STRATGATE, SET OF STRAT SINGLE COIL PICKUPS WITH EXPOSED POLES, IN THREE DIFFERENT VERSIONS.

 STRATGATE is a series of three sets of pickups (neck / middle / bridge) in Strat single coil format, made by basing their development around the innovative or, in my opinion, revolutionary neodymium magnets.

                                   OTHER PICTURES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE ARTICLE

My main passion is electronics, mainly both tube and solid-state amplifications, for guitars and for Hi Fi, on which I have been experimenting since the 90s of the last century. ASAR, in fact, is the acronym of Alter Sonus Audio Research.

 

I also decided to devote myself to guitar and bass pickups after having had the opportunity, now over a decade ago, to appreciate the superior characteristics of neodymium magnets in loudspeakers. From that moment on, given the similarities between the two types of transducers, i.e. pickups and magnetodynamic loudspeakers, I had the idea of first of all verifying whether it was possible to find, for a hobbyist craftsman like me, the materials suitable for experimentation. So it was and the three STRATGATE sets represent just one of the results obtained in the pickup sector, thanks to the use of neodymium magnets.

 

My idea was to update and give new life to at least the most popular and widespread models of electric guitar and bass pickups, using the basic materials that any hobbyist craftsman or DIY-loving guitarist can find on online sales sites without particular difficulties . In any case, it was not my intention to produce pickups characterized by particular aesthetic refinements as I wanted, more than anything else, to exploit first of all the adoption of neodymium magnets, together with the manually guided winding of the coils to make, in the sound, the difference compared to the pickups equipped with traditional magnets, standard or boutique production.

 

 

I would never have distracted resources and time from research in the field of amplifiers, in fact, only to become the billionth "experimenter" of pickups with AlNiCo magnets because, in my opinion, the maneuvering spaces (read parameters) that characterize a pickup are relatively few and trying to make the difference simply by choosing between the diameter of the enamelled wire (and the insulating coating type) and the relative number of coils to be wound, the type of spool and the use of AlNiCo 2, 3 or 5 magnets, would never have led to sufficiently appreciable results, so much so that it really stands out from the already endless production, past and present.

 

I then also experimented with ferrite, a material that I personally esteem more than AlNiCo itself, obtaining interesting results and with less investment of resources than neodymium-based specimens. This is why, while not reaching the sonic performance guaranteed by rare earth magnets (which also include samarium-cobalt, in addition to neodymium), I have always found the quality/price ratio of ceramic pickups interesting, to the point of producing them parallel to the models neodymium.

I have to admit that I don't hold much esteem for AlNiCo magnets, even though they accompanied the birth and evolution of the electric guitar in its first decades. This for several reasons, including the fact that these alloys do not have their own magnetism, but must be forcibly magnetized by external magnetic fields. Magnetization which in addition to being induced, can also be, accidentally or deliberately, attenuated or cancelled. The main reason for my lack of liking lies, however, more than anything else in the fact that except for rather rare cases, I have always found the sonic character of AlNiCo screaming and euphonic, especially in the mid and mid-high frequency range of the electric guitar spectrum , that is precisely those that most characterize the sonority of the pickups and, consequently, of the equipped instrument.

 

Another flaw that I was able to find in the AlNiCo pickups, even of current and famous production, noticed by practicing American style comparisons between my guitars equipped with neodymium pickups and my friends' guitars, is a more compressed sound, as well as less lively in general and less extensive in frequency, both low and high.

 

 

Neodymium magnets, thanks to the particular characteristics of their magnetic field, allow to obtain pickups equipped with an incomparable richness of harmonics equally distributed in the useful frequency spectrum, touch response, dynamics and also unrivaled output levels. The clean sounds are the warmest and most natural, while the distorted sounds are granite and consonant, already in the single coil pickups (not to mention what the humbuckers can do, i.e. real with juxtaposed coils, or stacked ones).

 

Since neodymium magnets have a somewhat different character than the aforementioned AlNiCo, it was to be expected that also the rest of the religion built around the latter in terms of enameled wire to be used and more or less official tables showing the number of coils to be wound to obtain certain results, could be widely "disregarded" in order to achieve the desired results.

