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Dan Torres on Guitar Pickup Mod and restores

By Mark Grove
Co-writer: Dee Curtis

02/29/04 Back Catalog Article wanted by readers

When you hear the name Dan Torres and pickups in the music industry, ears tend to perk up or pickup, that's a joke get it.I know a bad one. And pickup makers like Seymour- Duncan and Di Marzio tend to take note. Introduction of this article and information on Dan Torres the amp and pickup Master from California, is by Canadian Guitar Player Music Consultant Dee Curtis.

The first time I heard of Dan Torres was when I was out in Los Angeles in the early 80's with a group of musicians, who were talking about Dan Torres who was and still is a guitar moding guru,moding their amps and guitars for them.

These guys back then got in touch with Dan through an ad in (Guitar Player) when mail order was the rage in the music business. So I sent away for some info on how to hop up your guitar and do mods to your amp, through his free brochures, and wound up getting some reprints of his articles which were in (Vintage Guitar).

I had a bit of electronic know how at the time which was helpful but nothing with tube amps. But through some of his articles I started tinkering with The capacitors and resistors in the amp head along  with changing tubes, to reshape the sound coming through the cab. I wound up using his Midrange tone control switch on every guitar I    had back then. Currently I'm not using them and I miss them.Dan is one of the top experts on amp and guitar modification and one a lot of top musicians use.  

Very recently, I contacted Dan about my (Sovtek Midget Combo Amp) and asked him what tubes he recommended because the Sovtek was sounding a little dark to me. I had some feedback from Sovtek on this and made some mods, but it was still sounding too dark.

I love the amp, but I wanted more sparkle and cleaner tones. Dan suggested I try( 6L6 GC Tubes) which will give me clearer top end and less mid-range and darker tones. I have them on order now and I know it'll sound beautiful.

Now, anyone who's a guitar or bass player I implore you to get Dan Torres book (Inside Tube Amps), which is literally the bible on tube amps, and it's  in laymen terms so anyone can understand how to--mod their amps or guitars.

Mark Grove: We first started this article with an intro on how Dee Curtis was first introduced to the amp and pickup master himself Dan Torres, but we'll end this section where we originally wanted to go, and that's talking about Dan Torres take  on restoring pickups and the fact he was  one of the first techs to start rewinding pickups for musicians in California. Dan also has a line of single coil and custom made pickups, along with new ones called (Torres P90's) and custom Humbuckers -- as well as SRV midrange and blues pickups.

This man is the master of pickup tone control along with other gurus like  Bill Turner (EMG founder and current resident pickup expert for Fender. In this interview with Dan Torres we'll venture into Pickup restoration and how to keep those vintage pickups just"hummin" along.

<a href="http://www.torresengineering.com">www.torresengineering.com</a>  This is a "uber cool" site for players

I know another bad line. Dan is also known for his amp and guitar building kits which are popular for the more astute musician. This will be an interview you'll want to archive in your e-mail or site, so  get ready to be amazed by Dan Torres fellow musicians. Canadian Guitar Player talks to Dan Torres about the intricacies of pickup         restoration and when to toss that old heap.

M.G: At what point has a regular or vintage pickup for that matter outlived it's usefulness sound wise and mechanically?

D.T: Currently, since the beginning of magnetic pickups, virtually none of them have actually worn out. Even the earliest pickups, unless damaged, are still functional sound wise and mechanically.

M.G: What's the most common form of pickup wear and tear that has to be addressed when restoring a pickup?

DT: Most common wear is user wear. Pick damage to the top of the pickup, getting jabbed with screwdrivers, stripped screws and results of mistreatment. Magnets and hardware may rust quite a bit from an instrument that is allowed to get damp. Rust can push magnets out of contact with the pole pieces, causing the pickup to stop working correctly.

<a href="http://www.torresengineering.com">www.torresengineering.com</a>

M.G: Is re-magnetizing a pickup important to gain back the original sustain and solid string pull?

DT: This is a very tricky question as the target tonal character of our most popular guitars (and pickups) is based on those instruments being old at the time they were used/recorded. That is--one does--not seek out a 1959 Gibson Les Paul with Patent Applied Hum-bucking  pickups to play "how high the moon" (a Les Paul hit of the 50's) they seek it out to play "Sunshine of your Love" (Clapton" or "One Way Out" (Allman Bros”)

The guitars that are the most treasured were in their "second life" as used instruments picked up by the young musicians of the mid  60s' from pawn shops,    etc. as very inexpensive, used, good sounding guitars. Therefore, the original  magnet strength - that is the magnet strength when this particular guitar was manufactured in 1959, is not the desired "effect". The desired sound is the       "old guitar" heard in the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and today.

