half open” covers. There are minor differences between them, but, they’re so small that you’re never going to taste those in the real world. If anything, I’m actually quite surprised that the half open cover has as much impact on the signal as the more traditional covers, simply because one coil is, essentially, open, but you can’t argue with the results, so, there we have it*.
Where we do see a difference, is with the “open” cover and the “closed” cover. The closed cover is having the greatest impact on the signal, and the open cover is having the least, but, equally, the open cover barely looks like a cover at all, so maybe that’s to be expected.
And that about covers it! (pun intended) – covers are best thought about in broad strokes, anything “with holes”, regardless of how big they may be, is going to behave the same as any other cover “with holes” (assuming all other variables stay the same), as soon as you take away the holes, you get more of an impact, and as soon as you make one massive hole, you get less of an impact (but less of a cover!) – the “myth” isn’t quite right, but equally, its not exactly wrong either.
*the “Half cover” is interesting – when testing, we’re exciting the coils through inductance coupling, with the drive coil directly over the middle of both coils. We, obviously, keep this positioning the same from one cover/base/pickup to the next. There is the potential that the half open cover will behave differently then a traditional cover, but our test isn’t accounting for that. I wouldn’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater and say outright “half open cover makes no difference” – but, equally, if it is, and its not translating into our test? Maybe its not a big enough difference to really worry about.
**For completeness’ sake too – there are options I’ve not shown on the graph, but we have tested. The 11 Gate, H gate, Black top, the “other” H gate, the “tall” and the “3x3” covers – they all behave exactly the same as the traditional/12 hole/half open plots, so, rather then confusing the graph more then we have to, we’ve omitted them from the final results.
***All “rules” for all other variables still ring true, regardless of the cover style – so a gold open cover has a greater impact then an unplated one, a brass closed cover has more of an impact then a German silver one. Again, I’ve omitted these results for simplicities sake.
Now, all this brings me to the elephant in the room.
Covered humbuckers aren’t the same as uncovered humbuckers
Sadly so I’m afraid – the cover on a pickup is having such a big impact on the signal produced by the pickup that, really? If I was more of a purist, I’d argue that the pickup has become “a different pickup” – in the same way if I produced an uncovered humbucker with a resonant peak of 20dBv@5kHz, and then made another with a peak of 15dBv@5kHz... I’d be giving them different names, and pitching them at different roles within music.
We don’t do that with humbuckers though – we really over simplify the whole cover thing. As players, have a vague idea that something different is happening, but, really? Fitting a cover, or comparing 2 identical pickups, one covered, one not, is as drastic a change as using a completely different design of coil. The numbers may look the same, but the sound will be totally different.
However, whilst its tempting to say “they’re different pickups”, eventually (and this will happen a lot if your winding pickups!) you’ve just got to bow down to common sense. Covers are, primarily a cosmetic consideration, if someone wants your pickup, with a cover, by all means, explain the effect of a cover, but, you’ll never talk someone out of a shiny silver humbucker for their Les Paul®… trust me! I’ve tried.
Magnets
Now, we’ve been putting a lot of work into magnet testing over the years, and, honestly? There’s a lot of fuss made about Alnico grade, the supposed inferiority of ceramic magnets, the merits of orientated vs. unorientated, the benefits of sand cast vs. rough. Vs polished… so, we figured we’d be as open and honest about it as we can be – so, here goes!
Lets start with the bode plot - pretty easy to get your head around - the line shows how "strong" a signal the pickup is generting at a certain frequency - so the higher the line, the stronger that frequency. (so a higher line in the low frequencies means a bassier pickup, a pickup with a higher line in the treble means brighter - a wider "peak" (where the pickup is busiest) means a smoother pickup, a sharper "peak" means a more defined pickup. Simple as that.
So lets get into it - have a play! Compare your magnets!
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Swap Graphs?
