The Creamery

[caption id=”attachment_940” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Custom Classic ‘71 Wide Range Humbucker Reproduction Pickups”][/caption]

New Repro Wide Range Tele / Thinline Humbuckers

With true individual threaded pole magnets and internal reflector plate. Custom nickel silver / nickel plated covers and available in separate pole spacing for bridge & neck.

[caption id=”attachment_938” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Classic ‘71 Wide Range Tele/Thinline Humbucker”][/caption]

Finally, after working on these for well over 18mths they’re finally ready - my true spec take on the original Seth Lover designed Wide Range Humbuckers.

Magnets: Threaded Pole or Optional Alnico 2
Coil Wire: 42AWG
Lead Wire: Vintage Braided
Bridge Output: 10.7k
Neck Output: 9.8k

The vintage Wide Range Humbucker sound

A true replacement for the modern Wide Range Tele / Thinline Humbucker reissue pickups. Classic fat “Doubled Up” single coil tones - Great clarity and string definition with a bright warmth. Individual threaded pole magnets charged to around 2/3rds capacity allow you to dial in each string. A warmer mid-range than standard single coils and with a higher output, they’re great for breaking up an amp. With a great fat bridge tone sounding akin to a “doubled-up” Tele and a neck with a warm, sweet brightness. Vintage nickel-silver baseplate, ferrous internal reflector plate, full-size custom bobbins with medium scatterwound coils - The Creamery Wide Range Tele / Thinline Humbucker, a direct replacement for those modern reissues.

Pole spacing for Bridge & Neck position

Unlike the originals & reissues, I’ve made the Classic ‘71 Wide Range Humbuckers with 53mm Bridge pole spacing & 50mm pole spacing for better string definition in the neck position.

Calibrated Outputs

I’ve also lowered the neck output a little to give much better volume balance between bridge & neck pickup.

Vintage style threaded magnets

My vintage take on the original pickups have either 12 threaded magnets or a combination of 6 threaded magnets and 6 x hidden Alnico 2 rod magnets. With the threaded & Alnico 2 rod magnets together the tone is ever so rounder, warmer with a few less highs - Great if you want to take a little ‘spank’ out of the bridge position.

Covers

I’ve had custom covers manufactured especially for these pickups. VIntage nickel/silver material, plated in nickel fitted to vintage nickel/silver baseplates.

PLEASE NOTE: These pickups are a direct drop-in replacement to fit the modern Fender® reissue Wide Range Humbuckers.

You can find more details & order a set of my Classic ‘71 Wide Range Humbuckers here.

[caption id=”attachment_936” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Wide Range Humbucker - Standard Humbucker Size”][/caption]

Standard Humbucker Version

Recently reviewed in Total Guitar magazine where they received a “5 Star/Best-Buy award”, you can now get my standard humbucker versions in new custom nickel covers. More rounded than a standard humbucker cover, they’ve a great retro look.

More details of my Wide Range Humbucker - standard humbucker sized versions can be found here.

Original Article

[caption id=”attachment_907” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Custom Radius Stratocaster (Strat) Pickups”][/caption]

Pickups to Match the radius of your neck/fingerboard

I’m often asked to make a custom set of Strat pickups with the old vintage stagger, by that I mean, the pole magnets follow the stagger pattern of the old, early Fender® pickups. This vintage stagger usually poses no problems with tighter radius necks (7.25”, 9.5”) but does create issues with the more modern radius necks.

[caption id=”attachment_908” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Stratocaster (Strat) Vintage Neck Radius & Pole Height”][/caption]

Why do some Stratocaster guitar pickups have staggered polepieces?

Simply put, staggered polepiece magnets help to balance the output/volume of each string. If you have a flat pole set of pickups with a 7.25” radius neck then you’d get more perceived volume from the high & low ‘E’ strings as they would be closer to the magnets whereas with a vintage stagger, the poles follow the radius of the neck to give good volume balance. Conversely, a vintage staggered set on a modern 10” or 12” neck will over emphasise the middle ‘D’ & ‘G’ strings as they will be closer to the strings.

Pickups staggered to suit your neck radius

I often chat with customers about the radius of their guitar neck when I wind them a set of Strat pickups. The pic at the top of this blog article shows a custom 10” staggered set of my Sweet ‘74 Stratocaster Pickups. The customer wanted a good, rounded tone with balanced output across the strings.

