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Topic: Rewinding a 12 string ShoBud pickup |
John Egenes
From:
Port Chalmers, New Zealand
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Posted 2 Jan 2020 8:29 pm |
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Hi,
I have an early '70s ShoBud, built by Duane Marrs. It is a single 12 (4X4). Jerry Wallace wound me a replacement pickup quite a few years ago, and I still have the original pickup. I'm thinking about rewinding the original as a spare. I'm here in New Zealand these days, so shipping back and forth to the states is too costly. I do have a very good tech here who will rewind it for me. I don't know much about impedence/inductance, etc, so I'm just asking around, trying to get some info for him. He's knowledgeable about guitars, but not about pedal steels, especially when it comes to choosing tone, etc.
So far, he says that he has 42 and 43 guage wire on hand. Otherwise, he'll have to order some. Will those guages work?
He also said that it might be possible to beef up the magnets. If so, is that worth doing? Pros, cons?
So, my questions would be:
Best guage wire to use? Things to look for when winding?
Number of turns?
Should the 12-string pickup be in the 15-20K range? (I'm not sure what the resistance of the Wallace pickup is, and the old ShoBud one is pretty beat-up, so I can't really measure it correctly).
Should I bother to have him tap it, with a switch?
Any other mods he might do? (I'm not going to modify the guitar, except maybe a tap switch)
Just casting about for some opinions and insight right now. Thanks a lot.
best,
--john egenes |
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Michael Brebes
From:
Northridge CA
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Posted 3 Jan 2020 8:32 am
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Most steel guitar pickups have plenty of room for windings so I would just go with 42 gauge. Most pickups have somewhere between 8000 and 10,000 winds on the coil.
_________________
Michael Brebes
Instrument/amp/ pickup repair
MSA D10 Classic/Rickenbacher B6/
Dickerson MOTS/Dobro D32 Hawaiian/
Goldtone Paul Beard Reso
Mesa Boogie Studio Pre/Hafler 3000
RP1/MPX100 |
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Jim Palenscar
From:
Oceanside, Calif, USA
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Posted 3 Jan 2020 8:39 am
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| The number of turns depends on the wire size, winding tension, and the bobbin size. In general 17-18 k for a 10 string and 20-23k for a 12. I start measuring at about 10k turns then calculate the desired # of turns for the final target resistance. |
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 3 Jan 2020 8:53 am
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Do you want to exactly copy the original? Or do you have desires for a different tone? Is the original pickup defective?
_________________
Too much junk to list... always getting more. |
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John Egenes
From:
Port Chalmers, New Zealand
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Posted 3 Jan 2020 11:42 am
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Thanks for the replies. They help a lot. I don't necessarily want to copy the original's tone. Probably looking for a bit fatter sound.
The original pickup worked when it was in the guitar, though when I took it out to replace it with the Wallace pickup the leads just fell apart. The pickup still has its windings on it, though, and seems in okay shape.
Would any of you bother to put a coil tap in it? I've never been a fan of them for electric guitars, but I'd consider one for this old ShoBud. Normally, I just run through a preamp with a bit of EQ to switch tone.
Pics of the old ShoBud pickup (12 string)
Last edited by John Egenes on 3 Jan 2020 11:43 am; edited 1 time in total |
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John Egenes
From:
Port Chalmers, New Zealand
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Posted 3 Jan 2020 11:42 am
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