My Lipstick to P90 adapter

[Justin Loucks]

It's been awhile since I've been on here. I don't know if I've done anything but lurk since the switch to PHPBB.

Regardless, I thought someone around here might appreciate this. I'd used some of the GFS Lipstick pickups in a MIM Strat awhile back and really enjoyed their sound, epsecially in the neck position, but never had a good way to get one in the neck of my LP Jr. style guitar I've been customizing. Enter Shapeways and 3d printing!

I used Rhino3D to build a an adapter cover and I think it turned out really well. I also made some humbucker style trim rings to go around my p90s, which I know may traditionalists won't like, but I've got a shot of it those too.

Overall, I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I need to tweak the model a little bit if I decide to use it again. It fits in my P90 route, but I think most tend to have a bigger corner radius than what I used, so the edges will probably catch in a drop-in scenario.

[David King]

That's pretty slick Justin.
Where do you go to do 3D printing? Do you have one at work?
Yes, the P-90 covers are supposed to have .281" radius corners but none of the aftermarket ones come close.
There are folks who will take those GFS lipticks apart and rewind them with a proper Alnico 6 bar magnet. It's nice to know they sound good as they are.

OK I found this: http://www.shapeways.com , they do the 3D printing and it looks great. Do you know if they charge the same for one piece as for multiples?

[Justin Loucks]

There is no volume discount, unfortunately--and Shapeways is also who I used. The only savings to be had is on the shipping and handling fee, which is about $6-$7 per order. It's great for one offs and small batches, though, and I'm impressed enough with the result.

The black material looks much more grainy in the photo. In person, it has a matte, fiber look to it that I really like. The I used the black strong and flexible for the adapter, and the white polished strong and flexible for the cover/adapter.

I think it was $17 + shipping/handling for the cover adapter. Injection molding would probably be the way to go for volume, but that'd probably cost a couple thousand just to get the mold. Even if someone is planning on going the injection mold route, I definitely recommend shapeways for initial prototyping.

[Justin Loucks]

That's pretty slick Justin.
There are folks who will take those GFS lipticks apart and rewind them with a proper Alnico 6 bar magnet. It's nice to know they sound good as they are.

If you know anyone specifically, can you send me a PM? While I think they sound good as is, especially for the price, and the form factor is obviously more convenient than the original Dano design, I wouldn't mind getting the sound closer to the originals sometime in the relative near future (maybe a tad hotter, around 6k).

The guitar I'm putting this one in is an oddball. It started as a precision LP DC Jr. kit that I routed for binding and a 2nd pickup, veneered the top, did a custom laminate for the headstock and did a veneer on the back of the headstock. It's getting close to being finished but I've still got to make a pickguard and cavity cover. Dave Plummer is making the bridge pickup for it, which will also be a one off. It's a coverless p90 sized pickup, but with a steel baseplate and rod mag poles instead of the traditional P90 design. It's sort of a hybrid telecaster P90 thing.

[David King]

RE the PU rewind, I would open the thing up and see if it's a ceramic magnet first. If it is then take the magnet's measurements and start looking around (addictionFX on ebay comes to mind) to see if you can find an alnico magnet of the same size. Alnico 6 is very rare so start with an alnico 4 or 5. You can order a custom magnet but that costs an arm and a leg. The only source of Alnico 6 I can think of is Seymour Duncan where they use them in their own lipstick pickups.

[Justin Loucks]

RE the PU rewind, I would open the thing up and see if it's a ceramic magnet first. If it is then take the magnet's measurements and start looking around (addictionFX on ebay comes to mind) to see if you can find an alnico magnet of the same size. Alnico 6 is very rare so start with an alnico 4 or 5. You can order a custom magnet but that costs an arm and a leg. The only source of Alnico 6 I can think of is Seymour Duncan where they use them in their own lipstick pickups.

It's Alnico 2. Sounds good, so I may not broke what isn't fixed--but the thought of having it rebuilt had crossed my mind.

[David King]

You can get a kit lipstick pickup and play around with that. They are pretty easy to wind. A2 generally sounds great so you might just want to leave it as is.