ROADIES TECH TIPS: Henry Ho signature guitar pickups!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Henry Ho signature guitar pickups!

According to friend request, here you are a text and some pictures of my electric guitar pickup signature: HH777 Hellbucker (bridge position).
This text is referred to process of making a pickup, all planning, tests and about my partnership and sponsor: Malagoli Electronics Products
In 1994, I was a part of a luthier team that was involved to pickup projects in Japan. Matsushita´s Corporation that produces pickups to companies as Yamaha, Gotoh, Ibanez, Fernandes, ESP, Tokai, Greco and Stafford sponsored this project. It was a period of a good learning and an exquisite experience. Until then, my knowledge about electromagnetic pickups was a bit narrow-minded in terms of differential equations related to Faraday´s induction law principle and “perceived” sound by ear. We have utilized the war arsenal: lot of guitars, valve amplifiers, multi-track recorders, microphones, spectrum analyzer, voltmeter and a lot of meter. We always “surfed” on sine curve produced in the oscilloscope screen. To destroy notable pickups is an ingrate routine in benefit of a noble cause. This magnetic day after day required almost twelve months and when the projects were concluded the “black box” with all information was “strategically” with me. To understand how a pickup works it is not a thing that belongs to other world. However, to project them is a little complicated. When I came back to Brazil and established my Guitar Craft School I was already thinking of produce pickups by my own. I was searching by a know brand and brazilian manufacturing, but the partnership conditions don´t make me satisfied. Later, I knew Érico from Malagoli Electronic and perspectives of reciprocal work were favorable. It took a long time to become real and now here we are… involved in this saga!
We started with projects in the middle of last year. The first prototypes were tested in that time at Brazil´s Music Fair 2005. Hellbucker HH777 is a high end double coil pickup. We started the test producing several prototypes, experimenting magnets, coils, cables blending and other technical details. We have accomplished comparative tests, parameters monitoring and when the results started to cross the acceptable boundary to a desirable, we started to accelerate this development. I don´t like to use the DC R as a primordial reference. I prefer to handle magnetic flux and work with resonance peak values. Subtlety related to pickup building will also follow a technical reasoning. I have opted to utilize screw poles: Minus & Allen mark (instead of taper pole) by account of magnetic flux image that have timbre incompatibility inside high frequencies.
In relation to coils, all items are analyzed and tested: The reels (stuffs, poles spacing, internal spacing, durability and finishing); copper wire (stuffs, depth, cleanness, tension, weight, external covering, resistivity, etc,) poles (stuffs, diameters, highs) covering tape, external conductor, shield and soldering tasks. In relation to magnets, the HH777 utilizes a variation of magnetos with ALNICO V AND ALNICO VII formulas.

Technical details:
Sound Hellbucker pickup HH777 – for bridge position
Magnet: rectangular ALNICO bar – in millimeter: 60X4X12.
Poles: Minus & Allen screws.
Reels: in ABS: white, black, yellow, green and cream pigmented.
Coil wire: 44 AWG cradle: brass and nickel version.
External conductor: Standard Belden RG – 4 conductors + ground. (It allows a configuration type: serial, parallel, coil cancellation, out of phase binding, inverse phase binding).
DC R: 16.8 Kohms.
Inductance: moderate – predominance of low passages.
Values used with Gauss-meter: measured at the poles surface: 350 measured at the rectangular Alnico 600 bar surface.
Values used with Flux-meter: measured in the magnetic flux of the rectangular bar: 1, 91 mVs.
Resonance peak: 5.2 Khz :
Output: 360 milivolts, spacing poles: the HH777 has an intermediate pole spacing between traditional Humbucker and a Trembucker (SD) or a type of: “Floyd Spaced” (DiMarzio). That is, there is “relevancy” in both situations.
Gain and timbre: in terms of gain, the HH777 is comparable to Seymour Duncan JB (SH-4 or TB-4) or we can refer to it as a Seymour Screaming Demon (SH-12 or TB-12) with more volume intensity. As for sound, the referred is not similar to JB, Custom 5, Screaming Demon or Tone Zone. The HH777 has no keen sound in “cascade”, and not as JB´s medium wall or as Custom 5 model.
In relation to Screaming Demon, the HH777 has more volume, however, will exhale less harmonic (the HH777 has resonance peak lower than Screaming Demon). On the other hand, in the visual aspect, one is similar to other. Compared to Tone Zone, the HH777 has a “biting” less sharp than that one. It is possible to “listen to” similarities from HH777 as a Gibson Dirty Fingers in terms of mids and bass. The HH777 gives me a clean sound and more sweet and a dirty textures that is not harsh. The JB was only sensible to a clean sound and efficient to dirty sound, but mid / sharp went far from. I like high end pickups because I play rock, hard rock and metal style. I use less clean sound, but I have single coils guitars and low end humbuckers and was utilized eventually to recording.
Finishing: I am satisfied to general, the cream reels are pigmented and the result is excellent. Since the beginning of this partnership, Malagoli Electronics has let me to feel free to experiment and exhibit my ideas. The company always showed me available to and careful in all circumstances and job situations. The high-tech process of the company coincided with this project and I have made some fixing in others pickups from Custom and Standard lines. Particularly, I think that is important to encourage brazilian production.
Tests with Humbucker HH777 were done by following equipments:
Guitars:
Fender Strat Plus (Alder body, maple neck).
Stratocaster Henry Ho Custom with Floyd Rose tremolo.
Stratocaster Henry Ho STD.
Stratocaster Henry Custom.
Jackson Custom Japan (mahogany body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard).
Gibson Les Paul Studio 1987 .
Amplifiers:
Rotstage CJ 50 + cab 2X10”
Rotstage CJ 50 Plus + cab 2X10”
Marshall Slash JCM2555 (with KT88 and José Arredondo´s mods) + cab 4X12” Marshal 1960.
Fender Twin Reverb 1968 (George Alessandro´s mods).
Zepphir GD60
Effects: Boss OD-20 Drive Zone Boss Line Selector LS-2 Hobbertt Simulamp Loop Selector Hobbertt Landscape Tri-Efx Landscape Reverb Pedal board Landscape PB-2 and Pb-1 + Yamaha ED-Stomp Guitartech the Bomb Booster.
Strings: NIG hybrid HH: .010, .014, .017, .026, .038 and .048 DR Extra Life Red Devils: .009, .011, .016, .024, .032 and .042.
Cables: Reference Canare

Meaning of numbers “777”
As soon as I arrived in Japan, I had to choose the ideograms (Kanjis) referred to my complete name. The Japanese choose the ideograms before their child birth, based on several reasons: numerology, meaning, and family tradition, visual letters and etc. In the foreigner case, it is an optional subject. I have decided to do. My Occidental name has seven letters: HENRY HO. Then, I chose 3 ideograms and each ideogram has seven traces. That is, was done the relation 777. The HH are the Occidental initials, name and surname. When I did this project of pickup signature obviously that, I had thought on HH777.

Some pix!