A lot of effort has been put into demagnetizing magnets or finding old ones. Currently my collection of patent applied for original Gibson magnets sell for   $150+ per magnet if I will let go of any of them. (only about six left.)

M.G: Does the magnetic field become weaker over time yet produce mellower and fatter tones?

DT: This is easy, yes. But the magnet field has quite a long life. Even the oldest pickups we commonly see, such as the "Charlie Christian" pickup found on the 1939 Gibson with cobalt magnets still have more than enough flux to this day. Jazz Great Barney Kessel used to bring in his far-too-famous Gibson with the Charlie Christian pickup.

Those huge, very old magnets were still very strong and the best pickup (he had several) was very high impedance, 10,000 ohms. This pickup sounded absolutely wonderful, a magical musical instrument. A lot of experimentation was done in the 80's by many pickup manufacturers, with stronger or exotic magnets.

But the point of diminishing return was reached instantly. Stronger magnets may produce a louder pickup with more output, but the excess string pull caused damping, pulling the strings out of pitch so the pickups had to be placed quite a ways below light gauge strings, canceling out most of the improvement. The exotic magnets did not sound as nice as the wider flux range alnico or ceramic magnets.

M.G: Do hum-bucking or single coil's wear down faster and why?

DT: A tough one. Single coils, such as Strat pickups die more frequently, but usually due to damage. It is not hard at all to wear through the top of a strat pickup cover and damage the coil. P-90 type single coils use hum-bucking magnets (2) and have a plastic coil form, so we have a cross over in pickup structure between the hum-bucker and P-90.

The cylindrical magnets of the Strat and Telecaster pickup have a large amount of flux and will last several life times if they are not damaged. The earliest guitars still sound spectacular. Jerry Garcia replaced his DiMarzio hum-bucking pickups frequently saying they had worn out, but these pickups have been moving around here in the San Francisco Bay area, and do not seem to have lost anything noticeable. But musical perception is far, far more sensitive then any instrument.

Not hearing  them brand new makes it impossible to hear what Jerry heard. By their nature, single coils may wear down faster as the magnets are more subject to the real magnet killer, shock  being hit by the pick, strings etc.

M.G: With your handling some of todays top players pickups, do they think twice about throwing out their singles or hums, or even going to a different company for restoration?

DT: I usually encourage pros and amateurs to consider keeping vintage pickups in place if they are providing the type of tone they want. I find if the guitar feels right, but doesn't sound right, hand wound or new  pickups from ourselves and or all the other manufacturers can be selected along with appropriate potentiometers, tone controls, etc.

To fine tune the guitar to do exactly what one wants without butchering  a fine vintage guitar, many pros are choosing new guitars, or fine quality imports (Ibanez, Aria, Cort etc.) so they can make as many changes as they wish and have several identical guitars on hand without the super high cost of vintage instruments. Restorations are done if pickups have been severely damaged, are dead or partially dead, or in some cases--when they just look ratty, ugly.  

Rust can be removed and/or new pole piece screws and studs fit to hum-buckers, delicate work with steel wool can clean up strat--tele magnets. Most restorations are to dead vintage (valuable pickups) getting them back to life without losing their inherent musical character.

Broken coils are the main problem by far. With a very good eye, steady hand, and knowing exactly what to look for, the broken coil wire can be located and reattached without losing any more than one or two ohms of a 5,000 ohm pickup.  

The most difficult part of this process may not be finding the broken wire. It is treatment of it after finding it. Usually you only have one chance. The wire is coated with insulation that must be removed before you can re-solder to it.  Since the wire is thinner than a hair, and in some cases one is working with just 1/16 to 1/8 in of wire. This is delicate work.

M.G: What is the most common type of pickup that is replaced?

DT:Currently it is running about 55% strat--tele type and 45% hum-buckers, but it shifts constantly pretty much keyed by the current popular guitars in use on TV, Concerts and other media.

M.G.: Is restoring pickups for the most part something you should leave to luthiers or guitar parts restoration specialists?

DT: If the pickup has high value, yes, get someone with experience. A good eye, practice, and knowing what to look for can rescue a $200.00 Patent Applied for that may be totally destroyed by an inexperienced (or unsteady) hand trying to fix a broken coil wire. attention to detail will bring the pickup back to life as it should be.