Coming Soon - The “Sonic-Six” adjustable pole Strat pickup

[caption id=”attachment_912” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery “Sonic-Six” Custom Adjustable Pole Strat Pickup”][/caption]

Its with this in mind I’ve designed the new Sonic-Six, adjustable pole Strat pickup. The individual threaded magnets allow you to find the right balance for each string. They’ll be launched in early December.

If you’re after a good rounded balance to your strat pickups I can custom make a set to suit your guitar. Have a look at my range of Handwound Strat pickups, and let me know the radius of your fingerboard. If you don’t know, just let me know the make & model of your guitar and I can research it.

Original Article

[caption id=”attachment_879” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Classic ‘71 Wide Range Humbucker Cover - Prototype Sample”][/caption]

Its on its way, just in time for Christmas …

The final prototype covers are on their way and providing all the measurements are correct, the new true spec Creamery Classic ‘71 Wide Range Humbucker pickups will be available on the site start of December.

A Direct Replacement for Fender® reissue pickups

The prototype above is made from brass but the final commercial covers will be nickel with nickel plating. Baseplates are nickel as well.

Still working out pricing but here are some specs:

Magnets: Threaded Pole or Optional Alnico 2
Coil Wire: 42AWG Plain Enamel
Lead Wire: Vintage Braided or 4-way
Bridge Output: 10.7k
Neck Output: 9.8k

The vintage Wide-Range Humbucker tone

A true replacement for the Fender® Wide Range / Thinline Humbucker reissue pickups. Classic fat single coil tones - Great clarity and string definition with a bright warmth. Individual threaded pole magnets charged to around 2/3rds or full capacity allow you to dial in each string. A warmer mid-range than standard single coils and with a higher output, they’re great for breaking up an amp. With a great fat bridge tone sounding akin to a “doubled-up” Tele and a neck with a warm, sweet brightness.

Custom nickel baseplate & ferrous internal reflector plate, full-size bobbins with handwound coils - The Creamery Wide Range / Thinline Humbucker, a direct vintage spec replacement for those modern reissues.

My vintage take on the original pickups have either 12 threaded magnets or a combination of 6 threaded magnets and 6 Alnico 2 rod magnets. With the threaded & Alnico 2 rod magnets the tone is ever so rounder, warmer with a few less highs - Great if you want to take a little ‘spank’ out of the bridge.

Available in both standard humbucker and true spec Wide Range Humbucker sizes with pole spacing unique to bridge & neck for better strings definition.

Only available in Nickel covers (Nickel plated, Nickel Silver material).

You can read more about my Vintage, Modern & Wide Range Humbucker Upgrades here

Original Article

[caption id=”attachment_845” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Custom Jazzmaster & Fender® Jazzmaster Japan Reissue Pickup”][/caption]

Vintage Jazzmaster Pickups

One of my favourite pickups, the original Jazzmaster pickup, unlike the modern CIJ reissues, had short & wide coils around 1/8” high. Its this unique design that helps to give the pickup that classic darker, warmer single coil tone. The larger surface area of coil ‘senses’ more of the string, resulting in that fatter, warmer tone. The individual pole piece magnets help keep clarity & string definition and when combined with the shape of coil, gives that unique tone.

Modern ‘Crafted in Japan’ Reissue Jazzmaster Pickups

Unlike the high-end American versions, Fender® CIJ Jazzmaster guitars have what on the surface looks much like a true Jazzmaster pickup design but underneath its something entirely different.

[caption id=”attachment_942” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Modern CIJ Jazzmaster Reissue Pickups”][/caption]

As you can see from the picture above, the CIJ reissue Jazzmaster pickups are more akin to a Strat pickup, with a much narrower, taller coil giving a brighter tone. When you consider the Jazzmaster has 1Mb pots then you can see why some say the CIJ Jazzmaster are too bright, maybe even shrill with much less in the bass & mid-range.

Creamery Vintage & Custom Jazzmaster Pickups

As shown in the image above, I make all my Vintage, Custom & ‘Extra-Width’ Jazzmaster pickups to the original coil size to give simple variations on that classic warm, darker tone. Recently I’ve been balancing the original design with slightly taller magnets, narrower coil wire for higher output and other variations to give a few modern twists on the original.

