[speedy1]

Hey all,

I have decided that while the Carvin pickups in my new guitar have some good qualities, they are just not what I want.

I read a recent thread from Heffergm where it was mentioned about rewinding your pickups to get a better tone.

I e-mailed Wolfetone, and got a response that he would do it for me, but didn't explain how it would work-- do I need to ship him another pickup that sounds like I want my Carvin to? Do I just say I want more treble/articulation and describe how I want it to sound? etc...

So here are my questions for anyone "in the know" about pickup rewinding:

I know the exact tone I want my Carvin pickup to have, do I just e-mail my description of what I want to Wolfetone?

I am stuck with a neck humbucker (as Carvin won't do neck single coils). Can I send in my humbucker and have one coil be a "dummy/empty" and one be wound to give me a true single coil strat tone? That way I could still use the humucker pickup housing but still get a "stratty" tone.

If anyone could help, I'd appreciate it, as I know virtually nothing about pickup rewinding.

Thank you!!

I have e-mailed Wolfetone asking for more clarification, but am still awaiting a response....

Bump for any help?

[noodles]

Just give him a call. He's a really cool guy, albeit a little odd, and will talk your ear off if you let him. Give him an idea of what you're looking for, and I'm sure he can nail it for you. I just wanted a JB7 rewound to sound like a 80's no logo JB, and man did he ever knock it out of the park.

I've never heard of anyone putting a single in a humbucker slot like that, but hey, it doesn't hurt to ask. If anything, I'd get a rewound humbucker, and then just tap it. I like options.

[speedy1]

Oh yeah, duh, I didn't even think to look for the phone number!

I didn't know if the single in a humbucker casing would work, but it would be easier for me to deal with in my guitar's route.

I WAS going to buy a Rio Grande Tallboy which splits into a true single coil, but I thought a rewind may be cheaper.

I've got a coil tap/split in my neck humbucker now, but it just doesn't sound "stratty" enough when split...it sounds good, but not really like a true single coil.

Thanks for the response.

[noodles]

Wolfe charges $50 for rewinds, unless he changed his pricing since my last order. I can tell you that the JB7 sounds extremely Straty when tapped. It's not a very high output pickup, so you get plenty of that weak, quacky Strat funk from it.

[scott from _actual time_]

Originally Posted by speedy1

I WAS going to buy a Rio Grande Tallboy which splits into a true single coil, but I thought a rewind may be cheaper.

remember that a huge reason why the Rio Grande humbuckers sound like single-coils when they're coil-cut is because they're built like single-coils, with pole-piece magnets and not humbucker bar magnets. Wolfetone is great, but if you send him a humbucker with a bar magnet, his rewind is still going to be a humbucker with a bar magnet.

so i think you might need to decide exactly what it is that you want, then move forward. the Rio Grandes are expensive, but $60 for a used Duncan 7 + $50 for Wolfetone to rewind it is pretty close to being in the noise level, price-wise.

[speedy1]

Yeah, the cost may be close.

What I want most is:

1. A single coil strat-like tone
2. A pickup which will not cause me a lot of hassle to install in the Carvin route

If I buy the Rio Grande, it will cost me $130 + the cost of having to have a tech route the pickup cavity and do the electronics/soldering. If I just have the pickup rewound, I will not have to pay a tech to do routing or other soldering with which I am not familiar.

Of course, tone is my main concern!

[scott from _actual time_]

Originally Posted by speedy1

What I want most is:

1. A single coil strat-like tone
2. A pickup which will not cause me a lot of hassle to install in the Carvin route

If I buy the Rio Grande, it will cost me $130 + the cost of having to have a tech route the pickup cavity and do the electronics/soldering. If I just have the pickup rewound, I will not have to pay a tech to do routing or other soldering with which I am not familiar.

good priority list. actually, the soldering would be the same. and i think Carvins require some routing even for Duncans, but not as much.

have you thought about installing a Rio Grande single in the neck route of your Carvin? that might require a tiny amout of routing at the ends of the pickup route, but would not require any along the sides. it would leave gaps, but you could cover those with scraps of pickguard material cut with tin snips and double-sided-taped on the floor of the cavity. and it costs less than the humbucker.

if you're interested in that, post back and i can mesure the baseplate of my Rio Grande singles to let you know exactly how big they are and how much routing would be required.

[speedy1]

Thank you for that info.

Yes, I wouldn't mind knowing the length/width of the Rio Grande single; I really only wanted a single coil in the neck, as I don't ever the "full humbucker" setting in the neck position. It may not look bad having a single coil in the cavity space. It may even give me an opportunity to do something "artistic" with the space...like add L.E.D.s or something....

Just kidding.

But yes, I would appreciate it if you could do some measuring for me. Also, please let me know how deep the pickup is, as I may have to route some space on the bottom of the pickup cavity.

Thanks!