Sidewinders, Multi-coils and other hard to find pickups

[Antisyzygy]

I'll post to make it 100 !
Those are some unusual pickups.
I wonder if the Multi coil J pickup is hum canceling.
I wonder what he charges for them?
T

A lot of the Sentell pickups on Ebay are in the 80-100 dollar range. I'm considering grabbing one of their Precision pickups there.

BTW for everyone, I just found a sidewinder P90 he is selling on ebay :



It's not a bass pickup but I bet they'd make a custom bass pickup in those alternate (sidewinder, etc) configurations if you asked.

Here's their Ebay store listings : csentell1 | eBay

For the record I have no affiliation with them, I just found them on Ebay one time when I was looking for some telecaster pickups.

 

[IWieldTheSpade]

Sub'd. Ive been winding pickups recently and have been wanting to try sidewinders and multicoils next. I'd love to start a project and contribute to this thread. Great info here. Both those multi coils look good, I'd be interesting in a sound clip of the finished product, if that's possible. Did you guys (Big T and Iweildthespade) both wind to 10,000 winds?

To be honest, I'm not 100% sure how many winds they have. I just wound them to a certain diameter on the sewing machine, so not exactly high tech. I've only wound lower gauge low impedance pickups before by hand, so I figured that this being just a fun experiment for me I would have a go with something that wouldn't take me days of work. I'm just happy when my pickups give a reading, and if they sound good in the end it's a bonus
Might be some time before I get my coils actually connected and tested for sound, this one has been put on the back burner in favour of a couple guitar builds I need to do at the moment.

 

[big_teee]

All the coils are wound and the magnets are charged.
Last Pics before assembly tomorrow.
It looks pretty unruly now, but it will tidy up when I daisy chain each row together.
After Assembly off to the wax pot, and then time for testing!
Been a fun project so far!
T

 

[MPU]

All the coils are wound and the magnets are charged.
Last Pics before assembly tomorrow.
It looks pretty unruly now, but it will tidy up when I daisy chain each row together.
After Assembly off to the wax pot, and then time for testing!
Been a fun project so far!
T

Looks great. Are those steel poles or magnets inside the coils?

 

[big_teee]

3/8 x3/4" A5 Magnets, I waited for them since christmas.
They finally got here.
I hope they sound OK.
T

 

[kesslari]

You doin' good work, Big Tee

 

[DSandri413]

To be honest, I'm not 100% sure how many winds they have. I just wound them to a certain diameter on the sewing machine, so not exactly high tech. I've only wound lower gauge low impedance pickups before by hand, so I figured that this being just a fun experiment for me I would have a go with something that wouldn't take me days of work. I'm just happy when my pickups give a reading, and if they sound good in the end it's a bonus
Might be some time before I get my coils actually connected and tested for sound, this one has been put on the back burner in favour of a couple guitar builds I need to do at the moment.

Most of the reason I asked that question is I figured 10,000 winds would take up a lot of space. It makes sense the way you're doing it. Really curious to see how all these are gonna sound. In the next couple days I should be able to hit the drawing boards and start one of my own.

Big T,
That looks good! Can't wait to see how you decide to wire it.

 

[big_teee]

On the Wiring?
Plan on wiring each row in series.
With the 4 wire cable, it can be wired either the two rows in parallel, like a MusicMan bass.
Or it can be wired with all 8 coils in series.
I will probably choose two rows in parallel to start with.
The two rows parallel, or series will be an option selectable from the control cavity.
The third option would be to wire the two coils in series for each string, then all in parallel.
That would have to be done internally, so I'm not going to wire this pickup that way at this time.
I might try that later.
T

 

[orange joe]

Another pretty sweet pickup from Jerry Sentell.Similar to the Ovation Magnum pickup

 

[bassvirtuoso]

^Oooooooooooooh, I like!

 

[Marial]

Neat, but what does it sound like?

 

[orange joe]

Neat, but what does it sound like?

I'll let you know when they get here

 

[bassvirtuoso]

I'll let you know when it gets here

Please! I'm getting rid of my Magnum, but I'd love to hear how these sound.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

A historical note: In 1967, Ampeg introduced the AMB-1 Scroll Bass. Its pickup is very much like what you are talking about here; four round coils, one for each string. Each coil has a 1/4" x 1" A5 rod magnet. All four are anchored in an steel base plate, and the whole assembly is cast into black epoxy. The four coils are wired in series, alternating in wind direction and magnet polarity. A full humbucker, but no shielding. The magnets and coils were also staggered in height to match the 7 1/4" fingerboard radius.

This pickup played a major part in the unique sound of the AMB-1, although it wasn't the only factor. George Biondo (Steppenwolf) and Rick Danko (The Band) were the most famous players of Ampeg AMB-1 basses.

That's the earliest true multi-coil pickup in a production bass that I know of.

 

[Antisyzygy]

Another pretty sweet pickup from Jerry Sentell.Similar to the Ovation Magnum pickup View attachment 589144

That looks like it might fit in one of those Mikey Way signature Mustang basses. I don't listen to his band but I've always thought that bass model is kinda cool.

The go for pretty cheap used, may be a neat mod for it.

 

[orange joe]

It an EMG35 shaped cover.1.5x3.5 inches.Pretty standardized these days.Looks like it would fit

 

[AltGrendel]

Another pretty sweet pickup from Jerry Sentell.Similar to the Ovation Magnum pickup View attachment 589144

yea, I want to know what that sounds like too.

I'm curious as to if it has more depth than a standard P pup. More Darkstar-ish.

 

[orange joe]

yea, I want to know what that sounds like too.

I'm curious as to if it has more depth than a standard P pup. More Darkstar-ish.

Will do.Here is a pic of both of them.I'm going to wire them up all in series and see what that sounds like.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

In my experience, multi-coil pickups like these will usually be more "hi-fi" than your typical Fender-style pickups. That is, they will have a wider frequency range, a relatively flat EQ curve, and higher clarity and sensitivity. The reason isn't so much because there's a separate coil for each string, but because the coils are tall and narrow, with the wire tight around the magnetic field. They are capable of picking up high levels of detail throughout the frequency range.

How one of these pickups will sound mounted on a particular bass will depend on the bass. If the bass's structure is soft and the sound on the strings is muddy, then adding a hi-fi pickup isn't going to clear it up. You'll hear mud with great clarity. Likewise, if the bass has a tight rigid frame, the current pickup may be used to intentionally soften its overall sound. Swapping in a hi-fi pickup may make it too harsh and bright. A hi-fi pickup will generally bring out more of the bass's inherent sound. The question is, do you really want to hear it? Maybe or maybe not.

Remember, almost all aftermarket pickups are designed for one purpose: to improve the sound of a stock Fender bass, as compared to the stock Fender pickup. They improve it by shifting the EQ curve around and adding some output. There are lots of ways to define "improve" and different brands and models shift the curves in different ways. The pickup, by its internal design, puts a fixed EQ curve between the bass and the amp. You may or may not like it. That's the game of matching a pickup to a bass. The pickup doesn't create the sound by itself. It modifies the sound coming from the strings and the frame.

A hi-fi pickup will modify the sound less, with a relatively flat EQ curve and more clarity and sensitivity, as compared to most aftermarket replacement pickups.

 

[Marial]

Very interesting, but it makes perfect sense.