Oil City: Dynasonic pickups hot-rodded!

OilCityPickups

There's nothing that says 50s rockabilly and rock and roll quite like a pair of Dynasonic pickups - anyone who read my piece on resurrecting the flood damaged early fifties ones I did a little while back will know I'm just a bit in love with the beasts. 

Well, after building my red Telecaster around the restored Dynasonics ... and having got myself a very nice Gretsch 5420t 140th Anniversary ... I kept feeling that the Blacktop Filtertrons in the Gretsch were low in output and mega polite compared to my early 50s Dynasonics in the Tele. Nice sound with the Blacktops - but not Cliff Gallop with Gene Vincent, WAY too apologetic for that. 

So when the opportunity came for me to buy a second hand modern pair of Dynasonics to install in my Gretsch I jumped at the chance. I know TV Jones make their T-Armonds, and Duncan Custom Shop do a Dynasonic ... but neither of these options is quite like a 50s Dynasonic. The Duncan is loud and getting in the right ballpark, while the T-Armond is a somewhat dialled back in output for modern tastes. 
Early Dynasonics were real fire breathers with 11-12k of 44awg wire piled on and absolutely no punches pulled. 



Well here we are, a pair of Gretsch Dynasonics such as you can buy for around £90.00 each from Thomann. These were second hand ... so I didn't pay anywhere near that. 

Well ... as I expected, the quality has fallen a bit since the fifties :-)  Gone are the plexiglass laminated bobbins with their black coated paxolin tops and DeArmond moulded proudly into them. as below 


And in their place are moulded one piece bobbins 



This is fine ... but instead of the old style bracket with the output cable securely fastened ... there's a brass screw in the thermoplastic bobbin with a solder blob on top ... shades of Fenders plastic bobbin period ... not very nice, and with a chunk of cheap two core and shield output wire ... that'll be going!. 


Above: what the output lead on an original Dynasonic looks like! 

The bad news with these Gretsch Dynasonics is for some reason they made them below 8k and somewhat wimpy ... again, probably for modern tastes ... well I play music from the fifties ... so fi on your modern tastes! 

These pickups were going to get a fifties style hotrod job! 



So off came the old wire ... and my god it had been potted to hell and back ... wax from 'arsehole to breakfast time' as my grandfather would have said! My fifties 'Dynas' were left unpotted, but as I'm going to be gigging with these in my main guitar ... I think a 'quick dip to steady the ship' will work nicely. 


Here you can see the modern bobbin and 'valve gear'. Unlike the fifties version where the height screws were flattened to prevent the magnet yolks from unscrewing tight off them ... see below ... the new ones are left ... well as screws all the way. 
On the new bobbin you can just see the rather crappy screw that holds the output wire (behind the magnet assembly to the extreme left)



Even though I could have removed the magnets, adjusting screws and yokes from the modern pickups I decided to make up a tool for rewinding any age of Dyna ... 

Voila! 


Once I'd rewound the pair to a healthy 11.5k bridge and 10k neck It was time to address the crappy output lead issue. 





Not as pretty as the 50s solution, but sturdy. I will lock the nasty screw by using a drip of black, high temperature hot-melt glue ... 
and the new pickups are nearly ready to be installed on my Gretsch ... 

However on their own they won't cover the holes left after removing the Fuiltertron rings ... or be high enough to be close enough to the strings ... 
So I made these ... Dynasonic risers/shims 



And then I made a set in silver 



So these are ready to fit ... that bit will be coming up soon. 

More than happy to stick Dynasonic risers up on the Oil City site along with my dogear P90 shims ... and if anyone wants their modern Dynasonics given the fifties hot rod treatment ... well I could be persuaded ... 

merlin

They are exactly what I need to replace a set of blacktops on my 6120-60. 

Will you be making more?

OilCityPickups

merlin said:

They are exactly what I need to replace a set of blacktops on my 6120-60. 

Will you be making more?

This will depend on me getting my hands on another pair of modern Dynasonics ... there is practically nothing available parts wise for these ... unless you go the expense of getting them manufactured in bulk ... however you see modern Gretsch Dynas come up on eBay etc for reasonable money ... so hot rodding a pair of them would be on the cards. 

Chris.B

That's a fascinating article on resurrecting those pickups. Thank you for posting. 

rsvmark

I love these posts Ash!

WYNIR0

beautiful.

Neilybob

Love the in-depth detai you go to for us Ash. 

TheMarlin

Awesome work.  I might have to track down a set of Dynas and availa myself of your services sir. 

OilCityPickups

Latest news is that I'm experimenting with magnet polishing ... the almost mirror like 1950s A5 magnet tops are the only difference I can now see between my 1953 made set and my modern rewound set - yet the 1953 set has a shade more punch and twang. Not a huge amount in it ... but I can easily tell. I doubt it's anything to do with the bobbin material ... the wind level and wire are identical - so it comes down to magnets. 

