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Topic: pickup wanted |
John Speck
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 21 Dec 2014 9:00 pm |
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Need something better that this Washburn bass pickup in this home built job.
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Roman Sonnleitner
From:
Vienna, Austria
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Posted 22 Dec 2014 4:15 am
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| Get in contact with Pete Biltoft from http://vintagevibeguitars.com/ and tell him what sound you're looking for, I'm sure he can build you something for an 8-string with a Jazz Bass form factor - a Stringmaster-type, P90, or CC-type should be doable... |
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George Piburn
From:
The Land of Enchantment New Mexico
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Posted 22 Dec 2014 7:18 am Nut and Bridge
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It looks like you have wood nut and bridge.
Before you go chopping up the plate back there , you might consider using a metal nut and bridge.
You can increase the over all tone and sustain greatly with Aluminum (6061) and more so yet with Brass (360).
There are plenty of other metals to try, the 2 mentioned are easy to obtain on line and are the easiest to form with hand file and drill press.
Those J Bass picks are still pretty good sounding and have lots of range too.
All of the professional Manufactures of Steel Guitars use metal nut and bridges.
Many of the small shops use some sort of modern material for the nuts teamed with metal bridge.
_________________
GeorgeBoards S8 Non Pedal Steel Guitar Instruments
Maker of One of a Kind Works of Art that play music too.
Instructional DVDs
YouTube Channel |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 22 Dec 2014 8:50 am
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Jerry Sentell can build a pickup to your specs for a very reasonable price:
http://www.sentellpickups.net/Lap-steel.html
Scroll to the bottom of the above link. His model LS5 is the P-90 he recently built for me. $60.00 shipped. I received it last week and installed it over the weekend in a mid-fifties Gibson lap steel. It sounds every bit as good as my other P-90 equipped Gibson Century with its original factory pickup. I love the Sentell pickup, and it was a great value.
Jason Lollar has a variety of standard 8-string lap steel pickups in his line:
http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=steel-guitar-pickups
Agree with Roman that Pete Biltoft at Vintage Vibe offers great-sounding custom pickups. He built a blade-style Strat pickup with an unradiused blade that I installed into a Fender Deluxe Six and it sounds wonderful. He also offers a couple 8-string pickups for lap steels:
http://www.vintagevibeguitars.com/pickup_lap.html
Concur with George that the sustain of your guitar will likely improve exponentially with the addition of a metal nut and bridge. |
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John Speck
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 22 Dec 2014 10:12 am
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| I did this whole project with materials that I had on hand. The body is a piece of white ash milled from some local lumber. When I was building this lap, I was working in a shop with a guitar luthier, and he had this bass pickup that he gave me. Being a violin repairman, I had lots of ebony on hand to make the nut and bridge. I made the fingerboard from a piece of mahogany one step at a time by alternating wood and plastic (for fret marks) until I got to the end. The cover plate was made from a piece of smoked plexi-glass. I did have in mind to change the nut and bridge to aluminum or brass, and at this point that might me a good first step to upgrade this setup. What do you guys think? |
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chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
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Posted 22 Dec 2014 10:34 am Re: Nut and Bridge
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| George Piburn wrote: |
It looks like you have wood nut and bridge.
Before you go chopping up the plate back there , you might consider using a metal nut and bridge.
You can increase the over all tone and sustain greatly with Aluminum (6061) and more so yet with Brass (360).
There are plenty of other metals to try, the 2 mentioned are easy to obtain on line and are the easiest to form with hand file and drill press.
Those J Bass picks are still pretty good sounding and have lots of range too.
All of the professional Manufactures of Steel Guitars use metal nut and bridges.
Many of the small shops use some sort of modern material for the nuts teamed with metal bridge. |
you already got that answer. seeing as how george is one of the most experienced lap builders, i think he knows what he's talking about.
(unless you're looking for more answers from less qualified people) |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 22 Dec 2014 11:18 am
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| John Speck wrote: |
| I did have in mind to change the nut and bridge to aluminum or brass, and at this point that might me a good first step to upgrade this setup. What do you guys think? |
Probably make more difference changing the bridge and nut than changing the pickup. |
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John Speck
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 22 Dec 2014 2:18 pm
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I did the modifications today. It got me were I wanted to be. Before the sound was a little muted. Now it sings. Thanks for all your suggestions.
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Paul Honeycutt
From:
Colorado, USA
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Posted 22 Dec 2014 4:57 pm
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| Glad the changes worked out for you. Nice job on the guitar. |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 22 Dec 2014 5:11 pm
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John, that's a nice instrument you made there, congratulations.
Being that you made the nut today and I can see you slotted it, and again, I don't know the experience you have with building these, but just make sure the tops of the strings are level across. Sometimes if one or two strings are seated at a different height (even slightly), it can really cause problems with your tone and intonation.
Good choice on the bridge and nut. Those are almost like Leo did it, except he could get a little fancier with the nut.
_________________
http://www.steelinstruction.com/
http://mikeneer.com |
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George Piburn
From:
The Land of Enchantment New Mexico
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Posted 22 Dec 2014 6:22 pm Brass
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Try the same thing with Brass and see if you do or don't like it even more.
My personal choice is Brass over any formula of Aluminum.
You can also put the Rod in drill press and use 800 grit sand paper then even more fine with 0000 steel wool and auto compound to bring those up to a mirror shine.
Mike is correct in getting the Grooves Situated to not have any string being too deep in relation to the others.
_________________
GeorgeBoards S8 Non Pedal Steel Guitar Instruments
Maker of One of a Kind Works of Art that play music too.
Instructional DVDs
YouTube Channel |
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John Speck
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 22 Dec 2014 7:55 pm
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| I used to have access to a machine lathe in a band instrument shop. The job would have been so easy with one of those. I had to use a bench motor that I have with a 1/2 in chuck to make these. The aluminum came from the hardware store. I will get a hold of some brass bar stock and do it again one of these days. My shop is set up to do violin repair. I've been working on violins for about 30 years. |
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George Piburn
From:
The Land of Enchantment New Mexico
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Posted 23 Dec 2014 5:18 am Soft Verses Hard Metal
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From the looks of it you most likely got SOFT Aluminum -
You can get short lengths of 6061 Aluminum Rod and 360 Brass Rod , on ebay or on-line metals or metal 4U
Both of these alloys are much harder and more dense than typical home center - ace - stock while super easy to machine by hand and roto motor or drill press.
Either will give you sonic quality you really are looking for.
You have taken it this far to make an awesome guitar , it is well worth the effort and low cost to get the good stuff and a few more hours of effort.
Pretty cool about your improvise lathe. Love that story.
_________________
GeorgeBoards S8 Non Pedal Steel Guitar Instruments
Maker of One of a Kind Works of Art that play music too.
Instructional DVDs
YouTube Channel |
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