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Humbucker "Type"
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Magnet #1 (Purple)
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Magnet #2 (Blue)
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Tonally, and specifically, I’m speaking about “how the guitar sounds” – honestly? Magnets don’t actually do a great deal believe it or not – when presented with the “full spectrum” of a guitars signal, the minor variations that are evident when comparing one magnet to the next, are just too subtle to for our ears to be able to pick out. If you listen to a recording of an Alnico 3 and compare it to the same piece on an Alnico 8, you’ll struggle to be able to hear any difference what so ever.
However - there actually are tonal difference! It’s just that, in terms of “what we hear” – they’re a little buried under all the information we’re being bombarded with when we listen to audio.
As a general rule of thumb, the weaker the magnet, the more “bass” its producing – and that’s about it – which gives some real credibility to the old wives tale of “weaker magnets sound warmer” – BUT – a magnet is only one variable within the construction of a humbuckers.
I can definitely say that its true for a vintage humbuckers (tested here with an 8.2K Bourbon City, 42 AWG coils, 12 screw coils) – however – when we take the same test, and apply it to a “high output” humbuckers (in this case a 16K Ethereal, 12 screw, 44 AWG coils) – we see that all of the magnets behave pretty much identically with the exception of Alnico 8 and Ceramic (which are often described as “scooping mids”… and that’s actually what they’re doing – they show a volume drop below the resonant peak, but retain the same volume above it!... so again, some truth to the myth!)
So, electrically -we definitely CAN see that the magnets are changing the signal of the pickup – but we’ve got to take this with a pinch of salt, because the coils are actually changing how the magnets are behaving – and that leave us in a strange position where the “hard and fast rules” quickly fall down dependant on a second (or third!) variable! (Which honestly, gets a little beyond the scope of this article) – But remember – when you’re listening to a pickup as a recording, you really won’t be able to tell the difference. I can’t stress that enough! The differences are there, but our ears aren’t good enough to isolate them. It’s that simple.
It’s all in the feel!
HOWEVER – as guitarists, we’re not really interested in how the guitar sounds “on record” (that’s for the studio engineer right?!) – We care about it as a “live thing”, which we respond to, and feel, and generally treat as a very unscientific thing right? (Dare I say, a musical instrument?!) And that’s where things get interesting.
Whilst we might not be able to actually hear a difference between one magnet and the next in retrospect, we certainly can feel it when playing! In the moment, as pick hits string and the amp roars into life, the differences are much more noticeable! And what the graphs show, actually comes through more in the “feel” of a pickup then it does in the recordings. (So, that Alnico 3 Bourbon City felt “muddy”, and that Alnico 8 Ethereal did feel very defined and cutting) I honestly, can’t say I know why, but in blind tests, we were able to highlight differences between magnets – we had combinations we liked, and we had combinations we didn’t.
This brings us to the crux of the matter really – magnets within a humbuckers have very little to do with “tone”, but they really do define the “feel” of the pickup – and, sadly, there’s no right or wrong answers at that point, because we’re speaking about perception – and that’s going to differ for every single person, with every single humbuckers.
Me, for example – I heard the following in the blind tests with the Bourbon City. (Please, excuse the romantic language – these are exactly how the notes were written)
Alnico 3 – Very glassy in the highs, very bloomy in the lows, quite mushy and unpleasant.
Alnico 2 – Huge amount of top end “ping”, bass neat and tidy, plenty of “spank”, a little weird but not unpleasant! (Slightly damning considering the Bourbon comes with an A2 as standard!)
Alnico 4 – Toppy, really soft and forgiving in the bass, mids are rich and interesting. Nice sound.
Alnico 5 – Strong bass, but quite neat and tidy, not an awful lot of mids, and quite chimy. A lot of rattle and definition.
Alnico 6 – tight in the bass, quite crunchy, not overly hot. Nice note separation.
Ceramic – more compressed, better balances, distance between tops and bass is pleasing, slightly lacking in top. Bass very well behaved. Raunchy and fun!
