Proto of an MFD humbucker in a jazz size....

Posted on G&L 's facebook page yesterday:

Johnny's first proto of an MFD humbucker in a jazz size. He's using Leo's breadboard instrument and a test test board for a quick baseline check.
There are so many variables: wire gauge, turns, bobbin width and aperture, so it could be a long time before we even find the direction this pickup should go.
I have my fingers crossed that by tonight there's a pickup like this in one of the Doheny test mules.

Johnny made a second proto MFD jazz humbucker today, then we loaded them in one of the Doheny test mules.
Each pickup runs through a 3-way series/split/parallel mini toggle just so we can play with coil combinations.

Dave will give it a run tonight, then will figure out where we might start making adjustments.
No idea if this will end up in a good place, but that's what R&D is for.

Cool! I would be very interested in a Doheny if it was not susceptible to hum. I considered picking one up and modding it to put Z-Coils into it, but this is a more appealing approach.

That's funny, I have this:

(Rose Picasso)

That's funny, I have this:

(Rose Picasso)

Is that a Z-Coil or a wide range humbucker?

Last edited by cbm on Sat Mar 10, 2018 3:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

Wide Range clone with A5 pole magnets. Very bright pickup. A regular humbucker fits under the Jazzmaster cover, btw.

Another of the original Doheny test mules is back at work, now loaded with our second test pair of MFD humbuckers
designed around a traditional jm pickup cover. I like this one better than the first. That one was a bit aggressive, wide open it
it wants to get face-melty and wooly. Mule 2 in front is much more user friendly. I want to have that humbucker push but be
able to have that MFD single coil sparkle and spank on tap.

I love the rosewood fretboard w/ black block inlay look.

Brings to my attention the Doheny uses a 21 fret neck with the appearance of a Fender strat heel. Wonder why they went away from the square-heel 22 , could have messed with the proportioning of the guitar?

Back to this idea. The test pickups are starting to find a nice direction. Switching unknown but this setup offers useful and fun stuff to play with.
Each MFD humbucker has a 3-way mini-toggle series/split/parallel. I put them there because it was convenient: there is the usual JM route under there.

I hope these materialize into an available option from G&L.
Exciting prospects for mods on all Jazzmaster platforms from Fender to MJT builds.
Another good humbucker option for Jazzmaster is never a bad thing. I bet they could make good cash off selling these separate.

I know I haven’t posted anything for a while about the MFD humbucker Doheny concept, but behind the scenes it has made huge progress.
The white mini toggle is for series/split/parallel of the neck pickup, while the red mini toggle does the same for the bridge pickup. CLF knobs add
a bit of space so it doesn’t feel so crowded with the toggles between the knobs, and besides, I feel like the vibe is totally CLF. Here we have MFD
humbuckers designed to offer the player more control of their coils, and if you’re willing and imaginative, there are far more sonic capabilities on tap.
But there’s one requirement I have: it has to deliver a kick ass rock sound, no excuses. That means bridge humbucker in series, making that Marshall
sing right in its happy zone. I think we’ve got that going really well, too. Now, imagine this thing with a black powdercoated aluminum pickguard.
Working on that next. I must have it!!!

We edited the Doheny pickguard CNC program to add the two holes for the mini-toggles,
then we made a quick test pickguard using pickup fiber cut with a laser machine.

Wow, that is cool beans.