q - tuner pickups

these look really interesting.

i'm all about trying new pickup designs.

perhaps replacements in the washburn tarus???????

cheggemoot ............

http://www.q-tuner.com/bl4.shtml

Oooh...purty! And check out those specs! Those are some hot pickups! 12K for the one, and 15K for the other? That's like preamp-melting power!

^ I know! Neodymium magnets are ridiculously powerful. Imagine an X2N with those magnets instead of ceramics...

*******, I must try these someday. When i'll stop being a poor student...

I never realized how po\werful those were...wow...

NoobOnRoad wrote:

*******, I must try these someday. When i'll stop being a poor student...

Then you just become a poor working stiff!

Trust me on this one!

EricHaven wrote:

NoobOnRoad wrote:

*******, I must try these someday. When i'll stop being a poor student...

Then you just become a poor working stiff!

Trust me on this one!

Trust him on this one...............

Darkstrike wrote:

EricHaven wrote:

NoobOnRoad wrote:

*******, I must try these someday. When i'll stop being a poor student...

Then you just become a poor working stiff!

Trust me on this one!

Trust him on this one...............

i've visited this website three times already; last night after work, before work and again after work ... i'm still buying a cheap humbucker.

trust them on that one.

Lots of trust here. I like that.

I've always wanted to try a set of these, and hopefully I can scrape together enough money to put some in the build I'm working on now (gotta hope people keep breaking their guitars near Los Angeles!). They're just so darn clean sounding from all the soundclips and videos I've seen of them!

I wonder how they manage to keep them so clean sounding given the fact they're so hot.

I'm pretty sure it has to do with the neodymium. Neodymium magnets are the most powerful permanent magnets currently. Stronger magnets means more pickup output. This means that to get the same amount of output as you would with a ceramic or AlNiCo magnet, you need considerably less winding, making the pickup cleaner sounding. Also, this is helped by the fact that more powerful magnets generally have a brighter, cleaner sound.

But if you overwound pickups with neodymium magnets, who knows what kinda dirt you could make with them!!

I wonder how those Q-Tuner pickups would push an amp...

Like I said before, X2Ns with neodymium magnets. I think I'm on to something there.

Neodymium seems to be readily available on the 'bay in shapes somewhat usable for pickups. I'd be tempted to have a go at winding a pickup or two with them if I had any money to spare for such a project (lord knows I have the time XP).

Damn, I've got the money but not the time (or the experience). Of course it would be easier for me to make the time than for you to make the money, and I'll be free to pursue projects like these over the summer anyway, so I might have a go at it. I'd like to make bar magnets, though, and there don't seem to be any on ebay that are even long enough, let alone the other dimentions. Does anyone know where I could get my hands on some for cheap (or cheapish)?

I'm not sure if this will help, but here are some sites that sell stock magnets:

http://www.amazingmagnets.com/

http://www.magnetsource.com/

http://www.kjmagnetics.com/

http://www.rare-earth-magnets.com/

http://www.unitednuclear.com/magnets.htm

http://www.china-magnets.com/

I think that would awesome if you could design and build a bass pickup, KS! If it spec'd out right, you'd probably find yourself into a new market for yourself, and I would be very interested in trying out one myself!

It seems like a lot of companies only make magnets up to 2" long, but that will fit inside a guitar-sized humbucker, which is good because I know a lot of you have basses already routed for X2Ns. Plus, the only bass I can use as a test platform is the Hohner headless, which uses EMG SEHB's which are also that size. I probably won't get around to this for quite a while, as I'll be very busy, even during the summer, but I'll try to make time when I can.

Also, china-magnets.com is actually chinamagnets.com, in case anyone wants to try this as well, though they don't seem to have any info on dimensions, etc on the site

Kugel--could you do something like this, perhaps? Two inches or less should cover two strings out of four...

You mean like a p bass pickup or a noiseless j pickup? Sure.

And it's not like you can't find ANYONE who makes a Neodymium magnet longer than 2". K&J make a 3x1x1/2 Neodymium bar magnet that looks like it could work. It would probably work well in an EMG 35 sized humbucker.

Make the two coils side by side like the bridge pickup...is it possible to get the same kind of power as an X2N out of a pickup in that layout?

Not very easily. Humbuckers are so much more powerful than single coils because they have the combined output of 2 single coils (ok, not literally, but you get the picture). The side by side layout you have on that bass will make basically the same thing as a normal SC, but without the hum. Although, I could make a motherbucker type thing by putting two of those together in a normal dual coil configuration. It would drastically cut costs on the magnets, and have the added bonus being even quieter. They'd be a pain in the *** to make, though, because I'd have to do twice as much winding.