What the Guitarist said:

The reissue pickup in the picture belonged to a guitarist who got in touch wanting something more from his Jazzmaster. The neck pickup was ok for him but the bridge was just too bright. We talked about vintage Jazzmaster pickups and I explained the differences. Once I’d fitted my vintage style Jazzmaster pickups to his guitar this is what he had to say:

“What a brilliant difference. My Jazzmaster now has that real tasty classic sound. My Musicman amp has found a good friend. Awesome clean tones. I would never change now. I’ll be requesting some strat pickups now as I had no idea the vintage tone would sound so idyllic with my amp. I have had an education. Thank you.”

Upgrade your Jazzmaster Pickups

If you’d like to upgrade your Jazzmaster with handwound pickups, take a look at the Jazzmaster pickups page on the site here. I don’t have a shelf full of pickups all boxed up and ready to send, each order is custom wound so if you have a spec in mind, just get in touch.

Available in Black, White or Vintage Aged White covers with vintage cloth push-back wire, have a read through the reviews to see what customers are saying about my handwound Jazzmaster pickups.

Original Article

[caption id=”attachment_834” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Pickup Rewind Repair - Telecaster ‘74 Bridge”][/caption]

One of the most common pickup repairs that I get in the workshop is where the pickup wire has been snapped or damaged right at the start of the coil. With little free coil wire left over, often the pickup requires a compete rewind to restore it to working order but in some cases I’m able to tease enough wire free to work with. In these instances it means a vintage pickup can be repaired as close to the original as possible.

[caption id=”attachment_835” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Pickup Rewind & Repairs - Telecaster ‘74 Bridge”][/caption]

Carefully teasing out the start of the coil, I worked free enough fine wire with which I could solder and create the join to an extra length of jump wire. This could then be connected to the flatwork eyelet to make the pickup connection.

[caption id=”attachment_836” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Pickup Rewinds & Repairs - Telecaster ‘74 Bridge”][/caption]

I couldn’t leave the large solder joint like this it could easily be damaged so with a simple solder suction stick the joint was ever-so-carefully reduced. The join could then be taped down to keep it free from damage.

[caption id=”attachment_837” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Pickup Rewinds & Repairs - Telecaster ‘74 Bridge”][/caption]

The new solder joint was taped down and with a quick test with the multimeter, the pickup was repaired. Its always good when a vintage pickup can be repaired and I always go for a full pickup rewind as a last resort. If I can, I always try and fix pickup without the need for a rewind.

If you’ve a pickup that needs repairing or a rewind, then get in touch. You can find details & case studies of my guitar pickup repair & rewind services here

Original Article

[caption id=”attachment_789” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Converting a P90 Dogear pickup to P90 Soapbar”][/caption]

When you want to keep your P90 pickups but use them in another guitar.

This is a very simple switch, and great if you want to use your P90 pickups in a new guitar but need to change the covers and baseplates from a dogear style P90 to the alternative soapbar version. This can also work the other way around as well.

[caption id=”attachment_790” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Converting a P90 Dogear pickup to P90 Soapbar - Underneath”][/caption]

While essentially the same pickup, the Dogear style differs from the Soapbar version not only through the cover, but also the baseplate underneath. Whereas the Dogear pickup is attached to the body of the guitar through the two lugs “ears” either side of the pickup, the Soapbar is fixed to the guitar via two centre screws with foam pads and/or springs underneath the pickup for height adjustment.

[caption id=”attachment_791” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Classic Handwound ‘53 P90 Soapbar Pickup”][/caption]

As you can see from my Classic Handwound ‘53 P90 Soapbar Pickup above, the two centre holes are utilised to attach the pickup to the body of the guitar. If you look at the Dogear style in the firs picture, you’ll see the lugs “ears” which are used to screw the pickup down.

Removing the P90 baseplate

Its as simple as removing the fixing screws and noting where & whether the ground wire and braided hookup wires are soldered to the existing baseplate.

[caption id=”attachment_793” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery - Converting a P90 Dogear Pickup to a P90 Soapbar style - Removing the baseplate”][/caption]

Usually attached with a couple of screws plus a film of wax from the potting process, the baseplate can be easily removed with very little danger of damage to the pickup coil.

A word of caution though, many P90 pickups will have a ground wire from the coil and the braided hookup wire soldered to the existing baseplate. Take a note of this and simply replicate the process with the new Soapbar style baseplate.

