Thanks for the information.
I think that might be the last of my research before I start designing
my first pickup.
I think I will write a document on pickup making and or a little how to
on home brewing a hum bucker pickup and hopefully fill in a couple
interesting details on pickup making.

Kevin Lawton wrote:
>
>
> 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@..._ <mailto:hotmail.comkepla@...> &
> kepla56@... <mailto: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
> </mc/compose?to=chiselpoint%40cinci.rr.com>>
> > Date:
> > Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:02:11 -0000
> > To:
> > cigarboxguitars@ yahoogroups. com
> </mc/compose?to=cigarboxguitars%40yahoogroups.com>
> >
> > To:
> > cigarboxguitars@ yahoogroups. com
> </mc/compose?to=cigarboxguitars%40yahoogroups.com>
> >
> >
> >
> > 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.
>

> > 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.
>
>

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