Oil City Pickups ... another early pickup design resurrected

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OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9978
in Made in the UK tFB Trader
Yes, it looks like a relic PAF ... and no,  it isn't one of those :-)

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Back in the early sixties the Valco company came up with some decidedly odd guitar designs 
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While the pickup looks like a humbucker, it is in fact a single coil with a very odd magnet arrangement: the magnet is huge, and sits next to the coil mounted on a right angled plate that the pole screws are tapped into. This gives a huge 'inductor' plate and a very wide sensing area ... so tons of harmonics. This design owes a lot to the Supro lap steel pickup, favorite of Ry Cooder. 

So in my quest to bring forgotten tones back, I have been developing my Oil City Masterwound Val-Tone Pro pickup. The form factor of the original Valco pickup was larger than a standard humbucker ... but following my mission of bringing new and interesting pickups to folks with standard humbucker routed guitars (like the Winterizer II has done for Firebird pickups and the Cow-Tron and Sun-Tron has for old Gretsch and DeArmond designs) I have shoe horned a Valco style pickup into a standard humbucker case. 

More as development and testing continues :-)

Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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Comments

  • TTonyTTony Frets: 27341
    Do you ever stop???
    Having trouble posting images here?  This might help.
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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9978
    edited May 2016 tFB Trader
    TTony said:
    Do you ever stop???
    To be honest no lol ... I work six to seven days a week and think 'pickups' pretty much all my waking hours :-)
    There are many 'hobby' and semi-pro winders in this game, and that's great, but I am full time and do nowt else for a crust, so if I'm not winding I'm researching. 
    Part of Oil City's ethos is bringing back sounds that are a bit different. Giving guitarists more choice than just variations on the PAF theme. Not that PAFs aren't great, but there are so many more sounds that are pretty much lost in the story of the electric guitar; ones that could become part of someones unique and original sound.

    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • earwighoneyearwighoney Frets: 3487

    Part of Oil City's ethos is bringing back sounds that are a bit different. Giving guitarists more choice than just variations on the PAF theme. Not that PAFs aren't great, but there are so many more sounds that are pretty much lost in the story of the electric guitar; ones that could become part of someones unique and original sound.

    Superb. 



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  • TTonyTTony Frets: 27341
    Part of Oil City's ethos is bringing back sounds that are a bit different. Giving guitarists more choice than just variations on the PAF theme. Not that PAFs aren't great, but there are so many more sounds that are pretty much lost in the story of the electric guitar; ones that could become part of someones unique and original sound.

    Careful - you could build a successful business with commitment like that.

    ;)
    Having trouble posting images here?  This might help.
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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9978
    tFB Trader
    The Gretsch 'Hilo' Tron' uses a similar principal to my Val-Tone Pro, and the Supro/Valco designs, but with a very low wind and hence is thinner and more 'twangy'. My own pickup is like a Valco and has a similar output to a P90. 

    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • EdGripEdGrip Frets: 736
    I'm very very interested in this! :D And I shall be watching closely.

    I know Marc's had these on his to-do list for ages. I think there's a big potential market out there for these, and not just White Stripes fans. 
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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9978
    tFB Trader
    Marc has the prior history on Gold foils ... I thought I'd take on the other iconic 'dirt blues' legend. It fits in with my 'big block' concept of bringing goodness to the humbucker form factor.
    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • WezVWezV Frets: 16541
    so is this going to be humbucker format only - or could you do a P-90 version...

    preferably with a screw/hole layout like this  ;)
    image
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  • SporkySporky Frets: 27568
    I am strongly in favour of wider pickups. The P90 and lipstick are the best looking pickups.
    "[Sporky] brings a certain vibe and dignity to the forum."
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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9978
    tFB Trader
    Simple to do a P90 version ... plus I can do with a range of magnets from alnico 2 to alnico 9 ...
    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • earwighoneyearwighoney Frets: 3487
    Simple to do a P90 version ... plus I can do with a range of magnets from alnico 2 to alnico 9 ...
    Would it be possible to get Alnico 10? 
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  • EdGripEdGrip Frets: 736
    I want alnico 11 in mine. It's one louder.
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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9978
    edited May 2016 tFB Trader
    Simple to do a P90 version ... plus I can do with a range of magnets from alnico 2 to alnico 9 ...
    Would it be possible to get Alnico 10? 
    lol ... I've been writing a guide (to be put here) to alnico that includes the 'odd' ones like alnico 6, Alcomax, alnico 8, and of course alnico 9. There is a lot of confusion, especially around alnico 2 and 3.
    The scale only goes from 1-9 I'm afraid.
    I could of course do neodymium :-) 
    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9978
    tFB Trader
    A view inside inside the prototype neck Oil City Val-Tone Pro. You can see the huge steel angle 'Inductor plate' and the massive, double height alnico 5 magnet. The bobbin is a standard humbucker model, but that will probably change to a fabricated forbon one for production models. 
    imageimage

    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • earwighoneyearwighoney Frets: 3487
    Is the Alnico Magnet above a custom ordered one?  It is massive!  It looks near enough the size of the bobbin. 

    Looks fantastic.  I reckon it'll be a great pickupn for slide guitar.
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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9978
    tFB Trader
    The magnets are twice the size of a conventional HB magnet, and are the same custom size as I fit to my Filtertron style pickups.
    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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