We're getting the final production details worked out on some of the new pickups. Let me take a moment to tell you about the Saturn Humbucker set.
The Saturn Humbucker Set is comprised of the Anthe Neck pickup and the Janus Bridge pickup. Both of these pickup were born of a desire to offer a very evenly balanced and clear sounding humbucker with crisp response that was geared towards finger style players and jazz tones. Unlike the slightly mismatched coils on many of out rock humbuckers, the coils on the Saturn pickups are perfectly matched for dead silent operation. It was decided that these pickups would not be wax potted because many players feel that unpotted pickups impart a bit more touch responsive reaching to changes in the players approach. The magnetic structures on these coils are also identical to make sure the signal from each coils is a perfect mirror image. We decided to use screw poles in both coils to offer the player the ability to fine tune the poles to perfectly match their playing style and string choice. Four wire leads allow for many wiring options.
The Anthe uses an Alnico 5 magnet and has a DC resistance of about 7.5K ohms. The Janus is identical but weights in with a DC resistance of 13K ohms. Both are available in 50mm or 52mm string spacing. While some of our early prototypes and promotional units have been Zebra with chrome screws the production models will be double black with black screws.
I got to see Heart last night for the first time. Ann Wilson is a Goddess if ever there was one. They did this tune and it was something close to a spiritual experience.
The Ryman Auditorium, on the other hand, should be ashamed of itself for selling wheelchair seats with a 100% obstructed view at full price. I think I'll be taking that little matter up with the management... Alicia got to look at the back of people's asses for most of the show.
I'm not quite done with the shop upgrades. These things never go as planned... but I wanted to show you some of the work that's has been going on in the shop while it's been "down". There has actually been a number of projects going on when time permits - but today I just want to tell you about this one. It's a limited run of Zebra Humbuckers for the new Saturn set. This new line features the Janus bridge pickup and the Anthe neck pickup. They are designed for exceptional clarity with perfectly matched coils, Alnico 5 magnets and 12 screw poles to insure an even magnetic response across all 12 poles and allow for exceptional string to string balancing. This is also the first production pickup from the Searcy String Works shop to feature unpotted coils. These new humbuckers are currently being featured in some of W.Jeffrey Jones' works. There will be more information on that as we get closer to the official launch of the set.
Alicia and I had a chance to hang out at the 2009 Summer NAMM show for a day and do some interviews for Six String Bliss. While we were there we got to talk to TV Jones and Seymour Duncan for just a bit. If you would like to here the podcast we did for Six String Bliss go HERE and download #161.
Well, things are typically behind schedule here at the old SSW. It's been a crazy summer with lots of non pickup related drama involving wisdom teeth and dead cars and plumbing and wiring issues.
Crazy!
I still have a lot of work to do in the shop but things are coming together. More o that later....
It's turned into a Gibson Bass Pickup sort of summer. I have this cool Gibson EBO pickup in that I'm told is a 1966. It's totally dead and I need to figure out why. I'm also working on some Gibson Grabber pickups and I'm working on some new models that will be direct replacement for a Ripper pickup.
The new guitar humbuckers are could along. We have tested out some sets with W. Jeffrey Jones and he is reporting back good news.
I'm waiting on some new parts for them. The new molds aren't ready yet but they soon should be.
So I decided to make some pickup rings for the 8 string Humbuckers before they left the shop. They look great. These pickups ended up being a modified version of my Obsession / Bolero set. The coils are wound to Obsession Bolero specs but we used Neodymium magnets for an better top and and more clarity.
This set of pickups has turned out to be rather significant as they will be the last "super customs" to leave the Searcy String Works shop. We really didn't start out trying to build they most insane pickups in the world. It just sort of happened. Alicia and I really do 4 things here at SSW. First, we build our own line of pickups. Second, we build OEM pickups for several luthiers. Third, we do pickup restorations and finally we do the Super Customs pickups. This last category has gotten us the most recognition but it has also been the most difficultly to do. When word got out that we were willing to build just about anything... well.... folks started taking us up on it. It's been a fun and sometimes wild ride bringing everyone's dreams to life. There have been some great discoveries and some major failures. All of which has led to a much better understanding of what works and what really dosnt' The biggest drawback to all this custom work has been that I have to keep a massive number of different parts on hand so that I can be ready for they next crazy idea. For example I stock 16 different types of PAF style humbucker bobbins and almost 50 different sizes and shapes of Neodymium magnets. Then there is the issue of time. Most of the custom designs I get are for extended range instruments or just plane wacky things like the Altoids pickups. These orders rarely can be built with off the shelf parts. At the very least I will have to modify bobbins and base plates and covers and magnets. All of this takes up lots of time. So like I said, it's been lots of fun building the Super Customs but the times, they are a changin'. With the massive tax increases being pushed in the U.S. against businesses big and small we have to start tightening the belt around here and the most obvious way for us to do that is to cut the Super Customs.
It's time to go back to our roots and focus on the original designs that put us on the map to begin with. As we get the new models ready to roll we will be writing about them here.