 

So much so that even the STRATGATEs, like most of the pickups I make, are wound with AWG44 enamelled wire instead of the traditional AWG42, which allows me, in addition to obtaining the pre-set timbral characters, also generous output levels with relatively small coils.

 

It is with these assumptions that, after a series of tests, I developed the three sets of STRATGATE, all characterized by the use of AWG44 enamelled wire and each with its own existential logic.

 

 

 

The three pickups of the STRAGATE Mk I set represent the "family" standard and are equipped with three traditional coils, i.e. single output. Their character wants to approach, in terms of brilliance, the most typical sounds of the Stratocaster and they are balanced between them.

 

The Rs of the three pickups, in fact, are: NECK 8.2 / MIDDLE 8.5 / BRIDGE 8.8 KOhm.

 

 

 

The Mk II set is composed, again, of three single coil Strats with traditional coils, but the bridge pickup is overwound, compared to the equivalent of the Mk I set, by about 10%, for reasons that are known to every guitarist, especially if oriented on Stratocaster with SSS trim. In a nutshell, obtaining a bridge pickup with a slightly less brilliant tone and a slightly more consistent output.

 

Therefore, the Rs of the Mk II pickups are as follows: NECK 8.2 / MIDDLE 8.5 / BRIDGE 9.6 KOhm.

 

 

 

The Mk III set is the most versatile and performing, as the three coils are equipped with outputs identical to those of the Mk I set, but the neck and bridge pickups are tapped coils, i.e. also having secondary outputs characterized by more generous outputs, with timbre somewhat similar to those of the P90s.

 

In other words, the coils of the neck and bridge pickups of the Mk III set are abundantly overwound and equipped with two outputs, which can be selected via special switches: a lower level output, taken at the same number of turns as the corresponding pickups of the Mk I set and a higher level output, taken at the end of the entire winding of the coil itself.

 

The Rs of the Mk III set are as follows: NECK 8.2 Kohm in COIL TAP and 12.6 Kohm in FULL COIL / MIDDLE 8.5 KOhm / BRIDGE 8.8 KOhm in COIL TAP and 13.8 KOhm in FULL COIL operation.

 

 

 

The covers are available in white, black, cream, green and chrome, for your choice.

 

The middle pickup is always Reverse Wound/Reverse Polarity to the other two, in all three pickup sets.

 

 

 

The waxing is performed in a paraffin bath mixed with beeswax (in a 3:1 weight / weight ratio), to obtain reliability maintained over time and immunity from the triggering of annoying whistles.

 

POLE SPACING: PU at the handle 48 mm: central 50 mm; 52 mm bridge in all three sets.

 

The coils of the pickups are equipped with complete electromagnetic shielding (see photo), as they are covered with copper foil connected to the shielding / grounding of the relative connection cables.

 

The leads themselves are generously long.

 

Every single pickup is regularly tested.

 

STRATGATE Series pickups can be found on Reverb.

 

My email address is asar.amplification@gmail.com

ASAR PICKUPS, pickups and pre-wired pickguards, handcrafted in Italy.

How and why was ASAR PICKUPS born? How do these pickups differ from the others?

With the same size and shape of the magnets, the neodymium ones, more precisely NeFeB, generate magnetic fields which, to put it very simplistically, boast much higher energy densities than in the case of the fields, instead, produced by other types of magnets commonly used for making both guitar pickups and speakers. These are AlNiCo (including grade 5), ferrite (or ceramic magnets if you prefer) and the samarium-cobalt alloy (SmCo).

Just to give a rough but explanatory example, imagine making a Stratocaster single coil pickup around the usual cylindrical magnets, but neodymium instead of being made of the classic sintered AlNiCo alloy.

Well, once the pickup is made and installed on the guitar, the magnetic field produced by the magnets would be so intense that it is practically impossible to play the guitar itself.

So much so that, as in the classic case of ceramic magnets (those dark gray bars that you have probably seen attached under some pickups), even the neodymium ones are normally used, in pickups, together with pole pieces made of carbon steel plated with nickel, which have the task of interfacing between the real magnets (placed in the lower part of the pickup) and the strings. In other words, the aforementioned polar expansions do nothing, once placed in close contact with the magnets, other than act as conductors of the magnetic field, which otherwise alone they would not be able to produce, towards the strings.

