Custom Pickup Makers?

[Chuck King]

I am looking for recommendations for someone who can make me a custom pickup. I need to replace the distinctive and non-standard pickup in an oddball old bass, and I want something that is going to look authentic.

So, I'm not looking for someone who rewinds pickups, I need someone who will make a pickup from the ground up like the old one.

Anybody know of any such pickup makers?

 

[Bogfish]

try Curtis Novak

 

[etinsley]

try Curtis Novak

+1

Curtis Novak is the best and he can do just about anything you can think of.

 

[line6man]

AFAIK, Curtis does not do custom pickups like whatever the OP wants.

If you want a totally custom shape/cover, try Reed James Engineering. He can CNC you any kind of cover and wind any kind of coil.
http://reedjamescustom.com/

 

[Bogfish]

edited

 

[yczi]

jworrell on the forums here! He's making my bass's customs and from what I hear is an EXCELLENT craftsman. Just search the pickup forums for the post he titled 'FREE PICKUPS...' (it was his original post looking for people to sample a few free ones, also includes some sound samples and whatnot). He can make pickups in just about any size or spec, though, I believe from talking to him!

 

[dasto]

I recommend Aero. They made me some replacement pickups for my yamaha trb6p and they are great. Contact Larry Pollack he is very willing to respond to questions (customer service *****)!

 

[KK Jale]

I recommend Vintage Vibe...

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I went to them with one of the most obscure requests you could imagine (a Charlie Christian for a Sho-Bud 10-string pedal steel) and they did a fantastic job. They're hugely experienced, their communication is exceptional and the end result looked fabulous.

 

[Alvasin]

Anyone have any experience with them? I'm thinking about picking up a cheapo lap steel whose pickup I'll probably want to replace, but it's a dogeared P-90, and the "big" companies don't really make a good variety of them. In my random googling I came across BG pickups, and I was pretty surprised at being able to find handmande USA pups for such "low" prices. Are they any good? Anyone know?

Anyone?

Anyone?

 

[FunkMetalBass]

Might I ask what the old bass is? If the pickup has a distinctive cover, it might be easiest to just make a wind a new pickup to fit into the housing.

 

[Chuck King]

The pickup is for an Acoustic Black Widow. They were built for Acoustic (the amp company) in the early 70s by several different companies. Mine was made by Mosrite, but the pickup does not look like any Mosrite pickup I've ever seen. Here are some photos:

The chrome surround is not part of the pickup. Although it uses fillister-head Phillips screws for polepieces, it turns out (as I learned the hard way) that they are not in fact adjustable; they are cast into epoxy. The broken pole piece makes an audible difference. I previously asked for and got a lot of advice about fixing the existing pickup, but upon further reflection I'm thinking if I can get somebody to make one that looks similar, that would be the best long-term solution.

 

[BuffaloBass]

I'll second Larry @AeroInstrument. www.aeroinstrument.com Custom from the ground up is his specialty.

 

[Arvin]

I recommend Vintage Vibe...

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I went to them with one of the most obscure requests you could imagine (a Charlie Christian for a Sho-Bud 10-string pedal steel) and they did a fantastic job. They're hugely experienced, their communication is exceptional and the end result looked fabulous.

+1; Pete Biltoft is amazing, and this sounds right up his alley.

 

[Johnny F]

Pete Biltoft all the way. I've got his pups in 3 of my basses. He's fast, innovative, and on the money.

 

[Funkinthetrunk]

This dude:

Reed James Custom Guitar Upgrades

He can be a little crusty at times, but he does great work. I gave him verbs and adjectives to describe what kind of sound I wanted...he was dead on.

 

[line6man]

This dude:

Reed James Custom Guitar Upgrades

He can be a little crusty at times, but he does great work. I gave him verbs and adjectives to describe what kind of sound I wanted...he was dead on.

+1.

I ordered a custom SSH set for a Strat I'm building with direct-mounted singles.
Traditional Strat-style single coils look like crap direct-mounted, and even worse with pickup rings, because of the flange on the base, so I had him do me EMG-style single coils and a routing template. I haven't received the pickups yet, but he said they'd be shipping out soon.

It's always cool to have guys around that can do totally custom work. (Though my set probably isn't the most difficult thing in the world for most pickup makers.)

 

[SGD Lutherie]

The pickup is for an Acoustic Black Widow. They were built for Acoustic (the amp company) in the early 70s by several different companies. Mine was made by Mosrite, but the pickup does not look like any Mosrite pickup I've ever seen. Here are some photos:

The chrome surround is not part of the pickup. Although it uses fillister-head Phillips screws for polepieces, it turns out (as I learned the hard way) that they are not in fact adjustable; they are cast into epoxy. The broken pole piece makes an audible difference. I previously asked for and got a lot of advice about fixing the existing pickup, but upon further reflection I'm thinking if I can get somebody to make one that looks similar, that would be the best long-term solution.

Mosrite pickups were made by Carvin. Early Carvin pickups did indeed use those fillister-head pole piece screws. I had a '76 Carvin APH-4N humbucker on my Rick. It looked like that, but in a wider plastic case.

You said the chrome surround comes off?

I could make you new pickups to fit into the surround and would use the same fillister-head pole pieces. I can match the coil windings, etc.

I do some pickup restoration work, such as this '76 Thunderbird pickup.

In this case I was able to use the existing bobbins, but it would be easy to build an exact replica of your pickup that fits into the chrome surround.

(extracted from the epoxy... it came to me this way)

(off comes the old wire. 43AWG poly)

(newly wound coils to the exact spec as the original, and wax potted)

(New epoxy and 4-conductor cable)