Quote:
Originally Posted by cooljuk
Looks like you murdered an auburn haired hooker, dude!  I know the look all too well (the copper, not the dead hooker). Imagine my wife's surprise the first time she saw an entire "head's worth of hair" in the trashcan. 
I'll also say that I've tried to solder a strand of my own hair (which is somewhat long and brown) in a dimly lit late-night winding session. That smell will alert you promptly that something is not right. 
Oh, the trials us learning winders must face.
Looking real good there, Kevin! Excellent work, man. Glad to hear you'll be in the PAF shootout too. I thought I was gonna be the only newbie. |
It broke my heart to cut all that wire off. Prototypes are one thing but I got to the point about 8 months ago when I could go through spools without wasting anything but the cut offs after I solder the leads.
Good thing my woman doesn't spend too much time in the shop. Her hair looks much like plain enamel.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lespaulguy
Kevin
Above & Beyond man.
I am looking forward to getting and installing those gold PUPS in my SG.
You are a caring / passionate vendor and I will be contacting you after your give away contest that I "won't win" to purchase a set of your Top Fuel's. (Folks...this is how you completly nuke any chance of winning)
Thanks for this excellent service.
Kevin
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Rock on Kevin. I promise I will still put your name in the drawing.
Heading back to the post office here shortly. I'll ship your Priorty mail also.
Quote:
Originally Posted by straycat
Kevin your passion for your product is admirable and I appreciate that more than you know.
Pouring your soul into your product is something not many do these days.
I understand delays and set backs when it comes to parts.
Can't wait to get my Plain Jane's Thank you so much!
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Thank you. I'm glad I can convey what I try to do. It seems I always have my try hard pants on but I try to have fun also. I'm really a kid at heart.
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Ok, here is my thoughts on everyone's builds and a little tech stuff. I was going to PM the info but I think it's better to hit it one shot.
One reason for the increased time once I started testing was the difference in everyone's wind. I spent a lot of time playing all the sets as you know but, I also had to play them until they opened up a bit and the circuit settled down. This is a subject of debate among winders. Some think nothing changes some do.
I believe they do judging by my own testing in my controlled settings. The change is more apparent with unpotted coils as they start to settle during playing. It also happens with magnet and screw changes. Usually for magnets and screws it takes a couple days and a few hours of playing.
New pickups tend to sound a little boxy when I first start to play them. After an hour or so they start to open up a tad. The next day they may revert a bit before they head towards what they will be. Usually it takes about 8 to 10 hours of play time and a few days of settling in.
Now for my thoughts on the builds.
107 Fuzzy guitars.
Pro Mod A5 neck A2 bridge
The neck was my standard wind and turned out great. It's nice and full without getting into the boomy range if EQ'd right. If I put enough treble and mids to it I could get it to sound almost like a bridge position.
The bridge was my high output version just over 9k with the A2. When I designed this I had the infamous Frankenstrat pickup in mind and do it in the Pro mod and the Gasser series. It will do cleans well. It takes a little adjustment to match an A5 neck as all sets different magnet combos do.
It's very percussive with the tone all the way up but sweetens up with a little rollback. My fave amps were 18w Marshall, JCM800, AC30, SLO.
Much like all my other Pro Mod winds it accepted gain very well and was able to get a great vintage vibe depending on the amp.
108 Lespaulguy
Pro Mod custom A5 neck A2 bridge
This set was for an SG which imo requires a different neck due to the location of the pickup and the 24 fret supreme. To do this I use a different stagger on the coils as well as a couple other things.
Also, this set was gold covered with gold hardware. The screw poles are just a tad different allow.
The neck turned out much better than I expected. I actually really liked it in my LP. Overall the set has a little different flavor due to the gold plated covers and hardware but I was totally digging it.
It did gain very well and had a great mellow vibe rolled back like in the video I posted. Fave amps, Marshall 18w, Mesa dual rec, JCM800, Tweed.
109 Straycat
Plain Jane A5 neck A2 bridge
Before I started winding these orders I finished a prototype neck that was a little lower on the turn count. Once wired and taped it came out at 6.99 DCR. This was an expirement in low wind stuff and once I played I thought it would suit this order and guitar quite well.
I like all my winds but I have to say this has to be one of my favorite neck pickups. We always seem to fight for clarity in neck positions and I think I have a great combo with this design. To me it just, felt so right. Depending on the amp I could go from bell, piano, or almost bell like on cleans and it responded very well to gain. I also liked the ability to really dig into it and get the coil working.
The bridge with A2 matches well when EQ'd right. The last day of testing when I got everything tuned it I fell in love playing the 18w Marshall stuff. I don't really play any covers because I don't know any but I tend to mess around with chord progressions of some players. With gain in the 6 to 7 range I was nailing a pure Angus type later rock tone that made my cats get hyper. It was great.
Overall, this is a very versatile set coupled with the lower wind neck. I think I'm going to build another for my personal stash. I got lost in the tone controls and middle position for every bit of two hours during testing playing clean. I think the output offsets between the neck and bridge create some great sweet spots. Fave amps, 18w Marshall, Ac30, Roland Jazz type amp, Plexi, JCM800
111 Rai
Pro Mod medium output A5 neck A2 bridge
Rai plays a few different genres and also wanted to split and combine coils. His wind was pretty standard and I have quite a few customers doing well with these in their LP's. Quite a few of them play in cover bands and were looking for something a bit more versatile. The neck is no different. It's articulate like all my winds and sensitive to pick attack.
The bridge comes to life under gain and some pick attack but sweetens up nice if you roll back and lighten up your right hand. Fave amps Ac30, 18w Marshall, JCM800, Tweed.
Overall
Everything tested great and I'm happy. Yeah, I'm still nervous and I'm still concerend about the bridges. It's probably my OCD, I EQ for the neck, and me being nit picky about using two different magnets.....
Once you get them installed and play them for a bit give me call or shoot me a message. I would love to hear what you think good or bad, and see if my testing translated well to your gear.
With everyone's sets my pickup settings were about the same give or take a turn or so.
All the necks liked to be about flush with the mounting ring.
The bridges need a little tweaking depending on the guitar. My test guitar has the short rings. My height out of the ring was about 3/16".
Almost all of the pole screws had very slight radius but were not way out of the bobbin.
All testing was done through 50's wiring with .022 PIO Vitamin T caps.
With all sets I seemed to get the best result with the bridge tone rolled back to 7 or 6 when EQ'd for the neck.
Considering the new vintage baseplates and original PAFs were bright by nature this was acceptable to me. The new baseplates also have a bit less copper hence being brighter.
If the bridges are a tad bright for your taste I would suggest a .033 cap. Also, I will gladly adjust anything if you find something you want to change. I know the baseplates are new so, get to know them and fill me in how they react to your gear.