 

The most clever will immediately understand how it is possible to juggle with the dimensional relationships between the magnets and the polepieces to generate more or less intense magnetic fields. These magnetic fields, by appropriately and simultaneously managing the size (also understood as the number of coil turns) and geometry of the winding as well as the thickness of the wound wire, allow the sufficiently experienced manufacturer to vary, even by a lot, the sonic characteristics of the pickup that intends to realize.

Attack, soustain, output levels, more or less bright or fat tone, contrast, richness of harmonics (on which hand winding of the coils and the conducting style of the winding are also typically influent), are all factors which can be varied more or less at will by the expert manufacturer.

However good and experienced he may be, however, there are intrinsic limits of an eminently physical nature, beyond which it is not possible to go anyway. With the same spools and types of wire used (but also pole pieces), these impassable limits are dictated precisely by the peculiar characteristics of each type of magnet, of which I have already mentioned the most widespread and commonly available categories for the construction of guitar and bass pickups, without going unnecessarily into the sub-categories and classifications of each one.

 

As for me, a few years ago, that is in 2014, I wanted to take away the satisfaction of building some pickups on my own, but not so much for the sake of mere DIY, but with the intention of trying to achieve something, in particular, that maybe it left its mark not only on myself, but also on my guitarist friends. Unlike what I experienced in my thirty-year experimentation with amplifications, in which I have always had a very similar approach, the pickups seemed to be too simplified machines, at least in the number of components influencing the result and their available variables, to allow any "lift of genius” that could actually make the difference.

I must admit that I came across a video published by some good hobbyist on YouTube, almost by chance, in the same year, explaining how to "upgrade" guitar pickups by simply replacing the stock ceramic magnets with neodymium ones.

Neodymium was a material that was already known to me for its use in the loudspeaker sector and for the superior performance that these same speakers (alas, higher in cost) boast compared to their colleagues equipped with the almost ubiquitous ferrite or some replica cases vintage of AlNiCo equipped speakers.

So it was that ... I was conquered by the idea of ​​trying in my turn, to touch the goodness of the idea firsthand. Especially since, until that moment I had never heard of commercial pickups made around neodymium magnets. So I did a quick online search from which I discovered Entwistle in England and a craftsman in New York (if I remember correctly), and I-SPIRA pickup from us in Italy. That was enough for me to get the "hint" and from there I no longer started researching in this sense.

The next step was, of course, to investigate the possibilities of finding neodymium magnets of sufficient size, quality and quantity to make at least some pickups without necessarily having to take out a trentennial mortgage.

Since, since then, I have made dozens of neodymium pickups (but also ceramic ones), both for guitar and bass, the answer is obviously affirmative.

After the first, exciting experiments quite well exitated, I began to get carried away to fine-tune several sets of pickups and even pre-wired pickguards (mainly for Strat, but now I've started to do some for Precision 4-string bass too).

I wrapped my first pickups with a wrapping machine that I had crouched on a wooden frame, using, as a crank, that of the machine to make fresh pasta . So I made my first pickups by winding them completely by hand, in the sense that while the right hand guided the lwire into the bobbin, the left operated the crank that made the spool rotate.

 

Now I don't know I would still have all that patience, however within a few months, after having procured the right material, first of all the electric motor, I designed and built the electric winder that I still use today.

Obviously, in my pre-wired pickguards I only install pickups of my own production and, in their conception and construction, I believe I have done my best not only with regard to the electromagnetic shielding of the pickguards themselves and the pickups, but also in terms of versatility of use. In fact, having the pickguards for Strat typically three pickups installed, it is my custom to also install one or more switches (almost always of the push pull type) in order to:

1) allow the connection (always in parallel) also of the neck pickup with the bridge pickup, as well as the classic bridge + central and central + neck, typical of positions 2 and 4 of the 5-way selector;

2) allow you to split the humbucker at the bridge (HSS) or both the humbucker at the bridge and the neck (HSH) depending on the pickup configurations adopted, as my pickups are always characterized by lively charachters and generous output levels to which, even when in humbuckers only one coil is operated, their single coil sound is more than believable and it would be a shame not to use it.

