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87 GUITARBUYER MAY 2004

EVER WONDERED WHAT GOES INTO MAKING A PICKUP?

PICKUP GURU TIM MILLS OF BARE KNUCKLE PICKUPS AND GB’S OWN TIM SLATER CREATE A PAIR OF GREAT SOUNDING HUMBUCKERS FROM SCRATCH EVER WONDERED WHAT GOES INTO MAKING A PICKUP?

PICKUP GURU TIM MILLS OF BARE KNUCKLE PICKUPS AND GB’S OWN TIM SLATER CREATE A PAIR OF GREAT-SOUNDING HUMBUCKERS FROM SCRATCH

Pickups are the most crucial, yet least understood link in the complex chain that makes a great electric guitar. British pickup builder Tim Mills has some clear, controversial opinions on the subject, unafraid to speak his mind.

Opinionated or not, Mills is highly qualified to back up his beliefs; his own range of high-specification pickups sold under the Bare Knuckle brand are a welcome addition to a field usually dominated by the Americans. So what makes Bare Knuckle pickups different from the other pickup manufacturers; both bespoke or the large corporations?

That’s your starter for 10, Mr Mills… “I’m at pains to point out that I’m not in the market of trying to make copies of vintage pickups,” begins Tim. “I’m in the market of making good-sounding pickups. I’m using the old techniques and the old materials as a standard of construction, not as an attempt to recreate antiques. I use these materials purely because I believe that they are the best. I’ve gone to great lengths to source as much of the original materials as possible, but I will use modern materials when I think they serve a better purpose. For instance, I use PVC tape to cover the windings because it’s easier to work with than the original paper stuff, which can be a real pig. But if somebody wants the original paper tape, then I’ll use it!”

THE GUITAR’S VOICE

Mills builds his pickups completely by hand, using mostly UK components and he’s amassed a huge amount of knowledge on the subject; knowledge that he is very keen to share. “There’s this mythical aspect about making guitar pickups that some people are keen to sustain because they think that it makes them look clever or something,” Tim opines. “It’s mostly bullshit, to be honest. The skill lies in using the right materials and making them properly; beyond that there’s no mystery. I don’t want to upset all of the guitar makers, but this reliance on the body timber as being the whole source of the tone is a complete misnomer. My understanding of it, which is based on my own investigations and also having worked with some of the better luthiers in the country, is that the guitar’s voice comes from the pickup. The feel and the resonance and the sustain are a combination of body timber and body construction.

“With pickups, I believe that if you can find the right voice with your guitar pickup, then you will really bring out the best in your guitar. After all, an electric guitar without a pickup doesn’t work. The pickup is the guitar’s mouthpiece; the pickup hears the sound of the strings, but equally the strings are reliant on factors like the timber and the construction as to how resonant they are going to be. That’s when the importance of timber comes into it, but the ‘voicing’ is down to the pickup and how carefully you choose the materials. As with all of these things, it’s a combination of the whole.”

With his stall set firmly out, it’s clear Mills is very passionate about his business. Question is, can he teach GB how to make pickups? Of course he can. Eyes down for the masterclass, BK style…

CLAWS & EFFECT:

HOW THE FEN TIGERS CAME ABOUT

For a practical explanation of Mills’ craft, we decided to rejuvenate a Gibson Les Paul Classic that was suffering from a somewhat secondhand tone because of an imbalance between the stock Gibson 498R neck pickup and the Seymour Duncan ’59 bridge pickup, retrofitted by a previous owner. But rather than merely posting us a set of pickups to test, what about visiting the Devon workshop and have a go at making our own pickups by hand, exactly how he does? What followed was a fascinating experience. And guess what? It’s nowhere near as easy as the pros make it look…

CHOOSING THE PICKUPS

The Duncan ’59 had plenty of output but it sounded incredibly toppy and ‘spikey’. We wanted a broader spread of power with less emphasis on eye-gouging treble and a wider, smoother tone that balanced properly with the neck unit. The original Gibson neck pickup sounded okay, but its thick tone didn’t match the hardersounding Duncan bridge unit and we wanted a more usable classic PAF tone with a little extra bite. Tim suggested that we base our pickups on his ‘Mule’ humbucker that matches this brief perfectly, but we chose Alnico 4 magnets for a more authentic vintage flavour. We also opted for nickel pickup covers as they have the appropriately aged look that complements the guitar beautifully. They will be called Fen Tigers!

