The Creamery

[caption id=”attachment_945” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Custom Handwound Tele-90 Pickup - A P90 design in a Tele Bridge”][/caption]

A P90 design to fit a Tele Bridge Pickup

Fat, grittier tones from your Tele Bridge position whilst still keeping some of that classic Tele twang

Magnet: Custom Alnico 5
Poles: Steel Slug Screws
Polarity: South Up
Coil Wire: 44AWG Plain Enamel
Lead Wire: Vintage Cloth Pushback
Output: 10.4k
Baseplate: Copper Plated Steel

Telecaster Sized P90 Bridge Pickup

A P90 design in a standard Telecaster Bridge size. The Creamery Telecaster sized P90 pickup houses two unpolished custom Alnico 5 magnets, wider steel slug screws and a short, fat 44AWG coil. Huge, fat single-coil tones still with clarity, presence & a defined voice. Get the grit of a P90 in a standard Telecaster Bridge size. Great fat, rounded clean tones - turn up the gain and let the pickup scream.

The geometry of the standard Tele Bridge Pickup size as opposed to a standard P90 means there will always be a slight difference in tone between the two pickups as the coil will be slightly narower - Its for this reason I don’t call it a “true” P90 although I’ve voiced this pickup as a balance between the classic P90 tone with the unique twang of the Telecaster bridge.

A higher output, fat single-coil tone in a standard Tele Bridge sized pickup. The higher output balances with the narrower, lower strength magnets for a much rounder bridge tone.

For more details, you can visit my Creamery Custom Handwound Telecaster Pickups page here

Original Article

[caption id=”attachment_694” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Extra Width Fatter Strat Bridge Pickup”][/caption]

A rounder, fatter tone for bridge position Stratocasters

I’ve always been in two minds about the Strat bridge position. Unlike the Tele with its copper plated steel baseplate, the strat bridge position can sound bright, very bright in fact - and some would say too bright (especially in those 70s CBS era strats where corners were cut even on the use of coil wire).

I didn’t want to go down the root of fixing a tele style baseplate to the flatwork of the strat pickup, nor did I want to fatten up the tone by a high level of overwinding as that would give a higher output. I wanted to keep the essential characteristics of the pickup but just warm it up somehow, making it more pleasant on the ear.

The thing about pickup makers (like myself) is that they can obsess over the simplest of things and warming up the Strat bridge became one such obsession.

I tried a number of things but in the end decided on individual circular copper baseplates directly attached to the underside of each pole magnet to slightly shift the resonances towards the lows a little, which along with the flat stagger Alnico 2 rod magnets help to give the new pickup the warmth I was after.

I called it the “Extra Width” and designed a Strat set of middle & neck to compliment it. You can find the full details & spec below.

Here’s how it sounds, wonderfully played by Session Guitarist James Deane through a Fender® Hot Rod Deluxe - Let me know what you think.

Click to Play:

Extra Width Fatter Tone Stratocaster Bridge Pickup

… and this is what James had to say about it:

“The Extra-Width Bridge pickup sounds fantastic; crystal clear yet without the ‘ice-pick’ treble of the pick-up I was replacing. I really like the fact it responds to my playing and it comes to life with a bit of overdrive. Thanks very much for making my guitar warmer and clearer.”

- James Deane, professional Session Guitarist, Producer & Engineer

“Extra Width” Stratocaster Pickup Set

A great Stratocaster pickup if you want to balance the early ’60s strat tone with a more blusier feel.

Magnets: Alnico 2
Poles: Flat
Coil Wire: 42AWG
Lead Wire: Vintage Cloth Pushback
Bridge Output: 6.8k
Middle Output: 6.3k
Neck Output: 6.1k

A flat-pole hotter-wound Stratocaster pickup for a fatter twist on the classic Strat tone. Still with snappy highs, a fatter mid-range with rounded bass. Scatter wound with wax potted coils and flat Alnico 2 magnets. Higher output. Vintage style cloth covered lead wire.

The Bridge pickup has individual copper baseplates under each pole to slightly shift the resonances toward the lows which combined with the hotter wind, helps to create a warmer bridge tone.

The Middle Strat Pickup can be RWRP for hum cancelling in positions 2 & 4.

You can find more details of this and my other handwound Stratocaster Pickups on the main site - The direct link to the ordering page is here for a single pickup, or set of bridge, middle & neck

Thanks for reading.

Original Article

Magnet: Alnico 2

Coil Wire: 42AWG Plain Enamel

Lead Wire: Vintage Braided Pushback or 4way

Approx. Winds: Bridge - Pole 4600 / Screw 5000 - Neck - Pole 4175 / Screw 4475

Bridge Output: 8.2k

Neck Output: 7.3k

A vintage sound, rich and full of warmth with great harmonics. A real creamier sound when overdriven. Chrome plated nicker cover & vintage braided hookup wire.

More details & soundfiles when the site goes live.

Original Article

Just a reference note:

1950-51 - AWG 43 PE wire - 8,000 CCW winds - 8.0k - Alnico 5 - North polarity
1951-64 - AWG 42 PE wire - 9,200 CCW winds - 7.5k -  Alnico 5 - South polarity
1960’s/70’s - AWG 42 PE/Poly wire  - 7,800 CCW winds - 6.4k - Alnico 5 - South polarity

Telecaster bridge pickups had a zinc plated steel baseplate until early 1951 when Fender changed it to copper plated steel (.05” thick)

The baseplate is there to shift the resonances toward the lows, resulting in a fatter, more pleasant tone.

Original Article