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G&L z-coil design and ideas

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6/21/2005 2:51 AM

G&L z-coil design and ideas

I read they are quiet, not too bright and strong o/p.

- how are they wired?
- do they use rod mags?

I'd like to try rods for wound strings and bars for plain strings. If I can aquire them that is.
I did a diy SK Dualtone and then removed steel poles from the wound strings whilst running it in the bucker mode. Of course not enough boink for the wounds. Both coils are 7.9K, this mod tamed the wolfiness in the bucker mode. It's not bad at all, thicker lead tone and good bite for rythme.

Anyone try this?

6/21/2005 6:18 AM
Deviant	erm... im not the greatest at having a clue but i am curious.... what is a "z coil"?

6/21/2005 12:50 PM

These are a type of dual coil not unlike the old Fender "split Precision" bass pickups. Here, one coil is used for half the strings, and the other coil is used for the remaining strings. The poles are reverse polarity, and the coils are reverse wound, so you get a hum-bucking effect when theyare in series. The difference is that there is only a single polepiece/coil under any given string so one gets "single-coil tone".

The reason they are referred to as "Z-coil" has to do with their shape. Bearing in mind that having two opposite polarity polepieces in close proximity sets up the D and G strings for some magnetic hijinx, the two coils are set slightly askew and apart, with a common plastic housing keeping them together and creating the impression of a single pickup. The housing has a vaguely Z-like shape, hence the name.

Evans pickups used to make a similar design pickup 20 years ago, except they fit it in a Strat-sized housing so that it could be sold as a retrofit for Strat-type guitars or anything that use a SC form. I had the pleasure of visiting their "factory" in Victoria BC around that time and seeing how they did it. For reasons never clear to me, they eventually went out of business. It *may* have been because the proximity of the D and G polepieces created some problems they could never adequately resolve, or it may have been for other perfectly logical reasons (like making a REAL salary for a change). In any event, the Z-coils found on the G&L Commanche model are relatively unique to their product line. I suppose that G&L, not seeking out or depending on the after-market crowd, had the latitude to produce a pickup that avoided all the problems of sticking two single-coils in series without having to address the how-do-I-stick-it-in-my-Korean-Strat problem.

6/22/2005 2:22 AM
Deviant	ahhhhhh. i was actually toying with the idea of something similar to that and the p-bass setup. i was prob going to have it so that there where two pole pieces for each string, but they would both be under the string. like i said. i'm toying with it. i am yet to make a second pickup

6/23/2005 10:00 AM
Lukas	1. Would it work if I use standart humbucker bobbins and winding directions as in HB but three alnico rods for bass strings and three rods for treble strings (3 slug positions in each bobbin remains free)? what effect it can have? 2. what is average DC resistance with awg42 for standart split single coil design for el. guitar?

6/23/2005 2:27 PM

1. If I'm not mistaken, this was one of the intents and practices with the Fender humbucker that came out in the early 70's. That particular pickup used 12 threaded polepieces (6 per coil) instead of 6 variable and 6 fixed that would conduct the magnetic field of the bar magnet they were physically coupled to (as in the Gibson style HB). This meant you could lower and even remove 3 polepieces from each coil without risking damage, and many did. The humrejection function remained intact.

2. Absolutely no idea, except to note that turns are more important than DC resistance, and you can pack on a lot of turns on a smaller coil with a much lower DC resistance.

6/23/2005 2:58 PM
RedHouse	Seems to me the 60's Fender 12 string had pickups like that but they were close together like the P-Bass pickup.

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