The new Soapbar style baseplate attaches in the same manner, screwed directly to the centre section of the coil bobbin.

Once the baseplate is attached, the new cover can be positioned over the coil and with a quick wax-potting to keep everything in place, the pickup is ready to be installed.

Converting a Dogear style P90 to a Soapbar can be a very simple way to re-use loved pickups even though you may want to change your guitar. The switch is just as simple the other way around. Of course, make sure the new cover has the same pole spacing as your existing pickups. A simple check with the ruler can confirm this.

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You can find more details of my handwound P90 pickups here, and for details of my custom pickup upgrades, repairs & rewinds, just head to the main site here

Original Article

Upgrading the modern Fender® reissue Wide Range Tele Humbuckers to vintage spec

You can find more details of my modern, vintage Wide Range Humbucker pickups & upgrades on the main site. Below is a blog post on the actual upgrade of both a modern & older Japanese Fender® reissue Wide Range Humbucker.

Old vs New

As you can see from the picture, the modern Wide Range / Thinline Humbucker Reissues are simply standard Humbucker sized coils encased in wax to fit the larger Wide Range Cover. As with standard Humbuckers they feature a bar magnet underneath, the difference being the use of threaded slugs to mimic the threaded magnets of the original late ’60s-70s pickups. Having a bar magnet underneath the slugs means these pickups will have a different voice to the clarity, definition and fat brighter tone associated with the original, vintage versions.

[caption id=”attachment_732” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Original Fender® reissue Wide Range Humbucker - Inside”][/caption]

Removing the cover

Using a sharp blade I carefully slice through the old solder. Rather than desoldering, I cut through so later I can simply let the solder flow when reattaching the cover once the upgrade has been completed.

[caption id=”attachment_735” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Original Fender® reissue Wide Range Humbucker - Inside”][/caption]

Inside its clear that the pickup is simply the standard humbucker design, and this accounts for the much darker tone. To achieve the output of the original Seth Lover ’70s pickups, Fender® overwind the coils on these modern Wide Range Humbuckers. The nature of overwinding pickups tend to create a darker pickup which when coupled with the bar magnet underneath can make these modern reissues difficult to brighten up and can often appear muddy in the neck position. A change of pots & caps can help but the tone would still be unlike the original.

The original design had 6 individual threaded pole magnets and a ferrous reflector plate (similar to the baseplate found on the underside of a Telecaster bridge pickup). This original design allowed a much higher output pickup that kept the clarity, string definition and higher frequencies.

As you can see from the picture above, this particular reissue had 2 magnet pieces waxed together underneath the coils.

Threaded Pole Magnet vs Standard Humbucker Bar Magnet

[caption id=”attachment_740” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Wide Range Thinline Tele Humbucker Upgrade - Custom Threaded Magnets”][/caption]

Like the original, my Wide Range Humbucker upgrades use threaded adjustable magnets. CuNiFe is prohibitively expensive now so I use FeCrCo which is very similar to Alnico but with more stable magnetic properties, threaded to enable adjustment of the poles. The individual magnets and custom scatterwound coils help give great clarity and string definition, with a ‘fat’ brightness unique to this design of pickup. The adjustable pole magnets allow you to emphasise certain strings and follow the radius of your guitar neck.

As the FeCrCo threaded magnets could be more aligned with Alnico 5 in terms of ‘colouring the sound’ I offer two options with these upgrades. One version with 12 threaded poles which keeps the brighter attack and another version with six adjustable threaded poles and six corresponding Alnico 2 rod magnets to give a slightly warmer tone.

[caption id=”attachment_741” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Wide Range Thinline Tele Humbucker Upgrade Custom Fullsize Bobbins”][/caption]

The reissues generally have standard humbucker sized bobbins which means the coils are shorter & narrower whereas both the original ’70s design and my new upgrades have full size bobbins that fill the length of the pickup. I custom make mine to be the same dimensions as the originals.

Upgrading the Pickup

[caption id=”attachment_744” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Wide Range Thinline Tele Humbucker Upgrade”][/caption]

The new full size coils are fixed to the baseplate on top of the new custom made ferrous reflector plate. This plate helps to increase the inductance of the coil (like increasing the number of turns of wire) giving a higher perceived output. The steel plate also offers Electrodynamic functions (eddy current interference). Eddy currents shift the resonances toward the lows, resulting in a fatter, more pleasant tone.This coupled with the individual threaded pole magnets offer a clarity, string definition & that “doubled up” tele-like tone unique to this design of pickup.