You get the idea – I had “opinions” when playing! Unscientific they may be, but it’s what I “felt” and what is telling, is that my opinions? The “feel” I got from each magnet? They don’t really correspond with the signal we know the pickup is producing!
Alnico 3 does, that increase in bass is definitely coming through as mud and the ceramics certainly show that decrease in bass… but I’m “feeling” things in the pickup that just aren’t in the graphs right?
Well… no – what I’m feeling, comes down to perception – and this is where things start to become a little bit confusing, but basically, we don’t need to hear a change in a specific frequency to actually perceive a change in that frequency. (So, a pickup can feel bassier if the high frequencies are reduced – the bass doesn’t change, but our ears “shift” to become more focused) – And seemingly, even minor shifts in certain frequencies can completely colour our perception of frequencies that haven’t even changed.
Conclusion? Sort of?!
At this point, me sitting here and saying “Alnico 2 does thing, and Alnico 3 does that!” is nonsense, because I’m describing “how it made me feel” more than “how it actually sounded”, and how you feel with a particular magnet (or combination of Magnet and Coil!) will be completely different.
But if theres anything to take away from this, it’s the following “rules”
1.Go into Humbucker magnets knowing that your unlikely to be able to “hear” a difference between any of them, but you’ll definitely be able to feel it!
2. “Vintage” humbuckers (anything wound with 42 AWG) is going to show bigger difference then “high output” winds (43 and 44 AWG)
3. No one is going to agree on how a specific magnet sounds – if a minor change in frequency resulting from a magnet change can alter our perception, then a big change in frequency from a coil change is going to alter it too, and you’ve got to take that into account. Combined with the fact that we’re dealing in perception? In opinion and taste? You’ve got more hope in settling the Gibson® vs. Fender® argument!
4. Whilst there are no “hard and fast” rules – treating some of the old wives tales with a bit of credibility, won’t see you go far wrong. Hotter pickups generally want to be more defined, so benefit from strong magnets, more traditional offerings generally benefit from a little added warmth, so weaker Alnico s are a safe bet – but please, go in knowing that its very much a matter of personal taste.
Colours Explained
I think this is a little bit redundant to be honest, because the site has the "smart swatch" system, which shows you how everything looks once you've assembled it, and whilst its a bit "too perfect", it is pretty accurate to what your going to get. However, i will concede that sometimes, real pictures of real things, can be helpful, so, heres another photo dump, detailing as many of the colours as i can.
Bobbins
Humbucker bobbins are injection moulded plastic, and are the same colour, top to bottom, and are all one piece. Once they've a coil wound onto them, you cant change the colour (as you can with a single coil, by replacing the cover), so, when picking your bobbins colour, go in knowing, once its wound? Theres no going back!
VOS vs. Relic
We're offering these kits with Advanced Platings "VOS" covers, and, frankly, they're not cheap - theyre American made, its a labour intensive process to "age" them, and they're maybe not what you'd expect when you hear "vintage old stock", so i figured i'd put up a section dedicated entirely to them, and give a bit more detail as to what to expect from them.
Truth be told, when we ordered these covers, I was expecting covers that were a little battered and bruised, showing signs of being used, abused and played, areas polished up where they’d been “picked”, string lines, scratches and dents! I wanted covers that looked like they’d come off an old guitar, and, frankly, that’s not what they are.
Having spoken to Advanced plating, they explained a little more about what their idea is here, so, let’s get their words down into a decent sound bite.
“Vintage old stock, is old stock – it’s been sat on a shelf. No ones played it, no ones held it, its not seen the light of day. Its got a patina, it’s started to corrode, but its all pretty much immaculate otherwise”
And, really, that makes perfect sense doesn’t it? Vintage old stock isn’t Reliced… its old, but its untouched. We’re, basically, seeing the chemical reaction that would have happened over decades of inactivity.
So, because the swatch images dont exactly show them in the best detail (unless you want my face reflecting back at you?) heres a few photos at slightly more "real" angles.