Alright, that's what I figured. So, technically, there are ways to squeeze ultra high output out of that layout of pickup. But yeah...I can imagine something like that would be a pain in the ole d-hole to construct. Guess that's why they call it a motherbucker, huh?

Chowderboots wrote:

Guess that's why they call it a motherbucker, huh?

Not really. A motherbucker normally refers to a guitar pickup that is really made up of 2 single could sized humbuckers, like this:



Though it sometimes refers to any guitar humbucker with more than 2 coils (I once saw a triple coil pickup referred to as a motherbucker)

Aah right on. I've seen those on some of the newer Kramer models, I think.

Hey, if I'm going to start my own company, it'll need a name. Any ideas?

I was thinking I could call it Cowbell Engineering. Our slogan could be something like, "You can always use more!"





God, I love that SNL sketch.

I'll sleep on it. I like it when abbreviations spell kinda risque words...PUD is my favorite

Hey--PUD=Pickup Design

Actually, I'm not liking Cowbell as much as I was earlier. Any other ideas?

Fine...

Personally, I think Kugelspot pickups would be a good name.

i was thinking something along the lines of pickups that melt your face off!

magnetotron - honkin pickups that pull the earth off its axis.

beasts pickups - conjuring tone since 2009.

Yeah KS pickups would be a good one!

I like beast...but kinda makes me think of breast pickups....which don't sound much like pickups at that point.

I kinda like beast pickups too, but the word breast never crossed my mind. But I was actually planning calling our first pickup model (the overwound Neodymium humbucker) the beastbucker, which would sound kinda stupid if the company was also named beast.

What about Crystal Mountain Industries (named after Crystal Mountain by Death) or CMI for short? It seems kinda stupid naming a company after a song, though. Plus, the song is about using religion as an excuse for violence and intolerance, which might be kinda controversial if the company ever got big (somehow. I'm not meaning for this to be more than a hobby, and maybe a way of making a little money on the side, but you never know). Then again, the people who would get the reference probably wouldn't be offended, and the people who would be offended probably wouldn't get the reference, so I think I'm safe.

Just my two-cents again, and I realize that Crystal Mountain is a song, but it makes me think of mineral water for some reason.

that makes sense I guess. Kinda like Crystal Geyser

That's what I was thinking.

It's hard to come up with a catchy trade name for anything, whether it's pickups, soda, cars, or band names.

Even coming up with the name for this board was a challenge for me! But I remembered Raven's website is called Raven Lunatics, so I drew inspiration from that.

MadMike, I really like the name you have for your band.

I could just keep the name Crystal Mountain Industries but always refer to it as CMI, kinda like SSD or MXR.

Or maybe I could call the company Rabid or Rabid Pickups or something.

I like the name Rabid Pickups!

Or you could go with CMI, but it just seems so plain compared to having some sort of...I don't know...something that's more dramatic, I guess?

Ya, I think I'll go with Rabid Pickups. Kinda weird, that was just a spur of the moment after thought on that post. I'm really starting to like the name, actually!

\m/ \m/

i like rabid pickups. original, stands out and memorable. key marketing features.

lemme know if you need any submissions for art. i'de be happy to make up some drafts if you give me some ideas.

and thanx for the band name kudos eric. i wish i came up with it. the guy who did left the project in a hissy fit and demanded we change the name. i told him he was the one who left and that the band has the rights to it, unless we werent a band anymore. doesnt matter either way ... i copywrighted it thereafter. it is a cool name and worth hanging on to.

now if we can just get people to stop calling us 40 watson. dont really understand what thats all about.

You're welcome, MadMike!

Honestly, from the very first time I heard the name 40 Watt Sun, right away it caught my attention as being a great name for a band. I can totally picture that name showing up in radio playlists, and even videos, (WARNING: satirical cynical statement to follow) assuming MTV ever decides to do something so bold and unheard of as...oh, I dunno...maybe actually having videos!

Yeah man you have something really unique there. I hope it works out for you!

"m - tv. we just plain forgot about the 'm'!"

Found sound samples for the J style pickups

http://members.shaw.ca/wmacza/Pedulla%20Rapture%205%20-%20Q-Tuner.wav

I think they sound pretty good, but they lack power. I don't know what it is about them, but they sound weak. Not necessarily in a bad way, but... I don't know I'm having trouble describing it. Maybe they're just not full enough for my taste.

Sounds like it's just going line in to a computer--no amp/cabor di/mixer to make it sound like it normally would.

I would agree, but to my ears these sound like they might have a bit more presence than a lot of stock pickups would. For example, they seem to read harmonics really strongly, which is a good indicator of their power. But the tone is also what you might call sterile, meaning that even though it's a great tone, it's not anything too out of the ordinary.

Mhmm...I think that's kinda how they were intended to be and that's how they tend to be used.