The coils and reflector plate are screwed down tight before the lead wires are connected. Another great thing about the design of the original Wide Range Humbucker that with 4-way wiring, the pickup can be split into a true single coil.

[caption id=”attachment_747” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Left: Creamery Reissue Upgrade - Right: Original Fender® Reissue”][/caption]

As you can see, the pickup looks pretty much exactly as it did before, the difference being that inside, its completely different - and now true to the original design. Listen to a video demo of the neck pickup upgrade for yourself:

Creamery Wide Range Humbucker (Neck) Upgrade Video Demo

[iframe_loader src=”http://player.vimeo.com/video/24919259” width=”398” height=”224” click_words=”View the Wide Range Humbucker video on Vimeo” click_url=”http://vimeo.com/24919259” ]

Thanks to Sami Saarinen for playing on & recording this video.

[caption id=”attachment_770” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Wide Range Thinline Tele Humbucker Upgraded Reissues”][/caption]

As you can see from the picture above, the upgrades look just like the originals. So if you’re after that vintage Wide Range Humbucker tone and want to keep your Fender® covers, then my Creamery upgrades could well be for you. Available in three options, you can find details of them here.

Reviews of my Custom Wide Range / Thinline Humbucker Replacements / Upgrades

“Had my first gig with it last night - it sounded awesome! HUGE improvement in tone and clarity etc and was noticed by everyone. Really happy with the product and service Jaime!”

Dave Dixon

“Wow, what a great pickup! It’s just what I was looking for. A marvellous sounding pickup. Well done. Now my ‘72 Custom’s neck pickup sounds clear and twangy, with tight bottom. I believe that you got the original’s sound excactly right :-)”

Sami Saarinen

The Creamery Wide Range Humbucking Pick-ups are really amazing. I’ve played for a long time, have owned a vast number of guitars with single coils and humbuckers, but these are something special, indeed. They’re very dynamic, you can make them go from a whisper to a roar just by the touch of your fingers. The sound is clear and bright, but with a solid bottom, never thin or spiky. I’ve put them in my Japanese thinline copy and they do make the instrument come alive in a very special way. Very good if you don’t want to have to chose between mellowness and twang - here you have them both!

Tomas Blom

“What to say… I am really impressed by the sound definition of these PUs. The other Wide Range that I tested before (re-issue ones) were muddy, no precise string definition and the twang of my tele was gone. This is one is trully amazing, clean, soft and subtile. Your telecatser is suddenly beathing ! About the bridge PU, with clean sound it’s litterally smashing your face away ! Sounds powerfull and so precise, ready to roar ! Never heard such PUs combination before and really happy to play them today. Thanks so much Jaime for your beautiful work and patience. “

Fabz, from the band Lazarre

“It really is exactly what I was lookong for. All the twang and single note clarity my telecaster is supposed to have, but so much tighter when overdriven, like a humbucker is meant to be but with the added detail I would get from from my single coil. Thanks!”

Kyle Jernigan

“There is a real difference between these and the reissues - these are brighter/sharper and more tele like. The others were quite dark in comparison. I played it next to my single coil tele and it is now much more useable - it used to be like playing a cheap les paul at times!. Having scrutinised it all I am delighted with the sound”

Greg Dopson

“I’ve received the PUs yesterday and put them back in the guitar. I’m very very happy! With the CTS pots and PIO caps, the sound is great! The guitar now has that nice vintage, warm tone, no comparison with the original (crappy) reissue PUs. Thank you for your good job.”

Judicaël Guesné

“They sound really good; open, punchy and very dynamic - I have to get used to all those nuances! It’s like going from automatic gear to stick shift … Played the first concert with them this saturday. It was an outdoor gig with no soundcheck, so I didn’t get a chance to change the gain structure in my setup. It sounded great, and I guess it’ll be even better when I some time to dial everything in.”

Asger J. Steenholdt

Original Article

Repairing/Rewinding a Vintage Strat Pickup and Replacing Pickup Magnets

[caption id=”attachment_658” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Repairing and Rewinding a Vintage Strat Pickup”][/caption]

Here’s an interesting pickup that came in for a repair & rewind - An early ’60s vintage Strat Bridge pickup. The thing is, its a left-hand stagger, meaning the shortest magnet sits under the ‘A’ string rather than the usual ‘B’ string. Either a mistake back in the factory many years ago or simply a pickup from a left-handed strat that was fitted to a right-hand guitar at a later date. Either way, the pickup was in a sorry state.

