Alnico V staple soap bar pickup - UK builders?

equalsql

Any UK makers of this particular pup? I know there a SD custom shop version, but wondered if anyone​ onnthis side of the pond make these?
https://auctions.c.yimg.jp/images.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/image/dr000/auc0212/users/5/0/5/5/lateralus517jp-img600x374-1481408581chahm313715.jpg

Whitecat

Check with Mojo... not sure there's anything off-the-shelf from Marc yet but you never know what he might have up his sleeve.

earwighoney

Lollar have a staple pickup, which unlike the original and the SD version doesn't require additional routing. 

http://www.lollarguitars.com/lollar-p-90-pickups/staple-p-90-neck

guitars4you

I am led to believe that Gibson stopped the 54 Black Beauty Reissue over some issue with obtaining those pick-ups - not sure if it is true or a myth

WezV

Not yet, I have asked most of them


personally I don't want the adjustability of the originals, just the magnet layout

WezV

its worth showing how deep these go compared to a normal P-90 - and a lot of moving parts too



Lollar and THorn both do stapletop P-90's without all that other junk (shorter magnets too)- I think its only SD offering adjustable ones

Alegree

I've tried one prototype of an unadjustable one.
It went hideously wrong.

ChrisMusic

@Alegree said:

I've tried one prototype of an unadjustable one.
It went hideously wrong.

So get to it my friend, you can see here that there is a demand for a staple P90  (P480 I believe), just keep it simple and get it fabulously right, & ahead of the competition too  

ChrisMusic

Here is a pic of the Lollar one, judging by it's surroundings, going for that famous woody rough decking tone !

Alternative is this link to Lollars page for this Staple 90

http://www.lollarguitars.com/lollar-p-90-pickups/staple-p-90-neck

ChrisMusic

You are so right @equalsql , fabulous sound.

Here is the inimitable  Phil X kicking it out in 2010 on a 1956 Les Paul Custom.
"That was awesome" at 3:40, yes indeed !

Duration 9:09

equalsql

Great clip @ChrisMusic !
I love those Alnico Vs and have a 79 Pro Deluxe that would love to be home to one of them!

impmann

I read something that claimed that the design of this pickup was dreamt up by Les himself (or at least he had a hand in the concept), because he had been fitting DeArmond pickups under the covers of his GoldTops (check out the 50s footage of him and Mary Ford and check out the pole pieces). The Staple Top owes more to the DeArmond than a P90 - check out the depth of the coil for example - and if you take away the adjustable elements it effectively becomes a DynaSonic with a flatter coil.

I don't know how true all the above is, and I can't find the source... but its stuck with me. Can anyone confirm?

Lebarque

What's the sound difference between these and regular p90's? I don't know anything about them.

ChuckManual

Thorn do them too; http://www.thornguitars.com/gt90pu-htm/gt90pu.htm

...and they are mighty fine!

earwighoney

impmann said:

I read something that claimed that the design of this pickup was dreamt up by Les himself (or at least he had a hand in the concept), because he had been fitting DeArmond pickups under the covers of his GoldTops (check out the 50s footage of him and Mary Ford and check out the pole pieces). The Staple Top owes more to the DeArmond than a P90 - check out the depth of the coil for example - and if you take away the adjustable elements it effectively becomes a DynaSonic with a flatter coil.

I don't know how true all the above is, and I can't find the source... but its stuck with me. Can anyone confirm?

Yes, you are right

http://curtisnovak.com/pickups/repairs/GibsonAlnicoV-Staple/

OilCityPickups

earwighoney said:

impmann said:

I read something that claimed that the design of this pickup was dreamt up by Les himself (or at least he had a hand in the concept), because he had been fitting DeArmond pickups under the covers of his GoldTops (check out the 50s footage of him and Mary Ford and check out the pole pieces). The Staple Top owes more to the DeArmond than a P90 - check out the depth of the coil for example - and if you take away the adjustable elements it effectively becomes a DynaSonic with a flatter coil.

I don't know how true all the above is, and I can't find the source... but its stuck with me. Can anyone confirm?

Yes, you are right

http://curtisnovak.com/pickups/repairs/GibsonAlnicoV-Staple/

The coil shape, ie flat and P90, plus the very large coil aperture necessitated by the magnet widths, and the magnet mass and composition in a 'Staple' are the factors that give the characteristic tone. Gibson, at least in part, had a stab at recreating that in  recent years with a 'P90' with rod magnets. This was not quite right, as the smaller width caused by using Fender style/diameter magnets didn't simulate either the coil aperture of a Staple or its magnet mass. There are ways of doing this, but it won't 'look' like a Staple. 
I looked into the possibility of producing accurate looking Staples a few years ago, and made a successful prototype, but the economic viability sucked. It's a limited appeal pickup, and the commissioning of custom length oblong alnico magnets, production of flatwork, and tooling of custom covers would never have been worth it for the low volumes I would have sold.
My own 'Sun-T-Ron' produced to special order (that one's a bitch to make too) does DynaSonic in a humbucker shell, and if anybody wants one, I could pretty easily put it in a P90 soapbar or Dogear case, but the 'look' won't be 'Staple' even if the sound is very close.

ChrisMusic

equalsql said:

Great clip @ChrisMusic !
I love those Alnico Vs and have a 79 Pro Deluxe that would love to be home to one of them!

Now that sounds like the perfect home for one  

The 2015 LP Juniors were fitted with a rod magnet P90, as mentioned by TheGuitarWeasel above.  I have one to try out when I get a, err, guitar/free time to experiment with...

One other possible option to explore, in the meantime, is from a comment by @WezV in the "Gold Foil pickups" thread:

"I used Marc's bladed dog ear p-90 in a junior recently and it's the closest tonewise I have got to a uk made staple top."

Funkfingers

Strictly speaking, a "P90 with six rod magnet polepieces" rather than two bar magnets and filister screw polepieces has a different P number. Patent applications show that it was one of Seth Lover's experimental designs en route to the ones that we all know and love.



I seem to recall that one of the reasons why Duncan could not supply Staple replica pickups to the UK was EU regulations concerning Lead. I cannot recall where the lead figures in the manufacturing process. It might just be the solder.

WezV

its more a convienient term for the shape than an accurate representation of Gibsons naming conventions.

 it is a little misleading since they are not a drop in replacement to most P-90 routes

equalsql

Funkfingers said:

Strictly speaking, a "P90 with six rod magnet polepieces" rather than two bar magnets and filister screw polepieces has a different P number. Patent applications show that it was one of Seth Lover's experimental designs en route to the ones that we all know and love.



I seem to recall that one of the reasons why Duncan could not supply Staple replica pickups to the UK was EU regulations concerning Lead. I cannot recall where the lead figures in the manufacturing process. It might just be the solder.

That's a bummer as I was thinking of seeing if I could get one through a UK SD supplier like Hot Rox.

Funkfingers

Some SD Custom Shop pickups are awkward to obtain because the ordering process is needlessly convoluted.

• Customer chooses options on SD website. 
• Customer prints out pickup description order form. 
• Customer hands form to SD retailer. 
• Retailer forwards form to UK distributor. 
• UK distributor places order with SD. 
• Order takes its place in the queue. 
• Eight weeks later, the finished product reaches the UK. 

Lack of direct customer-to-CS communication means that what you get might not be exactly what you thought you had requested.

In order to comply with RoHS regulations, pickup manufacturers are obliged to use lead-free solder. I suspect that some of the unique constructional aspects of the Staple demand good old-fashioned 60/40 leaded rosin core solder.