A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

Our good friend and AGFer, @Lamf77 (Mike), needed pickups worthy of Ace Frehely for his triple-pickup Epi Budokan Les Paul. Stock jobs were not doing it, vintage Dimarzios were going for about $200 apiece and newer used replacements were about $85 apiece.

So for less than the price of one vintage pickup and also less than two used newer ones, I built him this set to his specs that Mike named "Acebuckers".

Standard fare is the vintage Super Distortion type bridge, with a brass plate, big 'ol C8 magnet and 13.2KDCR at 75 degrees. We deviated on the mid pickup, with something akin to the Dimarzio Super II with a nickel plate, C1 magnet and 9.2KDCR at 75 degrees. The mid pickups tend to get muddy with super-strong pickups. At the neck (Ace's real guitar did not have a real pickup here - just a fake one that housed smoke bombs), Mike decided to go PAF'ish. A nickel plate, A5 magnet and 7.5KDCR. All creme bobbins with steel hex pole pieces!

Time for Mike to jams some 'Detroit Rock City!!'

Thanks Rob @andrewsrea ! I wanted the best and I got the best!

Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk

Great choices on pickup design. A super D at the bridge always rocks!

Lost me at "C8 magnet."

tlarson58 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 18, 2021 11:11 pm Lost me at "C8 magnet."

Sorry for all the geek speak, Tommy!

Magnets 101:
'Ceramic' refers to iron particulates suspended in kiln cured non-conductive ceramic, then permanently magnetized.
'Alnco' refers to magnets which are composed of semi-conductive metals, such as aluminum, cobalt, nickel, copper, titanium or iron and permanently magnetized.

C8 = Ceramic 8 bar magnet. One of the strongest, if not 'the' strongest pickup bar magnet. It is double the thickness of a standard bar magnet. Combined with slightly smaller coil wire significantly overwound, this pickup sounds like a chainsaw. A percussive pickup with tight lows, clear and strong mid-range and strident highs. Since it is non-conductive, it does not saturate and self-compress. The Dimarzio DP-100 Super Distortion was the first mass produced high output pickup, to push the lower gain amps of the era. Many reviews on YouTube which would be worth checking out.

C1 = Ceramic bar magnet. Normal size, not as strong as the C8 and as strong as a healthy Alnico 8. With the wind I put on the middle pickup, the C8 would have been uncomfortably harsh and an Alnico, undefined. This is what typically comes in an import humbucker. YouTube a Dimarzio Super 2 and Duncan Custom and you'll get the idea.

A5 = Alnico 5, probably the most common humbucker magnet. In my neck pickup design with vintage (lower) coil windings, the A5 will give a slightly compressed but with good string articulation, clear bass, subdued mids and chimey trebles. Given the string energy at the neck pickup, it will sound sweet and still be perceived as loud as the aforementioned behemoths. YouTube 'Late 70's Gibson T-tops' and you'll get an idea of this pickup.

Hope this helps you in future pickup choices.

Smoke bombs might have been cool too.
Congrats on nice pickups.