M-3 California models

[raygun85]

The pickups are working great. My dad had to go in for some minor surgery and has been MIA for a few weeks. So its sort of put the prototype on hold for a while. I, however, have been busy winding pickups. We have two complete sets finished and I've got the bobbins for six more made and will be winding this week. I dropped the last set into a junky Franken-Strat that I threw together with odd parts laying around in the shop. Wired it up with the 500K pots and .05 disc capacitor and blew myself away! Started picking around with House of the Rising Sun and I couldn't believe how close the tone sounded to The Ventures Live In Japan '65! I'll try to post a video in the next few days.

[oipunkguy]

really cool, any mosrite humbuckers planned?

[Desert Surfer]

Hi, Raygun: I have an off the subject question:

On your website, I see your father and his partner took a few photos with Nokie Edwards. As you know, Nokie had used guitars made by a maker in Arkansas named Tony Hunt in early 80s. Tony does not make guitars anymore but I believe that he still lives in Arkansas. Since you and your family were from Arkansas originally, ( I understand that your family emigrated to California in 50's.) and your family have been in guitar making trade for years, did your father know Tony by any chance?

[Desert Surfer]

One more question: Are you offering pickups for Mark V (or Ventures II) and Celebrity soon? or these are custom order only? I might need to replace the bridge pickup for my Celebrity III.

[raygun85]

You know, thats a good question about Tony Hunt. We have a lot of relatives in Arkansas and my dad and uncle know a lot of people there. Personally, I haven't been to Arkansas since the late 80s and I was so young at the time that I don't remember much about the trip. I was born in California and I don't really know any our relatives in Arkansas very well. I'll talk to my dad tomorrow when I see him in the shop. Though my dad met Nokie, Don, Bob, and Mel back in 1963, we didn't really get that well acquainted with them personally until the late 90s.

To address your other question about the pickups, you know its funny you asked about that! I just told my dad yesterday out in the shop that I wanted to start making a "smooth top" version specifically for Mark V and Celebrity enthusiasts. One of our challenges is that we're a 3-person crew and I primarily handle all of the electronics. Its difficult to keep these pickups stocked. We put a couple of sets on eBay and now both of them are gone. We've had inquiries lately for bass pickups and I'm also trying to figure out how to help oipunkguy with his humbucker project. The smooth-tops will be easy, as will the bass pickups. Anyway, I have one set of the RH-100's left and should have two more ready next week. One of those will be a smooth top set. I want to keep everything hand-wound but I may have to start machine-winding just to keep up with demand. Otherwise orders will require at least 1-week lead time. But I still feel that hand-wound pickups have natural tonal characteristics that make it worth it. Machine-wound pickups just sound too "perfect" too me. Its almost impossible to describe from a technical standpoint. Its one of those cases where you have to trust your hearing...

[Desert Surfer]

Thanks, Raygun for quick reply:

I would vote for Hand-Wound.

People look for hand wound pickups are true Mosrites lovers. They would not mind a few weeks wait.

[oipunkguy]

this is what has been referred to as a "scatterwound" pickup. I guess opposed to machine wound. the thing is about the mosrite humbuckers, is I don't know for sure what's the bobbin is made of, I've never taken any of my mosrite pickups apart before, and I really dont want to take the chance to ruining one to find out. I can only make a guess. despite my VII's have humbuckers, the mosrite tone sounds really dead on to me, when I compare to the ventures cd's in my collection. a lot more treble and mids then a les paul, and more bass then a strat of tele. what I love about mosrites, is they can handle just about any kind of music out there. everything from punk, metal, blues, ska, raggae, surf, you name it.

[raygun85]

this is what has been referred to as a "scatterwound" pickup.

Yeah, "scatterwound" is probably a more technically-correct term since "hand-wound" doesn't mean that a person literally takes the bobbin by hand and winds the wire around it with the other hand.

[oipunkguy]

hey Ray.

have you experimented wiring up a pickup using a different gauge wire besides a 42,43,or 44? my guess is anything thinner then a 44 would break too easily.

[raygun85]

I wish I had more time for experimenting. Always busy working on existing designs. 42-guage on a Mosrite pickup would probably put it into P-90 territory. Probably less distortion and less highs. I am actually working on modifying the Moseley design to house a single steel blade as opposed to six screw pole-pieces. This would probably complimnet a lot of those Nokie-style bends...