Lawsuit Pickups - Inside a real Greco/Maxon 1973 'Strat' Pickup
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- Опубліковано 16 вер 2024
- I had this one in for repair, (the owner gave me the entire guitar to work on, a real 73 Lawsuit strat which was all original and in very good condition).
I thought it might be interesting to open up the pickup on camera as I didn't quite know what I was going to find and I bet many of you haven't seen inside one either.
www.clausenpickups.co.uk
www.tonyedwardsguitars.co.uk
tonyedwardsguitars
I have a 1974 Ibanez Strat copy with the original pick ups and electronics. Maxon of course. It was found in a barn in California. The frets were completely worn down and plenty of battle scars. I did a refret and new tuners as well as a new bone nut. Outstanding old guitar.
Very interesting video, thank you.
I've just received an old Japanese 'Strat' with these pickups that my friend has had from around 72/73. He was told by the chap who sold it to him that it was a '1966 Strat but with with a replacement neck' and believed the chap , all for £50. The 'replacement neck' was run over and snapped by the band minibus backing up after a gig, so it got fitted with an Antoria neck.
The DCRs of the pickups were 4.48k (n), 4.82k (m) and 4.56k (b). All have the number '14209' printed on them. Three-position switch on the pickguard. All three pots were 500k, which will also be adding to the bright sound. They don't sound weak to my ears, but they are bright and very detailed and dynamic.
Very interesting video, it’s great to see inside one of those Japanese guitar pickups. I’ve swapped the weak original pickups out of quite a few old Japanese Stratocaster copies replacing them with modern aftermarket Strat copies. As I rarely throw old pickups away I think that I might have a few of those Maxons in my junk pickup box. Having watched this I might see if I can find a set to try in a partscaster for something a little different.
If you're going to do that, and you have a working pair - there are some bits of info that may help you. Firstly they are all forward wound (no RWRP middle), and were originally fitted on a three way switch (the lawsuit ones anyway). They work best in the middle neck positions, but you have to be careful about getting them too close because the magnets are pretty strong and they will 'pull'. IF you do have to open one, be real careful of the 'live' side. Many of them have almost no length of the AWG 42 coming out from the inner wraps of the bobbin, you got about 1/2" at most to play with to re solder if it's broken, and I had to rewind a second one later that day due to the live side being disconnected and too short to reconnect. Lastly, if you have to unwind and reconnect the earth side, even though it seems to be a poly insulator, you may need to remove it with more than just heat - I found the 73 a bit stubborn with the iron, so a little 600 grit was used to take off the insulator. Have fun!
@@TonyEdwardsGuitars Thanks for the very valuable information and advice. I wouldn’t try to disassemble one of those pickups unless l absolutely had too. I’m not great at dealing with 42 gauge wire at the best of times I think that the stubborn enamel insulation on the Maxon coils would be a step too far.
@@TonyEdwardsGuitars hi! I know the video is quite old but I would like to ask you if those pickup were squeeling with medium gain sound. I have a set of them in s MIJ strat and is difficult to get a decent dirty sound without rolling down the guitar volume to 4/5.
THanks
@@danieledandrea4320 Hi. No I don't recall that for sure, but I'm not surprised to hear that yours are doing that really. The problem is that they were built so long ago that the internal parts are now quite loose and vibrate. The way out of the problem is to re pot the pickups in paraffin wax. It's vibration in the coil and magnet etc that is causing the problem.