WINDING THE COILS

Each pickup has over 30 separate components and with the exception of the American-made 42-gauge plain enamel wire, every component is made in the UK, including the sand-cast unpolished magnets. Tim winds the coils using a small woodturning lathe, feeding theplain enamel wire onto the spinning bobbin by hand. Fortunately for us, the machine has a variable speed control and the bobbins are clamped in place by two specially built flywheels that allow the bobbin to rotate without severing the fine wire. Keeping the wire at the right tension is very tricky and you really have to concentrate very hard to get it right. After the first go, we checked the bobbin and the wire was as slack as a wizard’s sleeve. Bugger! It’s more physically demanding than you might imagine. Your thumbs ache like crazy after a few minutes’ guiding the wire onto the bobbin, and it’s easy to let the tension slip because you are worrying about snapping the wire, which is as fine as a human hair.

A second go and things start better; gently guiding the wire across the bobbin in the classic scatter pattern as taught by Tim. With single-coil pickups, the scatter technique is more critical because you are working with a much narrower area and the scatter pattern has very strong effects on the pickup’s tone. Too many or too few windings on either side of the coil and they will sound terrible. Having tried this, I now have much greater appreciation for the talents of Abigail Ybarra and her colleagues at Fender, who perfected their skills winding early Fender pickups using little more than modified gramophone turntables or old sewing machines!

I managed to screw up the second attempt, so I handed over to Tim, who whizzed through all four coils in a few minutes. Well, he is the expert.

WAX POTTING

The first part of the potting process. The newly wound coils are immersed in a mixture of paraffin and melted bee’s wax that eliminates air pockets that cause microphonic feedback. The potting process takes about an hour, or until all of the air bubbles have stopped coming from the coils; then they’re whipped out of the pot and left to cool and solidify.

PREPARING THE BASEPLATE AND COILS

Braided two-conductor wire and four fly-leads are attached to the baseplates. The coils are fitted with adjustable screw polepieces and slug poles, and attached to the baseplate. Pole shoes provide a stable base for each coil and the magnet to rest against, allowing the magnetic field to travel up through the poles to the strings. With the coils and Alnico Four magnets fitted, everything is screwed down and soldered together.

Vintage-style maple spacers support the outside edge of each coil before they are screwed onto the baseplate, just like the original Gibson PAFs (‘patent applied for’, as stamped on originals).

STEP 5: SOLDERING ON

All of the solder joints are insulated with rubber heat-shrink material, before the nickel covers are clamped into place and soldered on. Besides holding the covers in place, the solder also acts as an earth.

STEP 6: BATH TIME

The pickups are treated to a second wax bath that permeates the entire assembly. This is essential or else the pickups will squeal worse than fans at a Westlife gig. Once the air gaps are filled with wax, the pickup is cleaned and polished before fitting onto the guitar for testing.

Pickup Guru Tim Mills is also an accomplished guitarist who played guitar for Elkie Brooks for years. Now he plays for top Ozzy Osbourne tribute band Ozzmosis, reproducing the licks of Zakk Wylde, Randy Rhoads and Jake E Lee while dodging gallons of water and huge pyrotechnic explosions. Tim is also a fully qualified marshall arts instructor skilled in a wide range of armed and unarmed combat techniques. Burglars and hecklers beware.

STEP 7: UP TO YOUR NECK

The same procedure was repeated for the neck pickup, although we selected an Alnico 4 magnet and a specially calibrated winding, monitored by a counter on the winding machine, to give the correct balance between the pickups.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

With the pickups fully finished and tested it’s time for their new home – the aforementioned Les Paul Classic. Fitting the new pickups has noticeably improved the Les Paul’s performance; even the volume and tone controls seem to work much better with the Bare Knuckles installed, and the sound has dramatically improved.

Overall, the guitar sounds louder; the old Seymour Duncan ’59 bridge pickup had bags of power but the tone was brutal and hard. Our Fen Tiger bridge pickup sounds more powerful, yet is also sweetersounding and easier to control through an amp’s high-gain channel. The original Gibson 498R neck pickup was a great pickup, but the Fen Tiger neck pickup feels much crisper and less bloated-sounding. The excellent balance between the bridge and neck pickups also means that the middle position is suddenly usable again too, generating lovely throaty chiming notes that were simply impossible to get before. Thanks to these new pickups the old Les Paul sounds the best it has ever done; truly a ‘classic’ Les Paul tone in the real sense of the word. Thanks Bare Knuckle. GB

GB FEATURE BARE KNUCKLE PICKUPS

BARE KNUCKLE FEN TIGER

PRICE: £99

Other humbuckers from £90

Single-coils from £59

TYPE: Humbuckers (all major types available)
SPECS: 42-gauge plain enamel wire, scatter wound, alnico 4 magnets, braided 2-conductor wire
DC RESISTANCE: Bridge 8.75K, neck 7.5K
COVERS: Nickel
OPTIONS: Full range of standard and custom specs, call or see website
CONTACT: Bare Knuckle Pickups
PHONE: 01598 763666
WEB: www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk

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Review courtesy of Guitar Buyer Magazine.

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