The AlNico 8 SwampBucker:

ivan H said:
Very interesting field you are getting into Robert & a great way to customise your tone. Regarding magnet types, I've read that for the "grail" humbuckers, the PAF's, Gibson used whatever was available, so along with the common A2 & A5, A3 & A4 were also used. Kinda strange that even Gibson don't offer these now. One thing I have learner about PAF magnets; when Tim Shaw's analysed original PAF magnets he found that they were slightly thicker than the 0.125" thickness commonly used now, being in the 0.131" ~ 0.139" thickness range. As magnet thickness has a direct effect on the magnetic field strength Tim used magnets of the same thicker dimension in the Shawbuckers. I also have a pair of overwound PAF type pickups from another winder that have unoriented, rough cast A5's of 0.134" (ish) thickness. Fender also used A3 magnets, the Broadcaster bridge pickup was an A3 type. Happy winding Robert. Cheers
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Good observations...I can get them ground t any dimensions I desire from a couple of suppliers. I am getting maple spacers in bulk like this. Currently, I am buying all my start-up pickup supplies from Philadelphia Luthier Tools and the specs on the magnets are 2.444" x .492" x .125" thick. I also prefer polished magnets.

My first quest is to build a set of PAF replicas - to original Gibson specs - with the Peter Green modification. However, I've been doing repairs and rewinds for a few locals, plus making a couple of custom pickups for Adrian...
 
RVA said:
When applied to a tone knob, caps reduce high end. Why does this work?
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The high end passes through the tone cap. The pot is set up as a variable resistor between the cap & ground. With the pot turned up the resistance value is large, making it hard for frequencies that have passed through the cap to get to ground. As the pot is turned down the resistance gets smaller, making it easier for those frequencies that have passed through the cap to get to ground. Frequencies that pass through the cap to ground (high end) are taken out of the signal. Hope this makes sense. Cheers
 
ivan H said:
The high end passes through the tone cap. The pot is set up as a variable resistor between the cap & ground. With the pot turned up the resistance value is large, making it hard for frequencies that have passed through the cap to get to ground. As the pot is turned down the resistance gets smaller, making it easier for those frequencies that have passed through the cap to get to ground. Frequencies that pass through the cap to ground (high end) are taken out of the signal. Hope this makes sense. Cheers
Click to expand...

Thanks, Ivan...now, IIRC, a cap such as a .047uf, will cut more of the higher end of the frequency spectrum and a cap, such as a 0.01uf, will cut much less of the higher frequencies...
 
ivan H said:
Very interesting field you are getting into Robert & a great way to customise your tone. Regarding magnet types, I've read that for the "grail" humbuckers, the PAF's, Gibson used whatever was available, so along with the common A2 & A5, A3 & A4 were also used. Kinda strange that even Gibson don't offer these now. One thing I have learner about PAF magnets; when Tim Shaw's analysed original PAF magnets he found that they were slightly thicker than the 0.125" thickness commonly used now, being in the 0.131" ~ 0.139" thickness range. As magnet thickness has a direct effect on the magnetic field strength Tim used magnets of the same thicker dimension in the Shawbuckers. I also have a pair of overwound PAF type pickups from another winder that have unoriented, rough cast A5's of 0.134" (ish) thickness. Fender also used A3 magnets, the Broadcaster bridge pickup was an A3 type. Happy winding Robert. Cheers
Click to expand...

As you have correctly pointed out, almost all modern AlNico magnets are ground smooth on all sides to .125" thickness. However, I know for a fact - from personal inspection - that many vintage Gibson bar magnets can be as thick as .139" and as thin as .122" respectively. The thicker magnets will tend to sound more powerful and the thinner ones weaker, but I am not sure there is any advantage to using thicker magnets, which will likewise require custom (thicker) spacers...
 
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