Furthermore, since more often than not I produce single coil pickups (by the way: P90, Strat and Telecaster bridge) so-called "coil tap", that is, equipped with a single coil but equipped with both the output taken at the end of the winding and a 'output taken at an intermediate level, the last switch named can be used, instead of splitting the humbucker (s), to select the COIL TAP / FULL COIL output of the coil tap bridge pickup, or the same outputs if they are coil tap both the bridge and neck pickups. I have also produced and produce pre-wired pickguards equipped with a bridge humbucker (PAF-like or Hot Rails-like dimensions) and a Strat single coil "coil tap" installed on the neck so that the switch, typically installed on the third knob, splits at the same time the humbucker and “coil tap” the Strat single coil.

I hope that anyone who has been able to read this far hasn't had a headache or other discomfort ...

Someone might ask, at this point, if I make only and always pickups equipped with neodymium magnets or not.

The answer is no, as I also make ceramic ones because, although they are cheaper and at least to a certain extent less complex to produce, they still boast more than decent performances, even if, intuitively, not of the absolute at the top as in the case of neodymium.

I have never made and never will make any pickup equipped with AlNiCo magnets, for three precise reasons:

1) It will be my personal whim, but I don't like the fact that, since AlNiCos are not natural but induced magnets, in the same way (relatively easy, at least in the factory) with which they can be magnetized, just as easily or accidentally, they can come demagnetized.

The latter could happen, in theory, even with neodymium magnets, but only if they were to exceed the temperature of 80 degrees Celsius at which, however, I believe that not only the magnets installed in the pickups should be thrown away, but the same musical instrument. I do not think it is easy to find a musician capable of leaving his guitar in a car exposed to the sun and with the windows completely closed, in summer and in a hot country.

2) I am not enthusiastic about "vintage" sounds and, in any case, there is such a boundless and too often homogeneous production of AlNiCo pickups (also for reasons of force majeure) that, also for the originality and effectiveness innovation reasons above mentioned, do not arouse my interest at all.

3) As for sonic performances, both on paper and based on the results of the "American style" comparisons (not boundless but in any case anything but episodic) that I have experienced together with guitarist friends on the same types of pickups, I mean humbucker vs humbucker, P90 vs P90, Strat sigle coil vs Strat single coil and so on, the typical trend is characterized by generally compressed and euphonic sounds of AlNiCo, even famous ones, compared to the greater dynamics, contrast, depth, touch response and extension in frequency of my neodymium ones.

With neodymium the clean sounds are of a disarming naturalness and depth while, thanks above all to the richness of harmonics, the distortions are really full, granite and consonants at the same time.

 

Waxing topic: I mix pure paraffin with beeswax purchased from beekeepers in my area, in a 3:1 ratio (weight / weight). I melt the wax inside a glass jar of the appropriate size, heating it in a water bath. Then I immerse each wrapped coil in it (obviously when the wax is in the right temperature range) for about fifteen minutes. This, together with a certain treatment that I carry out on my reels (of industrial origin) and following the necessary destructive tests performed on the samples, makes me sure that my waxing method also reaches the innermost turns of the reels. So much so that, since I developed it, I have never had "squeal" problems with my pickups, nor have they ever been reported to me by those who bought them.

 

I also published a short video, about the creature, in which you can see the bubbles of air that leave the inside of the coil to make room for the wax. The video link is the following: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXQqwbUemyc

Finally, the official channel with which, at least currently, I am exhibiting my pre-wired pickups and pickguards to the public, is the window of my virtual shop ASAR boutique amplification & pickups which can be found on the Reverb.com website.

 

Anyone wishing, for various reasons, to contact me directly, can do so via the email address asar.amplification@gmail.com. If it's not some time wasters, I usually reply within a few days at the latest.

As for the demonstration videos topic, since I am practically only a former electric bassist (despite myself, due to lack of free time), as well as an electronic technician, it is not easy for me to organize myself in this regard. That's not definitely for the future, however, until recently I improvised some amateur videos together with a guitarist friend of mine, I elaborated them and then published them on my ASARchannel YouTube channel. If you really want to get at least a vague idea about my pickups sound...