Double Decker Wide Range HB

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epizootics
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Double Decker Wide Range HB

Post by epizootics » Sun Aug 13, 2017 10:15 pm

Hey guys,

I just finished prototyping an idea I'd had for a while for a Jazzmaster humbucker. The idea was to retain as much of the JM single pickup design as possible, ie. alnico poles, AWG 42 copper wire and flat coils. Thing is, when you start dividing the bobbin size, you end up having to increase the height of the bobbins if you want to keep the same output. Here is what I came up with -

Image

Image

Two slightly wider bobbins stacked on top of each other, thus allowing a slight overlap in the middle. I'm not quite there yet - I could have gained a bit more width by bringing the magnets a tiny bit closer to the center - but it works!

Image

(I really hate potting pickups but I usually melt some paraffin with a hairdryer on the outer coils, sorry for the excess showing in the picture)

I wound it to be slightly unbalanced (top coil measured at 3.9K, bottom at 4.4K) to compensate the bottom coil being farther away from the strings. Overall, it reads at 8.3K, so we're in vintage HB territory. Here is what it sounds like in the bridge position on my apricot Firemaster:

https://soundcloud.com/not-i-records/do ... rhb-clean1

https://soundcloud.com/not-i-records/do ... -saturated

Sorry for my playing! It is not a completely humbucking pickup, but it's quiet enough. I am quite pleased with the result - it has a fair amount of growl, but retains a lot of clarity. I'll be experimenting further to see how I can make it any flatter...

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Re: Double Decker Wide Range HB

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Sun Aug 13, 2017 11:16 pm

I'll have to listen to it later as I'm at work, but this is really cool!!
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Re: Double Decker Wide Range HB

Post by dylanafghjkl » Mon Aug 14, 2017 12:26 am

Wow, these sound amazing!
Love the idea and it sounds great!

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Re: Double Decker Wide Range HB

Post by Deed_Poll » Mon Aug 14, 2017 11:50 am

Sounds really similar to a JM pickup from those samples! Very nice.
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Re: Double Decker Wide Range HB

Post by kdanie » Mon Aug 14, 2017 12:06 pm

Cool concept, I like the sound too.

ken
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Re: Double Decker Wide Range HB

Post by s_mcsleazy » Mon Aug 14, 2017 2:04 pm

sounds very dry in a good way
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Re: Double Decker Wide Range HB

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Mon Aug 14, 2017 5:41 pm

Finally listened to them. Definitely sounds very Jazzmaster-y. Very articulate and not muddy. It almost reminds me of JM with a mix of Filtertron and Tele mixed in. Very nice! Planning on making it fit a JM cover, or something else?
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Re: Double Decker Wide Range HB

Post by Ben17e » Tue Aug 15, 2017 6:24 am

Very nice and articulate sounding. Very cool!

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Re: Double Decker Wide Range HB

Post by daCod » Tue Aug 15, 2017 7:30 am

i keep checking this thread anticipating the start of a list for the first production run. :?
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Re: Double Decker Wide Range HB

Post by s_mcsleazy » Wed Aug 16, 2017 5:29 am

hey man, if you want someone to test em, i can put one in one of my guitars
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Re: Double Decker Wide Range HB

Post by nateispro » Fri Aug 18, 2017 10:09 am

Woah awesome! Any plans to make production runs of these!?

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Re: Double Decker Wide Range HB

Post by Embenny » Fri Aug 18, 2017 11:56 am

Amazing concept. Amazing execution. Amazing sound clip. It has Jazzmaster characteristics and Wide Range characteristics. Disagree on the Filtertron someone mentioned - I've got two TV jones-equipped guitars and this has more midrange (in a very flattering way IMO) plus that "rod magnet" string attack. I find filtertrons to be more scooped and with a different string attack.

The tinkerer in me is dying to know what this sounds like in parallel. But I think you have yourself a winner there. If ever there was a "Jazzmaster humbucker" in both tone and design, this is it.
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Re: Double Decker Wide Range HB

Post by epizootics » Mon Aug 21, 2017 6:08 am

Hey guys,

Thanks for the enthusiastic feedback! I am replying a bit late as my wife and I took a week's holiday in my hometown in Provence...

I honestly didn't think about any commercial production for this one initially, but I can make a few if people are interested. I have no idea how members usually go about it on this board, I hope I am not going against forum policies here?

I had the opportunity to test drive the pickup live while I was down South - I must say I really like this one. It handles both clean and OD really nicely, and it turned out pretty quiet. The one thing I need to sort out is the feedback issue, which I think it is fair to assume has to do with the really thin forbon I used (1mm) on the prototype. I'll trying potting it a bit further, but I think a thicker flatwork will take care of the problem...

I am thinking of ordering JM covers with no polepiece holes, so I can drill them myself in the right position. Here's what it looks like in the meantime:

Image

A strip of red velvet between the magnets, under the cover! It looks cheesy as hell :whistle:

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Re: Double Decker Wide Range HB

Post by s_mcsleazy » Mon Aug 21, 2017 12:56 pm

ok, this sounds like something i need now...... complete with velvet.

call it the velvet brick
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