M.G.: When restoring a pickup are single coils or hum-buckers easier to restore?

DT: Single coils are usually easier - they are simpler, everything is out in the open and easy to see, there are no layers of age-old tape to peel off,(a real difficulty with old hum-bucking pickups.)  But -"funky" type single coils. Harmony,  Silvertone, Danelectro, Kay etc. are REALLY hard to restore as they are often made on a budget.

Cardboard coil forms, glue and masking tape are all used in assembly pretty difficult to dig through. Some of these old inexpensive guitars do not even have coil forms. Just  a coil of wire and magnet. It is often hard to tell what it was supposed to be in the first place!

M.G: Are there any special ways of repotting, re-magnetizing or rewinding a pickup to actually improve it's tone and sustain in regards to string pull?

DT: I would not say "special ways" as much as the application of very good technique in all these technologies. Potting or repotting in wax (or lacquer) has to be at the right temperature so the wax soaks the whole coil, but not so hot it melts a coil for  tricky re-pots.  But once you have it right it is easily repeated.  

This will prevent microphonics, allowing the pickup to perform at a much higher volume level without squeal. Re-magnetizing may improve or restore the tone of a damaged magnet. Shock can demagnetize the magnet enough so it does not produce a signal. In this case re-magnetizing will bring it back to life.

Often more powerful magnets, such as Alnico 5 are demagnetized or redone to a lower "aged" level, to reduce string pull and get the effect we hear from vintage guitars.

A fairly effective process that may well increase sustain of a given pickup. But with our stock of new Alnico 2 magnets, it is often easier to just install a lower flux Alnico 2 magnet in place of an Alnico 5 for the lower magnetic pull, sweeter tone. Pickup winding is another story. Most of the "classic" guitars made in the 50's had hand wound pickups to some degree.

In a conversation with Doc Kauffman, Leo Fender's original partner he told me it was quite some time before he and Leo thought " maybe we should measure these pickups?"

In winding a pickup to get a good vintage tone a "scatter wound" technique works the best.The wire is not laid down absolutely perfect, but somewhat random, filling the coil by eye as it spins. This gives the pickup a more harmonic tonality - not so perfect is often more musical. Hum-bucking pickups, having two coils, are essentially unbalanced in the original Gibson Design. Each coil has a different iron load, therefore a different impedance. If the coils themselves are also not exactly equal, there is an effect of, again, less perfection  and more harmonic quality due to the slightly different tonalities of each coil.

Additionally the distance between the two coils picking up the guitar string signal at different locations (called phase cancellation) gives the hum-bucking pickup its distinct character. These factors can be manipulated to vary the pickup's tonality to very extreme extents.

DiMarzio is quite skilled at developing more and more new sounds from techniques like this,(and many others.) Observation of dozens of real  Patent Applied for Gibson Humbuckers,show coils that are "pretty close" but not exact when read with Digital Vom Meters,which were not available when they were made.

M.G.: When wiring a pickup are there techniques used to give your guitar a tone based on the type of music you're playing?

DT: This is one of our specialties. Besides all the variations in pickups we have discussed, we introduced the concept of varying the potentiometers to decrease or increase the load on the pickup, vastly changing the frequency response, gain and tone.

We also make a range of passive midrange controls that can be applied to any guitar to give the musician still farther range of tones from the "same old" pickups. One can start with new or custom pickups and optimize them still further for their use, or work with existing pickups by varying  the  volume controls, tone controls and wiring harness.

M.G.: Do higher prices for vintage pickups make it more attractive to restore the originals?

DT: Certainly, and  my customers, friends, are always on the lookout for guitars that "don't work". Restoration often does not cost much and we have about 90% success on dead pickups. The balance are rewound. Very few are discarded, maybe 2 a year out of hundreds. Finding a dead pickup and having it restored or even rewound is certainly the least expensive way to get "the sound".

Dan Torres

Mark Grove-CGP

To contact Dan Torres for amp or guitar pickups mods:

<a href="http://www.torresengineering.com">www.torresengineering.com    
</a>

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About the Author

Mark Grove,music industry writer from Canada.I write how to material
for musicians on guitar and gear tips,music business and artist
profiles.

We also offer an article writing service for musicians called:
The Musicians Instant Press Kit.

http://canadianguitarplayer.blogspot.com

Our site is called:Canadian Guitar Player

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