The coil wire had been cut right through and one of the magnets had cracked and split so not only did the pickup require a rewind, it also needed a new pole magnet. The owner asked me to swap the poles around to make it a standard right-hand stagger.

[caption id=”attachment_659” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Repairing and Rewinding a Vintage Strat Pickup”][/caption]

Replacing the cracked magnet involved gently pushing out each end without forcing it. As the flatwork was coming loose already, using too much force could have pushed the flatwork in, giving a shorter area in which to re-wind the coil.

Checking the remaining magnets with a gauss meter showed that they were still pretty much fully charged so selecting the correct size vintage style cast Alnico 5 magnet from my stock and charging it to pretty much full spec would allow for a very close match to the original.

Once the pole magnets were in place, and with the help of a little superglue to hold the loose flatwork down, the hookup wires could be carefully uncoupled, taking care not to loosen the eyelets. The pickup was rewound to around 6.4k as requested by the customer. The hookup wires were re-used as per request.

A quick test on the multimeter showed everything was working ok so after wax-potting and a final check on my test guitar, the pickup was ready to send back.

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If you have a pickup that needs a repair or rewind, just get in touch. You can find more details of my pickup repair service here:

The Creamery - Pickup Repairs & Rewinds

Original Article

[caption id=”attachment_600” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Wide Range/Thinline Humbucker Pickup Replacement - Standard Humbucker Version”][/caption]

Coming very soon, a new replacement for those Fender Seth Lover Wide Range/Thinline Humbucker reissues.

Whereas the original Wide Range/Thinline Humbucker pickups had threaded CuNiFe magnets, the modern reissues are merely a standard humbucker with bar magnet and pole screws. With the right capacitors & potentiometers, they’re not a bad pickup at all - they just don’t have the dynamics of the original Wide Range/Thinline Humbucker.

My new versions will be true to the original with threaded, adjustable magnets and I’m creating two versions - a full sized version intended to be a direct drop-in replacement for the current Wide Range/Thinline Humbucker reissues. I’m looking to launch these in the next few weeks. The second option is scaled down version to fit standard humbucker size which will be launched in February.

[caption id=”attachment_654” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Wide Range / Thinline Humbucker Replacement Pickups - Comparison”][/caption]

So if you’ve a modern day Telecaster Thinline, Custom or Deluxe then in a few weeks you’ll be able to purchase a direct Wide Range/Thinline Humbucker replacement with dynamics true to the original pickup.

If you’d simply like a true Wide Range/Thinline Humbucker style pickup for your guitar to replace a standard humbucker, then now you can.

[caption id=”attachment_601” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Wide Range/Thinline Humbucker Pickup replacement with threaded magnets”][/caption]

As you can see from the final prototype picture above the new pickup has threaded magnets just like the original. CuNiFe is prohibitively expensive now so these new Wide Range/Thinline humbucker pickups use a form of Alnico, threaded to enable adjustment of the poles. The individual magnets and custom scatterwound coils give great clarity and string definition, with a ‘fat’ brightness unique to this design of pickup. The adjustable pole magnets allow you to emphasise certain strings.

[caption id=”attachment_607” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Creamery Wide Range/Thinline Humbucker Replacement with threaded magnets”][/caption]

Whereas the original Seth Lover designed Wide Range/Thinline Humbuckers had roughly the same output in both bridge & neck, I’ve voiced these new designs with differing outputs for better calibration, volume and tone. The bridge has an output of around 10.6k with the neck slightly lower at around 9.7k. Of course, if you’d like to keep output to the original specs, I can happily custom wind a set for you.

Both versions will be available in singles or sets. With the full-sized version, you’ll have the option to keep your original Fender embossed cover which I will fit to the new pickups for you. Your original pickup will be returned in full working condition, minus the cover of course ;-)

For the standard humbucker sized version I modify my classic humbucker bobbins & baseplate to create the pickup whilst crafting the reflector plate by hand. With the full-sized Wide Range/Thinline Humbucker replacements the full-size bobbins, reflector plate and baseplate are all made by hand here in my workshop.