That having been said,  some folks would probably prefer my rewound modern version to the vintage one ... The 1953 pickups can be absolute cows to control with a bit of gain ... they are pretty uncompromising. The rewound modern ones are that little bit easier to live with day to day ... but typical me ... I have to understand why they are different and be able to make both! 

Seziertisch

OilCityPickups said:

Latest news is that I'm experimenting with magnet polishing ... the almost mirror like 1950s A5 magnet tops are the only difference I can now see between my 1953 made set and my modern rewound set - yet the 1953 set has a shade more punch and twang. Not a huge amount in it ... but I can easily tell. I doubt it's anything to do with the bobbin material ... the wind level and wire are identical - so it comes down to magnets. 

That having been said,  some folks would probably prefer my rewound modern version to the vintage one ... The 1953 pickups can be absolute cows to control with a bit of gain ... they are pretty uncompromising. The rewound modern ones are that little bit easier to live with day to day ... but typical me ... I have to understand why they are different and be able to make both! 

I get annoyed when people talk about vintage gear having “mojo” as if it was something unknowable and undefinable. 

If it sounds different from a new build it is because it is different in some (or likely multiple) ways. None of these things individually or together are “magic”.

OilCityPickups

Seziertisch said:

OilCityPickups said:

Latest news is that I'm experimenting with magnet polishing ... the almost mirror like 1950s A5 magnet tops are the only difference I can now see between my 1953 made set and my modern rewound set - yet the 1953 set has a shade more punch and twang. Not a huge amount in it ... but I can easily tell. I doubt it's anything to do with the bobbin material ... the wind level and wire are identical - so it comes down to magnets. 

That having been said,  some folks would probably prefer my rewound modern version to the vintage one ... The 1953 pickups can be absolute cows to control with a bit of gain ... they are pretty uncompromising. The rewound modern ones are that little bit easier to live with day to day ... but typical me ... I have to understand why they are different and be able to make both! 

I get annoyed when people talk about vintage gear having “mojo” as if it was something unknowable and undefinable. 

If it sounds different from a new build it is because it is different in some (or likely multiple) ways. None of these things individually or together are “magic”.

Exactly ... there will be a reason that falls within the laws pf physics ... and enough research and experiment will sort it. 

normula1

Ye canny argue with the laws of physics captain

merlin

OilCityPickups said:

Exactly ... there will be a reason that falls within the laws pf physics ... and enough research and experiment will sort it. 

And then the mystery will be lost and the joys of the vintage will be gone forever. The game will be over when a PAF or vintage Dyna can be made for 29p somewhere in China. 

OilCityPickups

merlin said:

OilCityPickups said:

Exactly ... there will be a reason that falls within the laws pf physics ... and enough research and experiment will sort it. 

And then the mystery will be lost and the joys of the vintage will be gone forever. The game will be over when a PAF or vintage Dyna can be made for 29p somewhere in China. 

Currently the going rate for a pair of vintage Dynasonics is £700/£800 ... the totally ridiculous going rate for a pair of original PAFs goes upstairs of £5000. 
When 'the joys of the vintage' are limited by elitism in pricing and attitude then finding what causes the tone to be the way it is and making it available to many more at a more reasonable price is a good thing to strive for. Pickups are meant to be used and at the end of the day only what comes out of your speakers matters.  

That having been said, high quality pickups are never going to be made for super cheap ... no matter what the proponents of the £15 Ali Express specials trumpet. Making good wire with consistent coatings is expensive ... even from China. Casting good magnets without flaws and voids is also not cheap even in China ... and the super low priced Chinese offerings neither use top notch wire or top notch magnets - whatever you may hear to the contrary. But then they wouldn't be expected to for the price.

Keefy

I have a 2005(?) Terada-built Duo Jet that draws a lot of compliments for its sound and I’m not sure I’d want to change it. It would be interesting to compare though - I trust there will be audio?

OilCityPickups

Keefy said:

I have a 2005(?) Terada-built Duo Jet that draws a lot of compliments for its sound and I’m not sure I’d want to change it. It would be interesting to compare though - I trust there will be audio?

We are recording shortly with our band 'Luchia and the Werewolves' and I'll be using both the 53 Dynasonics and the modern ones and no doubt these will be public :-)
Before rewinding the modern ones were about 7.5 and 8k - whereas the 1953 0nes are around 12.75k - the fifties ones using 44awg plain enamel wire. 
And why would you change if you like the sounds? I'd have been quite happy with modern Dynasonics had I not been lucky enough to get hold of some 1953 ones and seen exactly why the original Dynosonics were loved for their tone. It's not everyone's cup of tea though ... tough to control at higher volumes in a hollow body ... and super aggressive in the bridge. Pure 50s raucous rock and roll. On the 53s I seldom use the bridge alone, it's much better mixed with the neck