rollin'

[Rodent]

something's definitely afoot at the Circle-K ...



all the best,

R

[Basshappi]

That's cool and all but what year did the Mongols invade China?

[Rodent]

That's cool and all but what year did the Mongols invade China?

[gruff_voice]
I don't know. I just work here
[/gruff_voice]

[Rodent]

some could say we're prepping for the festivities on April 20th here in Seattle

all the best,

R

[Rodent]

This freshly rolled RJ4 set will be loaded into our 2014 NAMM Show VRB-J4 unit once it arrives back from paint

all the best,

R

[Rodent]

and a shot of the new RP4 split-P set that will be loaded into several of our NAMM basses

all the best,

R

[Rodent]

we continue to get great feedback on our pickups - sold in our basses and as individual sets. here's part of another batch of 4-string J's (and a lone SCPB custom wind) that's about to hit the street

[fivebass52]

There's just something about a naked pickup.... be still my beating heart!

[AzWhoFan]

There's just something about a naked pickup.... be still my beating heart!

Ya, there's nothing like a boatload of copper messing up the hormones

[Rodent]

so a bunch of pickups in the buff causes you guys to have to take cold showers, eh?

here's the rest of that batch just as it heads out to the clean room for potting. these ship out on Monday

[fivebass52]

Sa-Weet!

[Rodent]

next up on the rolling table - a split-coil J

2014Apr28_SplitCoilPrototypeCoils.jpg (88.45 KiB) Viewed 298174 times

my initial prototyping will be on the bridge position, with the added ideal of defining the recipe that gets me as much of our single coil J4 sound as possible while also balancing volume as closely as possible to our P4 pickup.

here's the initial prototype coil set ready to wire, pot, and assemble into its baseplate keeper

2014Apr28_SplitCoilPrototypeCoils_FirstSet.jpg (115.71 KiB) Viewed 298174 times

[Rodent]

bridge position split-coil J4's for my P/J sets are in production, and working R&D on the new single-coil J5 set. The J5 set is 'Fender' sized and not a 5-string coil set wound to fit a J4 bridge coil like some companies use

SplitCoilJ4_J5Singles_2014May17.jpg (109.94 KiB) Viewed 298066 times

all the best,

R

[fivebass52]

Do the split coils act like a humbucker and cancel out 60-cycle hum? And if so, does that alter the tone as compared to a "normal" Fender style pickup?

[Rodent]

Do the split coils act like a humbucker and cancel out 60-cycle hum? And if so, does that alter the tone as compared to a "normal" Fender style pickup?

yes, the split-coils are RWRP so they are individually hum-cancelling when solo. they also pair nicely with a split-P pickup

the wind I did for this bridge split-coil J had two main goals outside of sounding good and being hum-cancelling: 1) get as close to a single-coil J as possible, and 2) to balance volume wise with a split-P. it does sound a subtle bit different than a true single-coil, but it's close enough that you'd never be able to hear it in the context of a mix or at a live gig. IMO (and also those who have field tested this paired set) this difference is a good thing when pairing/blending it with a split-P ... a single-coil J always sounds a little off when blended with a P, and it struggles to be heard volume wise due to the nature of how each pickup is made and where they are located along the string. the split-coil J sounds great when solo, but really holds its own thru the entire blend range with a P. and added bonus is that the significant volume drop typical when a P & single-coil J are evenly blended is 99% gone - there's just a smidge of volume drop, but it's less than what you get with a typical J/J single-coil pickup set.

we'll be using this as the standard pickup set for our VRB 4.3 P/J model, and are weighing whether this will be offered for sale as just a pickup set. I'm guessing it will, just not sure when

all the best,

R

[andrew]

Rod you have a PM.

[Rodent]

and replied ... looks like our RGW email service provider messed something up in the latest firewall update

R

[Rodent]

not too bad for a Saturday winding session. a couple of these sets will be hitting the big stages this summer ...

2014_May31_BassPickupRundown.jpg (117.36 KiB) Viewed 298025 times

pickup sets included in this image are several P4 split-coil, J4 single-coil, J4 split-coil, P/J4 split-coil, and a J5 single-coil with covers

[Rodent]

Bill Clements 'field testing' a set of Regenerate RJ4m J/J pickups live with the Bill Clements Axiom

http://youtu.be/PRbRI23fhS8

if you have opportunity to catch a live show - don't miss it!

[Rodent]

a couple updates ...

- our J5 split-coils are production ready. feedback from field testers has been unbelievable. these can also be wound into a Bart P2 soapbar sized configuration.

RJ5s_NextToLastProofingSet.jpg (112.49 KiB) Viewed 297265 times

- a new style of split-coil is just starting field testing. this P2 sized 5-string set uses larger pole pieces instead of pairings of .187"D rods. initial testing is promising

P2sized_SplitCoil_ReadyForFieldTesting_Naked.jpg (131.68 KiB) Viewed 297265 times