Making My Own Set Of Humbuckers

These pups are ready for a wax bath.

Today, I spent a few hours making a set of humbucker pickups for one of my guitar builds. The bridge pup was wound hot with 44 AWG wire. Resistance measured at just over 15 Ohms. The magnet I used is an Alnico V, which I magnetized myself and degaussed to around 630 on the gauss meter. The result should be fairly loud with wide ranging tone that emphasizes the treble side of the spectrum.

The neck pup was wound with 42 AWG wire with resistance just under 8 Ohms. The magnet is an Alnico II degaussed to around 580 on the gauss meter. The tone for this one should be very warm and full-bodied.

If I have time tomorrow, I hope to install the pups and wire them up. Stay tuned!

Guitar Pickups That'll Have You Seeing Red

A customer asked me if he could have his humbuckers in red with red rings. The only way I could do it was to use some Krylon plastic paint. I sprayed the bobbins and rings with three coats and let it cure for a week. Seems like a pretty tough finish. I may do a set for myself as a long term test.

Coming Soon To eBay…

The prototype Highline Improv electric guitar is finished and will be up for auction on eBay very soon. Probably late Sunday, May 15th. Despite the change in direction with the concept, name and execution, I'm really happy with the result. I ended up using a single humbucker wound to around 8.5 Ohms. The goal was to achieve as wide a tonal range as possible while still having the ability to drive an amp to distort if desired. I would characterize this guitar as ideally suited to jazz, blues, country and old-school rock. You could get metal tones with the right pedal, but in the end, I think you'd want to swap out the pickup for something a little hotter. At any rate, checkout the photos of the finished guitar. Not sure if I'll offer plans, but if there seems to be enough interest, I'll add them to the order page.

A Cool Way To Cover A Humbucker Pickup

I used some scrap Rosewood to make this cool looking cover for one of my humbucker electric guitar pickups. I plan to install it on my soon-to-be-renamed Highline Neolux guitar build. 

Stay tuned!