Author Topic: Q's on Opencoiled Black Dogs (Read 2411 times)

kiwi · « **on:** May 08, 2006, 05:07:08 PM »

sorry about this, but can some experienced pickup dudes gimme a hand?
i wanna buy a zebra black dog, but i have no clue what the other stuff means!
k, question 1, does it matter if i get a normal or reverse zebra? i want to use this at the brigde by the way.
Question 2, what sort of spacing do i want? i've got an epiphone les paul studio. (im only young, i cant efford better...)
and finally, what sort of conductor? whats the difference?

thanks to whoever gives me a hand

Skybone · « **Reply #1 on:** May 08, 2006, 05:22:23 PM »

Q1. Normal / Reverse Zebra: On a bridge pickup, "Normal" is when the creme (screw) coil is towards the bridge of the guitar. "Reverse" is the other way around, so the screw coil is black and the slug coil is creme.

Q2. Spacing: If you get a ruler measure across the strings from 1st to 6th, on your Les Paul, it should be 52mm.

Q3. Conductor: 2 conductor wiring will just get you a humbucker, where 4 conductor will let you add things like coil taps / phase invert (using a switch or push/pull pot). If you get the 4 conductor wiring, you can still wire it like a 2 conductor, but if you decide to experiment later with a coil tap or phase invert, you don't have the expense of buying another pickup.

Hope that helps answer your questions.

kiwi · « **Reply #2 on:** May 08, 2006, 05:26:46 PM »

thanks a lot mate, im one step closer to buying the pickup! i just need my mate to measure the strings as i havent got my guitar! :D

LuckyJim · « **Reply #3 on:** May 08, 2006, 07:14:11 PM »

It's probably worth measuring, but I think you'll find that the hard tail guitars like Les Paul's are likely to be 50mm spacing rather than 52mm spacing

Skybone · « **Reply #4 on:** May 08, 2006, 11:40:41 PM »

Gibson type guitars are 52mm spacing.

LuckyJim · « **Reply #5 on:** May 08, 2006, 11:48:20 PM »

My Gibson type isn't :P

http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/faq.html#7

NPH · « **Reply #6 on:** May 09, 2006, 09:12:21 AM »

Just a bit of trivia for ya, Gibson Lp's had Zebra coils under some of their early PAF pickup covers - original PAF's from the late 50's and early 60's are now worth HUGE sums of dosh. The original colouring was black screw coils and white slug coils. For some reason, when the replacement pickup market took off, zebra coils went to cream screw coils and Black slug coils. this has now become "normal" and the original arrangement is now called "reverse" (maybe to stop people trying to pass off SD's or Dimarzios as zebra PAF's)

Mind you, I normally have my head up my arse which explains my muffled voice, so what do I know.