Post Type Archives: SWD

It can be very risky to move the pole pieces in Fender single coil pickups without causing damage to the inner coil of the pickup. Breaking one fine turn of magnet wire will cause the pickup to fail. If you have plastic molded Strat style bobbins it is possible to move the pole pieces. If…

Make sure the problem isn’t with the height adjust screws or springs. Make sure the components are firmly tightened and chatter free. Wax potting would probably be my first choice and that it’s properly done. Silicone can be put inside the top of a metal cover such as on Fender Telecaster Rhythm pickups. If needed…

They are usually made from shim stock or thin gauges of steel fabricated to expand or enhance the magnetic field to the strings. Leo Fender used a ferrous metal claw around the pickup cover on the Jaguar and Bass VI guitar. The metal claw was used to concentrate and retain the magnetic field within close…

You can use various head styles in place of the 12 Allen screws. You need to use the same thread, shaft diameter, alloy (steel or ferrous) and length needed to fit properly. Some of the screw heads you can use are Fillister slotted, Fillister phillips, Socket set screw, Button head, Round head phillips etc. There…

Some of the common things done to humbuckers are: Make 4 conductor, change the adjustable pole pieces, change the studs, replace the studs with rod magnets, remove the covers, add covers, change the bar magnets, flip the bar magnet to reverse polarity, rewind to different specifications, calibrate the magnet(s), change the length of the adjustable…

The standard cavity routing in Stratocasters won’t allow for you to reverse the pickups in your instrument. You need to have a custom pickup builder make pickups with a reverse magnet pattern. The way you play is similar to what Jimi Hendrix did playing a right handed guitar left handed. He got the benefit of…

This can be done by reversing the two wires on one of the bobbins. This will make the pickup electrically out of phase with itself and change the sound when used in combination with others.

The easiest way is to remove all of the adjusting screws from one side of the pickup. You can also split the coil by shorting one side of the coil to ground but this also reduces the current generated by both coils. Many players have removed the adjustable poles from one side of their humbucker…

This was a design by Seth E. Lover while working at Gibson and used on Silvertone guitars. The pickups were sold OEM (original equipment mfg.) to other companies such as Harmony Guitars. This design was also used on the later pickups designed by Seth when he worked for Fender Guitars. He designed the Guitar and…

You need to use a quality heavy duty soldering iron and solder wick. The pickup needs to be firmly secured to keep from sliding around when you are working on it. Don’t clamp the pickup into a metal vice as it will act like a heat sink and keep the solder from being easily removed….