Stat Pickups for Greg

This set of strat pickups will replace a vintage incorrect set in a Profile Vintage strat. This particular Profile strat was built to close vintage Fender specs apart from the materials used for the body and pickups. The original Profile pickups have steel poles with a protective coating, ceramic bar magnets and polyurethane insulated wire. So, to make this a more vintage sounding strat, a new set of pickups will be made using materials that are as close as possible to materials used in the early '60s Fender pickups. The assembly will also include two common modern strat modifications: bridge pickup tone; switch for bridge pickup.

• Original Assembly
• Requirements
• Prototypes
• MK GLVS-N, GLVS-M, GLVS-B Pickups
• New Assembly
• Control Cavity Modification
• Misc
• Assembly Installed
• Status

Original Assembly

Requirements

• Pickups
  • Based on L series strat pickups
  • Staggered poles
  • Alnico 5 magnets
  • Heavy formvar, 42 AWG
  • Middle pickup RWRP
  • New flatwork based on Fender specs. The original pickups with ceramic magnets to be disassembled, flatwork to be used for templates
  • No potting, but wrapped in teflon to protect coils. This allows for potting in future if required
• Electronics
  • Fender 5 way pickup selector switch
  • 2 x 250K audio split shaft pots for the tone controls
  • Cloth lead wires
  • Rewire electronics with new components
  • Wire for bridge tone control
  • Switch for bridge pickup using a push/pull pot (DPDT switch on bottom of pot) as the volume control. Pull to turn on the bridge pickup with any position selected on the pickup selector switch. The push/pull switch provides additional combinations: neck and bridge; all three pickups
  • Switchcraft jack
  • DC resistance: Neck 5.93Kohms, Middle 5.93Kohms, Bridge 6.08Kohms
  • 1uf capaciter, just like the '60s vintage strats

Prototypes

Before I start work on Greg's pickups, I made a prototype set to test in my frankenstrat. The specs differ slightly to Greg's (eg. no staggered poles on this set), but it'll give me an idea as to whether I need to make design changes for his pickups.

MK GLVS-N, GLVS-M, GLVS-B Pickups

The pickups ready to install on the scratch plate.

New Assembly

The original scratch plate, pickup covers and knobs. Greg now has a switch knob, part of the new pickup selector switch.

The back of the scratch plate fully wired and ready for installation.

Control Cavity Modification

The addition of the push/pull switch and the sheilded single conductor wire to the jack, the assembly didn't fit properly. The cavity was too shallow and the location of the hole from the control cavity to the jack cavity was located inappropriately close to the first tone pot. I routed the control cavity to around 30mm deep and redrilled the hole for the single conductor wire to the jack cavity. The exposed wood was sealed with a light coat of epoxy.

The left wire access hole is the new hole for the single conductor jack wire.

Misc

While the strings were removed from the guitar, I took the opportunity to remove the grime from the fretboard since it is a veneer board and the grime was starting to eat away at it.

Assembly Installed

The scratch assembly installed and initial component testing complete. It's now ready for a sound test with Greg's amp to determine whether further modifications, to refine the pickup tone, will be made to the pickups.

Status

• Original pickups disassembled
• Flatwork templates
• Spacers
• Machine flatwork (rough and flush cut, drill)
• Prototypes: MK LVS
• Assemble GLVS-N, GLVS-M, GLVS-B bobbins
• Wind pickups
• Test cover fit
• Solder lead wires
• Assemble and solder components on scratch plate
• Route control cavity deeper and apply sealer, and drill new jack cavity wire access hole
• Assembly installation and component testing