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Ovation Magnum I Bridge Pickup

Smitkis

Smitkis

Guest
Oct 26, 2011
13
0
#1
I want to see if anyone has a bridge pickup for an Ovation Magnum. I have a Magnum I that is missing the pickup and would like to find a decent replacement or original pickup.

Another thought is an aftermarket pickup that can come close to fitting the footprint of the original.

Idea? I'm a newbie here and definitely appreciate the help.

I know my odds are small, but you don't know til ya try.. Right?

photo5.jpg
 
#3
What's left of the pickup is the baseplate. The baseplate measurements are 3 11/16" from center of adjustment screws and 15/16" width. The opening on the body is a 1 1/16" wide by 4".
 
#6
"aftermarket" is pretty much out of the question; your options are most likely finding an old original somewhere or having somebody like the illustrious david S here make you one.
 
#8
the original pu in those was single coil, and a pretty knarly/cranky sounding one at that, imo. the neck pu is fabulous sounding by itself. the problem with that set up was that the E and A string were out of phase and weak sounding when both pickups were switched on. putting any single coil in there will sound the same way. i'd not worry with finding an original, maybe fitting a Bartolini side by side coil j or ricky bass humbucker would be an option.
 
#9
Now were talking! I've got some options. I'll check out the Gibson eb3 as well as the Bartolini website to see if anything comes close to fitting.

The original bridge pickup is a two coil, humbucking pickup. Would be nice to keep that style, but would be just as easy to wire in a single coil.

I'd really rather not route the pocket especially since that metal surround would be tricky to customize.

In the long run, my goal is to get this sounding really sweet and probably trade for a guitar, but the more I play around and spend time rebuilding it, the more I think the design and engineering is really impressive.
 
#10
MR PC said:
the original pu in those was single coil, and a pretty knarly/cranky sounding one at that, imo. the neck pu is fabulous sounding by itself. the problem with that set up was that the E and A string were out of phase and weak sounding when both pickups were switched on. putting any single coil in there will sound the same way. i'd not worry with finding an original, maybe fitting a Bartolini side by side coil j or ricky bass humbucker would be an option.
Click to expand...

It was actually a split coil humbucker. The two sides should have been in-phase with the neck pickup, since that was a split/four coil humbucker. It was in-phase on the Magnums I tried back in the day. That must have been an issue with that particular bass.

Ovation-Magnum-Bass-pickups.jpg
 
#11
Smitkis said:
Now were talking! I've got some options. I'll check out the Gibson eb3 as well as the Bartolini website to see if anything comes close to fitting.
Click to expand...

The bridge pickup on an EB-3 is 1.13" by 2.62". So it's a little shorter and a little wider. Bartolini makes one the same size. I also make a chrome covered pickup the same size.

Bart's Ric bridge pickup is 1.12 X 2.84. That's a little closer, but still wont fit.

You might be able to have something custom made.
 
#12
SGD Lutherie said:
It was actually a split coil humbucker. The two sides should have been in-phase with the neck pickup, since that was a split/four coil humbucker. It was in-phase on the Magnums I tried back in the day. That must have been an issue with that particular bass.

Ovation-Magnum-Bass-pickups.jpg
Click to expand...

Yeah, it was a single coil on the Magnum I owned, and some others I've handled as well. Some players would crank the bass slider on the active on board graphic eq in an attempt to make it sound right.
 
#16
i'd stay with the side by side humbucker style, that would be true to the original design.

and the big old quad neck pu sounds great with all those trim pots at max...but even better with all of the passive network removed... rewired as two hum bucking pairs (like the old quad Bartolini pu).... though that requires some serious mods.....
 
#18
I did get it all worked out! I put in a Lindy Fralin pickup which fit pretty well in the bridge pocket. I think the sound matched the bass great. I wanted to keep things unmodified enough to be able to put in an original if I found one, so this pickup was wired in while leaving all original wires intact. Didn't look stock anymore, but function before fashion......right??
 
#20
SGD Lutherie said:
It was actually a split coil humbucker. The two sides should have been in-phase with the neck pickup, since that was a split/four coil humbucker. It was in-phase on the Magnums I tried back in the day. That must have been an issue with that particular bass.

Ovation-Magnum-Bass-pickups.jpg
Click to expand...

I have a Magnum II in the shop right now, it came for electronics replacement (going from active to passive) and had this A-E out of phase problem too. Turned out A and E coils were wired in the wrong direction inside the pickup. As a concequence, not only there was this phase cancellation on two strings, but the whole pickup wasn't humbucking either. Swapping red and black wires of A and E coils solved both problems.

I guess sometimes during the production there was a fault in pickup assembly procedures of at least two pickups, or more :)
 

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