Morrel Little Roy Wiggins pickup

William Steward · From: Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

Does anyone have one of these guitars and has changed the lipstick style pickup for something else? I prefer the sound of my old National Grand Console but like the portability of this little guy.

[This message was edited by William Steward on 03 May 2004 at 04:59 AM.]

Kevin Ruddell · From: Toledo Ohio USA

When I owned one of these guitars , it's very weak pickup output was greatly helped by first plugging it into a direct box before the amp . The Whirlwind Imp ( about $40 ) is a great deal for the dough

Denny Turner · From: Oahu, Hawaii USA

William,

I agree with Kevin's solution as an easy solution. There are also preamps you can install; Chandler makes one that usually fits right into most guitars volume or tone pot cavity replacing either with a new pot in the amp design.

But if you want to find a pickup that fits your desires, here's some considerations about lipstick and other pickups that might be useful to your search: I don't know what brand of lipstick pickups the Roy Wiggins uses, but here is some data that might help you set the pickup to a happy medium of lipstick pickup characters and get a bit more signal out of it to suit your ear, or make other choices: The current Danelectro reissue lipsticks measure 4.0K ohms static resistance in their coils; Armstrong narrow ones around 5K and the longer ones a bit more; Chandler's are larger yet and although I've not measured them they sound like they're about 6K, as do the ones used on the Ibanez Talman. Lipstick manufacturers have their own individual ideas about "improving" the original Danelectro lipsticks that due to looser manufacturing tolerances back then could measure anywhere from about 4.3 to 5K with 4.7K thought to be a great balance between dynamics and signal output. An average for popular single coil spanish guitar pickups is probably between 6.5 and 9K; And some Steel pickups MUCH higher. Now here's where those numbers come into play in their distance from strings adjustment: Low impedence pickups are generally much more dynamic, meaning they respond extremely well to nuances in the manner strings are picked, while higher resistances are less dynamic but put out more signal voltage. Low impedence pickups can be set close to the strings to get more output BUT doing so will saturate the pickup more and make them extremely dynamic to every nuance of picking techniques, which I dearly love; But most Pickers prefer a lower dynamic / higher impedence / higher output pickup that doesn't respond so dynamically to picking nuances ....so voila we find most single coil pickups in the 6.5 to 9K range. The Wiggins is probably set low from the strings because the pickups are less saturated at that setting and thus less dynamic and better produces the less dynamic / more stable tonal character of higher impedence pickups, at the expense of output voltage (but affording the great dynamics at close to strings settings that the lipsticks are famous for). SO, you might try raising that pickup as close to the strings as you can, with the bass side slightly further away for signal balance between the first and last strings. You might very well like those high dynamics; I sure do. If it's too dynamic even with softer picking, then adjust it half-way back from where it was from the factory and try it there, ...and further adjust it up or down from there until you get the balance of signal and dynamics that you like. If you like the sound of the lipstick but just the output voltage the problem, you could also install another one right next to the existing one and wire them in series to get about twice the output signal voltage. Putting a connecting switch in such a modification can also allow you to set one close / dynamic and the other further back for a more stable signal and choose either or both with the switch; And a pot with a push-pull on/off switch would require no modification for the switch.

If that still doesn't suit your preference, then there are a few SGF Members who make pickups, ...Jason Lollar, Jerry Wallace come to mind ...and a search for "pickups" in the SGF non-pedal archives would probably find any more guys names in a reasonable amount of time. Among SGF Members I am only personally familiar with the pickups Lindy Fralin made to George Piburn's specs for his Georgeboard Steels, ...which are incredible pickups and occasionally George has some extras above the number of his hand-made Steels in progress. Stratocaster BRIDGE replacement pickups chosen for impedence characters said above might very well fit the Wiggins lipstick cavity (but be sure to measure the string and pole spacing for matches). If you don't mind modifying the pickup cavity, then Telecaster BRIDGE pickups with impedence selection considerations might also suit your needs. You could also measure the lipstick cavity and see if Jason Lollar or Lindy Fralin have pickups that fit that cavity; And both do have Steel pickups that would fit a small modification of the lipstick cavity. In any of those cases you might want to remove your lipstick pickup and measure the ohms on the coil with an ohm meter, so you will have an idea of how many ohms you might like.

You might also email Jason Lollar direct and ask him his opinions. If you're not familiar with Jason, he IS the guru of pickups and a fantastic person who I am confident could gladly answer any questions you might have.
I hope this might help you.

Aloha,
Denny T~

William Steward · From: Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

Kevin and Denny thank you both for extremely constructive suggestions. I will experiment with both DI box and height adjustment before trying to replace the pickup. Denny your veritable Masters thesis on the subject has really got me interested in the electronic resistance rating and it's relation to the more subjective side of performance characteristics. The DI box suggestion also got me thinking and may partly explain why plugging the guitar through a Goodrich Matchbox seemed to improve the sound somewhat as well as allow some tone control. Thanks gentlemen.

Michael Miller · From: Virginia

I owned one of the Lil Roy models for a short time. My feeling is that the lipstick pup is too short for the span of the strings, resulting in very weak output from the 1st and 8th string. Nice piece of maple though.

Denny Turner · From: Oahu, Hawaii USA

If the lipstick pickup looks too short for the Wiggins strings spread, then it most likely is. The actual pickup inside the lipstick tubes should be at least 1/4" shorter on each end of the pickup than the tubes are.

Aloha,
DT~

Chuck Fisher · From: Santa Cruz, California, USA * R.I.P.

I had one of these.these pickups are not actually wide enough and are weak on high and low strings.

get a blade humbucker with a coil cancel or series/parallel switch.

These guitars are solid hunks of rockmaple, they sustain like mad and sound good with a real pickup, their 6 string has a Semour Duncan hot rails that screams.

See Jason Lollar or Bill Lawrance IMO

Regards all,
CF

William Steward · From: Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

I tried the easiest fix first - raising the pickup using the two adjusting screws with an immediate noticeable improvement. Will try tweaking it some more but it is already somewhat better. Next will try borrowing a DI box. Emailed Jason Lollar to see what he has as a retrofit. Thanks for the tips gentlemen.

[This message was edited by William Steward on 12 May 2004 at 07:59 PM.]

Tom Jordan · From: Wichita, KS

I must be one of the lucky ones' with the pickup centered correctly. Mine sounds good and the output is not much different from my single coil tele pickups. I did some experimenting and routed the cavity and mounted a true-tone pickup. It sounded great but I removed it to use in my Deluxe 8 clone that I built. I now have the lipstick pickup back in the morrel and use it for a road/travel guitar. I like the sound and tone of the lipstick and any output deficiency is easily overcome with volume knobs.

Tom Jordan

Forum Index > Steel Without Pedals		Next oldest topic :: Next newest topic

All times are GMT - 8 Hours	Jump to: