Pickup the pieces

After Hurricane Katrina I was asked to help with some instrument restorations for some NOLA musicians. Some of you may have seen the writeup I did on the Gibson F200 electric mandolin pickup or the Fender Jazz Bass pickups I rebuilt for Amy Hopkins a few years ago. Well, Amy is back in New Orleans and this time she's rebuilding the house of Charmaine Neville. If the name looks familiar it should. Charmaine is a member of the world famous Neville family of New Orleans.
In addition to my duties here at SSW I also work on the staff of the Musical Instrument Makers Forum or the MIMF as most people call it. The MIMF is in the process of taking donations to fund some of the restoration that Amy is working on.

I know that some folks are tired of hearing about NOLA and there is a lot of political finger pointing and government waste associated with the disaster but Charmaine is a real person who works for a living and the work that she does is part of what makes New Orleans important to us music fans. All she wants to do is get her home back and be able to work in the city she has always loved.

If you can please stop by the MIMF and make a donation the help rebuild Charmaine Nevilles home.

Neo Rock P-Bass pickup

This week I have also been trying to finalize the design for the new Neo Rocks. These are P-bass humbuckers with Neodymium magnets and a massive 18K winding on them. They sound huge but I have been having some trouble with the covers. I think I finally have it all worked out.

It's interesting. When I first started playing bass I dreamed of getting a Fender P-Bass like Steve Harris or Billy Sheehan so you would think that when I started making pickups I would have tried to make my own version of the P-bass right away. But I didn't. Until now. These new pickups are aggressive sounding like a P-bass should be but they have a more defined top end and more pronounced upper mids because if the Neodymium magnets. But they don't wimp out. I'm putting a set in my old Fender this week I think. They will be a great match for the Neo Jazz pickups.