I’m also looking into the idea of offering a modification service whereby I either remove the poles and bar magnet from your modern-day Fender reissue pickups and replace them with threaded magnets. Another idea is to offer a reduced price full-sized pickup by taking your reissue Wide-Range/Thinline humbucker and using the existing baseplate & cover to with the new wound coils & threaded magnets.

I’ll be updating this blog with audio & video demos, offering a direct comparison between the modern reissues and my new replacement versions - just wanted to let you know that they’re on their way.

If you’ve any questions, or just want to know more - just get in touch.

Thanks for reading.

Jaime
The Creamery - Custom Guitars & Handwound Pickups

UPDATE

The new standard Humbucker sized Wide Range / Thinline Humbucker styled pickups are now available.

[caption id=”attachment_649” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Comparison - Creamery Wide Range / Thinline Humbucker Replacements”][/caption]

Here’s a quick comparison between a couple of versions.

1. Fender® Modern MIM Full Size Wide Range / Thinline Humbucker Reissues

2. GFS Vintage Fender® Style Split Humbucker “faithful recreations”

3. Creamery Wide Range / Thinline Humbucker Replacements - Standard Humbucker Sized Version

[caption id=”attachment_650” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Comparison - Creamery Wide Range / Thinline Humbucker Replacements”][/caption]

The modern Fender® pickups (1) are simply a standard humbucker with single bar magnet and ferrous pole pieces/screws, encased in a large volume of wax to fill out the cover. The GFS version (2) is again a standard humbucker design with underlying bar magnet but in their case, three of the poles on each coil are simply filled with wax rather than have a ferrous slug or screw. (3) is my standard humbucker sized version with threaded magnets and ferrous reflector plate as seen on the original Seth Lover design but not in the modern Fender® reissues.

As the originals were one of my favourite pickups I always had the intention to try and recreate them, and if not totally correct (as CuNiFe is now prohibitively expensive and pretty damn hard to get hole of) I’ve tried to stay true to the original design. The impetus to try and recreate them was down to the initial conversation that led to my “Wide-O” range of pickups - I just ran with it.

The Humbucker sized Wide Range / Thinline Humbucker styled pickups - Standard Humbucker Size are available from my main site now. Just follow the link.

The Full size direct drop-in replacements are coming in February 2011.

I’m also working on a slightly different design using threaded poles with small neodymium magnets under each pole for more perceived output whilst keeping the brightness & bloom. More details soon.

Thanks for reading.

Jaime
The Creamery - Custom Guitars & Handwound Pickups

Original Article

[caption id=”attachment_633” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”The Creamery Guitar Pickup repair: Repairing/Rewinding a Vintage Telecaster Neck Pickup”][/caption]

Guitar Pickup repair: Repairing/Rewinding a Vintage Telecaster Neck Pickup

A guitar player got in touch with the story of an early ’70s Telecaster Neck pickup that had seen better days - In fact, it looked like it had been attacked with shears. The coil had been gouged quite deeply and a complete rewind was the only way to fix things.

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Fortunately I have a selection of old vintage 42 & 43AWG with some spools original from the 60s onwards - I also have a few spools of modern reproductions on vintage wire. Once the correct wire was chosen and the original coil was cut from the flatwork and pole magnets it was time to start winding. The customer told me the original output was in the high 5k region, around 5.7k-5.9k. After winding pickups for a good while you should be able to make a pretty good guess as to how many turns are required of a certain gauge pickup wire to achieve the desired output. In the case of this Tele neck pickup, the customer loved the tone and wanted the rewind to be as close as possible.

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Whereas modern Poly coated pickup wire can be soldered, many types of vintage wire cannot. In the case of the Tele neck pickup here, the wire needs its coating sanded off at the point where the wire feeds through the eyelets, allowing it to be soldered to the hookup wire. Once done its was time for winding. The pickup was Reverse Wound / Revers Polarity (RW/RP) so the pickup needed to a rewind with this in mind.

[caption id=”attachment_638” align=”aligncenter” width=”600” caption=”Repairing/Rewinding a Vintage Telecaster Neck Pickup - After the rewind”][/caption]

Based on the original pickup which had quite a tight coil, I worked out the number of turns required to give an output in the region of 5.7k-5.9k and started winding with a technique to try and mimic the tighter, consistant machine wound vintage pickup.