So, what’s the point? I seriously doubt anyone’s lusting for “pickups that have spent 50 years on a shelf”, but the thinking is (and, considering who’s making these things, and who they’re making them for, I can’t really say they’re wrong in that logic!), these are the base that you put your own mark on. They’re the canvas that you relic for your guitar.
So, knowing that, I figured I’d try my (less then artistic) hand at a bit of relicing on the things! Just to see what you could achieve with absolutely no ability of experience!
So, armed with a buffing wheel, my house keys and a few minutes to spare, i set to work.
Its all in the patina! That layer of oxidisation on the front face makes relicing the things an absolute dream!
And that makes perfect sense doesn't it? If, in 1958, someone bought a Les Paul, stuck it in the case, never played it, then his kids pick it up in 1985, play it to death until 2020? They're going to be playing "into" that patina aren't they? they'll be polishing it out, and putting wear into it... sometimes through it, but its going to be pretty subtle. Its not going to be inch think orange rust and 3 inche scratches - it was dear old dads! its been looked after, but its been used.
So, yeah, i cant say i'm smitted with the flat layer of oxidisation straight out of the box, but, just like AP say - its an absolutely amazing base for relicing!
Expectation vs. Reality
I’ve been going through the site in recent months, and “myth busting” a lot of stuff to do with pickups and parts, and even on this page, I’ve laid bare a lot of what’s going on with humbucker covers and how they’re going to affect your sound, both positively and negatively, and, personally, I like being honest about this stuff. If you know what to expect, then we all come away from this a whole lot more fulfilled, and no one has to sit there and gripe after falling for a marketing hype and flowery descriptions.
And in that vein (and this is a good rule for the whole of the internet!) – remember, every photo I’ve put up on this website, is “the perfect example” of what the thing should be. It’s been edited, tidied up and made to look immaculate.
Now, honestly, I wish that every single part I unpacked and stored on these shelves, was finished to the level of the ones in the photos (It’d make my life easier, and I wouldn’t have to write this!), but let’s be honest, that’s not the case.
These are, in the grand scheme of things, pretty affordable parts – they’re well made, well plated and generally, higher end examples of what they are…. But they’re still “affordable” – it’s a £5-10 humbucker covers, and £2 bobbins, right? Go into buying this stuff, knowing that, if you look closely enough, you will find something wrong with them. There are ALWAYS minor imperfections in guitar parts.
That’s not to say that the majority of covers won’t be “very close” to perfect, nor is it to say that we wash our hands of “real” faults, but I do have to ask, that we all have some realism with this stuff. It’s a £5 part (at most)– its not a £50 cover or a £25 bobbin (although I doubt, they’d be any better) – expecting superior grade, faultless electroplating, 24 carat gold, tolerances down to 0.001mm, hand polished plastics, or whatever, is wholly unrealistic. I appreciate that you may be fitting these to a pickup that you’re selling for £500… I appreciate you might have a really picky customers yourself, but Axesrus® does have to draw the line somewhere.
We will not replace parts with what we consider normal levels of imperfection.
We WILL accept them as returns, and refund as per our Ts & Cs in regards to “unwanted goods”
I’m not saying these parts are cheap, second rate, and riddled with flaws you understand? They are, really, some of the best parts I’ve worked with, and we do have a very high level of quality control both at manufacturing, and in house when picking and packing. But, really, no one is spotting an isolated a 0.25mm “dimple” or “divot” in a finish, or a 0.5mm scuff. (and that’s how small these flaws are!).
And remember too (and this is scant consolation to anyone making pickups for a living, because you will suffer this just as badly as we do) – minor imperfections that look minor on the part, vanish once the part is fitted to a guitar. We’re damned by looking at this stuff under the microscope of isolation, and, in reality, that £10,000 guitar you’ve got hang on the wall? I guarantee, has exactly the same manufacturing imperfections in its parts.
So, with that said, and in an effort to be WHOLLY honest, here’s a what I’m talking about.
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