CUSTOM PICKUPS

Our Caldera Noiseless pickups are made entirely by hand in our own workshop. We cast our epoxy resin covers using silicon-rubber moulds. The covers are then drilled and machined for the fixing and register screws. We do not use springs, foam rubber or plastic tube for the mounting of our pickups, instead we have two screws which secure the pickup into the body cavity and two small machine screws in opposition which set the pickup solidly at the required height ensuring that they won’t move around during even the most enthusiastic performances.

Neodynium (Rare Earth) magnets are used throughout for their superior density and depth of magnetic field and tonal characteristics which we have found perfect in magnetic pickup voicing for bass guitar. The magnets are set into glass-fibre reinforced polyester resin boards and this assembly forms the bobbin onto which the wire is wound directly. Coils are wound with the aid of our very own design and constructed winding machine, conceived and built very many years ago and still doing a splendid job. The coils are (and always have been) what has become known as ‘scatter’ wound, a method acknowledged as producing the best and most expressive sounding pickups. It also helps reduce capacitance within the coil and I’m certain there is a whole lot of physics and electronic writings and knowledge on the subject that none of us Earthlings will ever understand, but boy oh boy, do these pickups sound good!

The coils are tested for continuity and DC resistance prior to shielding and potting. Prior to potting the independently screened fly-leads are soldered to the coil tails and the whole assembly is ‘potted’ into the cover with a low modulus epoxy resin ensuring that the pickup gives perfect service for the life of the instrument.

Both neck and bridge pickups use a single pole design for minimal magnetic tempering of the strings movement and for clarity of tone, and we combine this with a stacked twin coil in the ‘humbucking’ manner. The lower coil in both cases being almost a ‘ghost’ coil and contributes little to the musical output, acting mostly as a noise canceller. This gives a more complex colour to the tone and the pickup has, as a result, great drive and power without losing definition and becoming too middly.

The pairs of coils in each type of pickup are wound asymmetrically, producing a slight imbalance between the coils which in turn makes for a more expressive tone full of depth and rich in harmonic content.

Have you read about our bridges and laminated necks?