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Once wound, I needed to sand off the old insulation coating from the end of the wire, no mean feat when the wire is as thin as human hair. After soldering the hookup wires I tested the repaired pickup with the multimeter to ensure it was working. After the pickup was cooled after soldering I coudl take an accurate reading of the pickup’s output - Spot on at 5.8k!

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Cover fitted and ready to be sent back to the customer, and although the pickup needed a complete rewind, with vintage wire and a little time and effort - Job done.

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If you have pickups in need of a rewind or repair then just get in touch. You can read more about my pickup repair & rewind service here.

Original Article

Repairing a Telecaster Bridge Pickup

Here’s an interesting one. A customer got in touch with a pretty new Telecaster bridge pickup that was no longer working. The coil ends had snapped away from the hookup wires, the higher piece of flatwork had started to work loose from both the polepieces and the base. If you look closely in the top pic you can just make out the snapped coil wires, the problem being that there’s very little protruding coil wire left to work with. The customer’s fear was a complete re-wind.

The upper flatwork is pulling away from the coil & pole pieces. this can happen if the pickup is either potted in too high a heat warping the flatwork or if the polepiece is too loose in the flatwork.

The danger is that if this continues, the flatwork could pull away from the polepieces completely leaving the actual coil wire exposed.

Also, the baseplate isn’t fully flush to the base of the pickup, not a big issue in itself but an example of poor quality control at the manufacturer’s stage.

To fix the pickup I carefully peeled away the base ring of protective cotton string to give me slightly more coil wire to work with. Thin jumper wires were carefully soldered to each broken end of the coil and wedded to the hookup wires to complete the circuit then taped down to keep them in place before wax-potting. The flatwork was carefully pressed back into place and held. Finally the pickup was wax-potted to keep everything secure and seal the coil.

Checking with the meter showed an output of 7.26k and with a quick wire up to the test guitar, the pickup was back up and running.

I always try and work it so a re-wind is the last option as many customers want to preserve their pickup’s tone - sometimes its inevitable but in this case the pickup was sorted.

Original Article

After an email chat about Wide Range Humbuckers I came up with these.

Essentially a single coil but with more presence and fatter tone. Like the standard single coil, each string has its own magnet. The difference with these is that the slug that sits opposite widens the area of string magnetised, creating a beefier tone but unlike the humbucker where the bar magnet lies underneath both the slugs & screws giving an even spread of magnetised string, these new pickups have a pole magnet and a slug. By design the slug is still magnetised but nowhere near as strong as the polepiece. Whereas the humbucker gives the tone of the full length of magnetised string between the slug & screw, these merely give the tone of the point of magnetisation over the pole with a kind of residual tone of the string above the slightly magnetised slug. This in effect is similar to the sound fading from magnet to slug which is somewhat fatter than a single coil but not as beefed up as a humbucker. Essentially a single coil with more presence. They’re overwound with thinner wire to a specific number of turns to really break up an amp and I use Alnico 2 magnets to give more warmth. The use of thinner wire helps to keep the high frequencies in a narrower coil. I’ve just recorded some audio files which I need to master for the site.

I’m also working on a 12 pole version to give an even richer tone - still playing around with the windings though.

Original Article

The full site is now live over at www.at-the-creamery.co.uk and in the next few weeks I’ll be adding a few more things. They are:

So drop by the site, sign up for the updates and be the first to know when something new arrives.

Original Article

The Alleyway
008
May 2010
Mahogany
Maple
Maple
21
Creamery Classic Alnico 2 Humbuckers
Alnico 2
1x Volume, 1 x Tone
3 way
Bridge
Bridge & Neck in Parallel
Neck
Roller Nashville Tune-o-matic
Kluson Single Hole Post
Chrome
White Pearloid 3ply
25.5” (648 mm)
1.625” (41.3 mm)
Complete one-off
Fender Pure Nickel Wound Original 150s
Medium - 11, 14, 18, 28, 38, 49

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Original Article

UPDATE: Above is the final version. Below is a previous draft.

Here’s the rough first mock-up of the new pickup packaging. When you buy a single pickup it will come in the new ‘cigarette pack’ style box. Maybe I should have vending machines in your local guitar shop - just swipe your card and take a pack.

I’m on course now for the site to launch at the end of May - Everything is in place, just testing the online shop and hoping to record some demo videos.

Original Article