Van Halen original Patent sticker humbucker key component discovered + New humbuckers for sale in January-february

[freefrog]

I remember years ago Neal Schon and other guitarists, talking about "Cutting the 6 Screws" on the humbuckers Bobbin shorter (not the pup height adjusting screws at the ends), they claim it greatly enhances the tone?

Cutting screw poles or mounting shorter ones makes a pickup brighter (by diminishing measurable inductance and eddy currents).

This trick is well known among pickup builders and competent guitar techs. It's useful to tighten the tone of a boomy neck humbucker, for instance.


Regarding the idea to inject voltage in coils: it would change the turns of wire in heating resistances. Beyond a given temperature, it might change the properties of insulation around wire (and therefore, potentially, what one calls its "stray capacitance"). That's not "break-in" in my understanding: that's changing physical properties, with a potentially hearable effect (capacitance is not an innocent factor, since that's the property at work when a tone pot is at zero).

EDIT - injecting voltage in coils should also and mainly interact with the properties of the magnet under the coils, by modifying its charge, BTW.


FWIW : an attempt to share a few thougths in order to put in perspective the ideas evoked above... ;-)

 

[MantraSky]

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[freefrog]

My reply came from a "members joke" and it remined me of a time and still where so many are trying to achieve the "Holy Grail" of Music Gear? or to figure out what artists (like Eddie RIP) are using/used when most of the time should be spent on originality.

I had understood the joke! :-D

... and of course, I don't think cutting screw poles or electrifying pickups adds "mojo"...;-)

I've simply rentabilized an occasion to share a few geeky ideas.

FWIW, short screw poles are effective IME when it comes to tighten the sound. I'll share experimental results about that on request.

Regarding voltage in pickups: my stance about capaciitive changes due to heat was just an hypothesis but annealing parts is a relatively common practice for pickups builders... And what I've said about voltage in coils as a way to change the magnetic field doesn'tcome from me: a winder for whom I 've worked had explained me this trick a few years ago...

 

[MantraSky]

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[freefrog]

...Albeit I'm an old fart beyond 60, I admit to remain a stupidly nerdy pickups freak, conversely...

At least it makes rather innocent what I consider as almost erotic pics...

Pickup pictures

https://drowninginguitars.com/2012/06/29/the-bizarre-guitar-pickup-encyclopedia/

www.mylespaul.com

 

[MantraSky]

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