Geting the coils the same is a good start. Getting the strength of the magnet is the next step. There is also another issue, and that is the material used for the core of the coil. In some pickups the actual magnet it self is also the core of the coil but in some other pickups the core is soft iron and the magnet(s) is behind the core. Some other pickups use a kind of ferrite ceramic substance.
Why does this mattter ? Well, they actually sound different. With exactly identical coils and the same magnet strength you can still get differently sounding pickups by using different core materials.

How does this make a difference ?    Well, it is all down to a physical property of the core material called 'magnetic permeability'. Basically it is how permeable to a magnetic field that substance is. I could get into flux density and flux gradients but that is probably just a tad too technical for this group.

Basically what we are concerned with is how precisely changes in the magnetic field around the core afffect the magnetic field actually inside the core. The vibrating string is slightly changing the magnetic field outside the core and the coils are detecting the corresponding changes in the magnetic field inside the core. This is the basic principle behind a magnetic pickup. It is the core which is actually the main working component, but some people do not pay much attention to this.

With pickups which use cores - also called 'pole pieces' - made of materils such as ferrite ceramics, or even some kinds of nickel steel, the magnetic changes inside the core can follow the vibrations of the string very precisely. The result is a very 'accurate' and 'clean' sound which can sound quite 'metallic' and easily overload an amplier on the peaks.

If the cores/pole-pieces in the pickup are made of something like soft iron, they become 'magnetically saturated' much more easily with a result that the output of the pickup does not track the string vibrations exactly. This results in a slight compression of the sound signal and a very gentle form of distortion which adds or increases some very interesting sounding harmonics. The result is the old, warm, 'bluesy' sound which many people really like.

I have found that a suitable source of material for soft iron pickup cores / pole-pieces is to cut small lengths of a six-inch nail.

Kevin Lawton

(0161 654 8944 & 07973 303785

*kepla@... & kepla56@...

--- On Fri, 3/7/09, steve haines <schaines@...> wrote:

From: steve haines <schaines@...>
Subject: Re: [Fwd: The CIGAR BOX GUITAR forum Re: Question on winding up a humbucker style pickup?]
To: cigarboxguitars@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, 3 July, 2009, 2:59 AM

I discovered that the right Alinco v magnet makes all of the difference.
These magnets keep the old blues sound with nice over drive with out
going to a ceramic magnet that would probably give the wrong sound.

Steve Haines wrote:
>
>
>
>
> As far as I have figured out about the Angus young pickups is that it is
> a 12K pickup wound with 42 gauge enamel wire and balanced. It is
> possibly wound on a older paf style bobbin. I guess all I would have to
> do is figure out how tall a paf bobbin is and roughly how many windings
> is 12k of 42 gauge wire. My millage will probably differ considering
> that I would be winding a 3 or 4 poll pickup instead of a 6 poll pickup.
> I am getting the idea that if I made a rather heavily wound hum bucker I
> should be in the ball park. I can cut down an Alinco v magnet and
> probably have the same strength magnet.
>
>
>
> ------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -
>
> Subject:
> The CIGAR BOX GUITAR forum Re: Question on winding up a humbucker
> style pickup?
> From:
> "skeesix88" <chiselpoint@ cinci.rr. com>
> Date:
> Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:02:11 -0000
> To:
> cigarboxguitars@ yahoogroups. com
>
> To:
> cigarboxguitars@ yahoogroups. com
>
>
> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3. org/TR/html4/ strict.dtd">
> <html>
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> <div id="ygrp-text" >
> 
> <br><br>
> 
> <p>My suggestion would be to either see if you can find specs and dimensions online or to get a hold of the actual Seymour Duncan pickup and measure the dimensions (they usually list the k-ohms online so that part should be easy). Literally, I would go to Guitar Center, if they carry it, and bring a ruler and notepad with you. See how it compares to a standard humbucker. If it's more or less the same, you may be able to start with a humbucker kit and modify it from there.<br>
> <br>
> In general the more windings and the bigger the magnets, the hotter the pickup. A taller coil will be clearer/sharper, a shorter coil will be warmer. A little trick I found out, if you can't get the right magnets and need stronger magnets is to attach additional magnets to the bottom of the coil. Some tiny neodymium magnets may be perfect. <br>
> <br>
> Skeesix<br>
> <br>
> -- <br>
> <a href="http://skeesixcbgs. com/">http://skeesixcbgs.<wbr>com/</a> <br>
> Making your cigar box guitar rock!<br>
> <br>
> ><br>
> > <br>
> > Does any body have any information or ideas on how to wind a pickup that<br>
> > would sound cimulor to Angus Young's signature Cemor Duncan pickup? I<br>
> > rather like the sound of the Gibson SG guitars. I am thinking of laying<br>
> > out a neck about the same length of the SG which I think is 24.5 inches<br>
> > in length and would like to figure out a rather punchy aggressive pickup<br>
> > to go with it. I was wondering about how many windings and how tall or<br>
> > short a pickup like this would be? I think I am going to call this new<br>
> > guitar Black Jack Slim.<br>
> > <br>
> > <br>
> > <br>
> > <br>
> > <br>
> > <br>
> > <br>
> > <br>
> > <br>
> > No virus found in this outgoing message.<br>
> > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com <br>
> > Version: 8.5.339 / Virus Database: 270.12.78/2185 - Release Date: 06/18/09 05:53:00<br>
> ><br>
> <br>
> </p>
>
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> No virus found in this outgoing message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
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>
>

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