Comments about Gretsch Filtertron pickups?

[exiledarchangel]

I'm 90% sure they are surface mount, some time ago a friend put some of those in his guitar and he told me the mousepad trick.
If you don't mind to make 2 holes to surface mount them, then you could make a couple of pickup rings just for covering the surroundings of the pickups like the pickup rings on thunderbirds but without the screw height holes.

I hope this makes some sense!



edit: look what I've got for you! You own me a beer (or two):

http://hem.passagen.se/goba666/

[Pilgrim]

The Filtertrons are here!

And they are nearly an EXACT match for the dimensions of the original Univox staple pickups.  The main body of the pickup is about 1/16" less wide, but the base plate is perhaps 1/8" wider.

Now I'll get to work on mounts.  I might be able to sketch up some square-cornered U-shaped bent metal tabs that will allow me to use the original trim rings....maybe.



They sure used a lot of screws to assemble these....and only one wire.  I assume that the body of the pickup is used for the ground connection...?

[exiledarchangel]

They sure used a lot of screws to assemble these....and only one wire.  I assume that the body of the pickup is used for the ground connection...?

You can check that with a multimeter. What kind of wire is it? If its a braided one, the braid is the ground. If its a single wire, then probably the body is the ground.

[Pilgrim]

up - single wire, no braid, and I pulled one of the original pickups, and they are the same. Body = ground.

[drbassman]

Hey Al, I bought a pair for my Billybo.  Should be here soon.  Got the rings too.

Did you figure out how to mount those pickups yet?

I just realized that I have a hollowbody Gretsch 6072 with the same pups, same screw setup.  Want me to look inside for you to see how they mounted them?

[Pilgrim]

That would be very helpful!  I just confirmed with TV Jones that the Filtertron PUs fit their trim rings, and the dimensions are shown at: http://www.tvjones.com/tech_specs/techspecs.html.

Their tech pages are very helpful and contain a ton of info - more than I realized.

My idea is to make brackets something like this:


Top
__X__
       |
       |
       |
       |
       |__X__
Bottom

With each x indicating the location of a threaded screw hole.  If the top end lines up under the mounting hole in the pickup surround/trim ring, the bottom hole should line up with where the mounting screw comes through the pickup.

My first concern is to make sure the TV Jones mounting rings will cover the original mounting holes - these pickups are alightly smaller end-to-end.  If they don't cover, I guess that I'll have to have custom mounting rings made.  Now that I have the dimensions I can measure the setup tonight.

I just looked up some 6072 pix online, and the pickups do look like Filtertrons - but there's no mounting hole in the ends of the rings.  I am really curious as to how they did mount those pickups - I'll bet I'm missing some really simple idea!

Edit: hey, Bill...check their videos linked to the Tech Specs page.  Down at the bottom is one called "pop those shims", which shows a wood brace under each side of the pickup hole and a wood shim between brace and pickup.  I wouldn't be surprised if that's how your 6072 PUs are mounted.

[jumbodbassman]

i have a few univox basses needing new pups.  this is very interesting .  please keep us in the loop as progress goes. 
 

6 screws on pickup.  isn't that a guitar pup??

[jumbodbassman]

these pickups look sweet.  I am a little worried about spacing of strings.  do you guys know if they are pole or blade design.  If they are using the same bottom plate as the guitar pup with 6 screws versus 4 it is probably a blade inside.  Jim

[Pilgrim]

I'm pretty sure they are blades, and I'm fully prepared to not worry about string alignment since there are no pole pieces visible.

[drbassman]

Thanks Al, there is lots of good info at his site.  I ordered rings too, so we'll see how they fit the Gretsch pups.  All should be the same.  My installation should be a little easier.

If I were you, I'd just glue some bracing on each side of the pup hole and mount the pups just like the Gretsch example on TV's site.  I'd also recess them a bit where the ears rest on them and use the rubber trick to get more movement out of the screws.

[Pilgrim]

I might very well do that.  If you have the chance to peek into your install, it would be nice.

[drbassman]

I might very well do that.  If you have the chance to peek into your install, it would be nice.

Will do that tonight...............

[Pilgrim]

After measuring, it looks like I'm in for custom pickup rings regardless.  The TV Jones units are more than 1/2" narrower side-to-side, and about 1/4" smaller top to bottom.

I'll probably send the original rings to a custom PG maker so they can match the original Univox screw hole locations.

I'll consider going with the wood brace approach...I'm a bit unsure about how deep to set them.  I might have to go rather deep, and use springs between the pickup and the brace to provide a range of adjustment.  The neoprene rubber they used in the TV Jones video probably wouldn't give me more than a 1/8" range of adjustment.  That might be OK if you're building everything and know the measurements, but on a retrofit I'd like more adjustment.

If I go with wood braces, I'm thinking to use super glue to attach them on the underside of the front face.

[drbassman]

Hey Al, I didn;t have time to look at the Gretsch bass last night.  Will do tonight and post pictures.

[drbassman]

Here it is.  The wife's not home yet, so I got it done!  There are tabs on the sides and a small lip around the top and bottom edges.  Actually, it's one complete shim, routed out in the middle and glued on from underneath.  Pretty simple really.  Pup height is not adjustable.