1960's valco airline replacement pickup?

[Steve Hudson]

So my 1963 valco/airline lap steel, the third string now has almost zero volume , ive tried new strings just to be sure etc, with no difference, so im assuming the pickup has finally gone bad. Does anyone know of a replacement pickup that'll fit these old as student workhorses, and stil let you use the same string through configuration, i found a lollar string through bt it costs more than another one of these guitars would. lol

[Noah Miller]

You're not going to find one cheap. The only other buidler I know of who makes them is Mojo, and theirs is £187.

That said, Lollar can almost certainly fix yours for less than the cost of a new one. And even before calling them, I'd contact Tom Brantley.

And even before doing that, I'd try flipping one of the magnets to see if it's out of phase. You have tried adjusting the poles, I assume?

[K Maul]

If it’s just one string then maybe just the pole piece is weak. You could try adjusting it closer to the string. You have to be very careful with it. You can put a screwdriver in there but a lot of times they’re frozen and you just wind up breaking a chunk off. It takes careful disassembly and putting liquid wrench or something in those pole pieces to loosen them up,then very carefully adjust the height. You might be able to re-magnetize them. I don’t know if Jerry Sentell does re-furbishes on those but you should check with him. He’s done some very good work for me on Fender and other steels.

[G Strout]

Not sure, but last I heard Lollar had quit doing a lot of rewinds. I would also suggest Jerry Sentell.
Gary

[Steve Hudson]

If it’s just one string then maybe just the pole piece is weak. You could try adjusting it closer to the string. You have to be very careful with it. You can put a screwdriver in there but a lot of times they’re frozen and you just wind up breaking a chunk off. It takes careful disassembly and putting liquid wrench or something in those pole pieces to loosen them up,then very carefully adjust the height. You might be able to re-magnetize them. I don’t know if Jerry Sentell does re-furbishes on those but you should check with him. He’s done some very good work for me on Fender and other steels.

yup, tried adjusting, thankfully the pole for that one does move easily, though i havent p opened her up yet t see the underside thats next evidently.

[Glenn Wilde]

I just had my '46 K&F pickup re-wound, called Lollar, they arent doing rewinds and suggested Lindy Fralin, he doesn't rewind either, he sent me to Tom Brantley who did an excellent job, he's quite popular though so expect a wait.

[Jack Hanson]

Jerry Sentell recently rewound a couple of Gibson wide oval/racetrack pickups for me. I got both back less than two weeks after I sent them, and they sound fantastic -- as good if not better than factory originals.

[Jack Hanson]

https://santafe.craigslist.org/msg/d/sa ... 01516.html

[Jeff Highland]

https://santafe.craigslist.org/msg/d/sa ... 01516.html

Different pickup to the string thru

[Denny Turner]

Steve,

Here's some comprehensive details that might help you in your quest to solve your Valco "bunker" (strings-through) pickup problem.

I've encountered 3 "bunker" pickup Valco steel guitars with the very same symptoms you describe for yours, ...and helped several FoBros in the distant past ...via the links I'm fixing to provide below. The only reason I know of ...or could ever think of ...for a single string volume going bad is due to the pole piece screw threads cutting through & penetrating it's built-in tunnel through the coil winding, and shorting-out the coil; The tunnels intent was to prevent that from happening. Those 6 tunnels (and "bobbin" parts) were made from very cheap materials such as scrap cardboard, drinking straws, and masking tape; (WWII, c.1930s to c.1947). It requires very good guitar electronic skills to work on those bunker pickups. Unless a person is very good at guitar electronics in "every" detail, then it is my humble opinion that the way to fix the problem is to find / acquire an entire electronics assembly mounted to it's plate ...a base plate that's the very same plate as yours (there were several different base plates) so the "new" plate will match your guitar's routing under the plate, and a "new" plate that reads correct values (+/- 10%), ...and works well. Questionable magnets are no problem, ...they are quite easy to recharge or find those magnets. Then you can clean up your electronics assembly and sell it (with broken pickup) to help offset the cost of acquiring a functioning assembly. I would run a WTB ad on the SGF's 'Wanted' section, including a good photo of your assembly so Folks can see what version of the base-plate you have. I would want to find one that was made from 1947 onward if possible, because the WWII shortage and rationing of quality materials to the public gave way to acquiring and designing-in much better materials by around 1947. To see the / your(?) problem and it's info, click on this link and scroll down to just below the photo of a tunafish can paint pallet. That part of the work and it's repair runs for 3 pages.
http://www.dennysguitars.com/ValcoElGrande18.html

Then, to get a good look into those Valco bunker pickups, go to the page linked below and scroll down to the section labeled VALCO / SUPRO / NATIONAL, which has links where a person can see just about every detail of bunker pickups. A person really needs to get a good look into what they're getting into before opening up one of those bunker pickups. There's actually two 3-string pickups in that bunker that are wired together like a dual coil or humbucking pickup, and are literally made from pieces of scrap cardboard, at least leading up to and during WWII, ...and as said above, the protective pole piece tunnels appear to be made out of drinking straws! The coils were not wound around a pickup bobbin; They were wound around the winding machines claw, then secured (gathered) with masking tape straps before removing and assembling the pickup's bobbin around the coil, and then assembling into the pickups metal casing / cover. A person can really make a mess of things if they've never seen what they're getting into. If you desire to have someone else do the work (such as rewinding the pickup), then they are likely to fabricate a new "bobbin" (with the tunnels), made from modern higher quality materials. I highly suggest that you give them these links I'm providing so they can get a good look inside too, even to refresh their memory if they've done it before; We're about to see why!
http://www.dennysguitars.com/CustomerRe ... ples1.html

Good Luck and Very Best Wishes,

[Juniper Belmont]

Hi! New steel player here. Are there archived copies of these pages from Denny's site?
The site seems to be down and I'd love to read about the pickup on my '53 Dwight.

[Fred]

Hi! New steel player here. Are there archived copies of these pages from Denny's site?
The site seems to be down and I'd love to read about the pickup on my '53 Dwight.

You can find them in the Internet Wayback Machine, but I think the images are missing.

[Fred]

I think I may have archived them years ago. I used to do that. I'll look on some old drives and if I have them I'll work out a way to share.

[Michael Kiese]

Aloha all,

Just wanted to chime in.

I have 2 old supros with those “ry cooder” valco pups.

I want to caution you about opening up the pickup…Lindy Fralin told me that they used paper bobbins back then, so when you open them up, everything just disintegrates and falls apart.

For this reason, Fralin pickups no longer rewind the old valcos. Too much trouble.

If your 3rd string is low in volume, I’d check the magnets first. The pole piece itself is just a piece of metal. Not much to go wrong there.

If you have a gauss meter, check the strength of your magnets. Perhaps they just need to be recharged. All you have to do is stick the magnet onto a really strong permanent magnet. You can buy N45 or N52 neodymium mags on amazon for $12.

Worth a shot before doing anything else. It just may fix your issue.

Good luck!

[Greg Forsyth]

I'm not certain if this is a viable solution for your problem?

https://www.steeltronics.com/product/s6 ... ugh-pickup

Steeltronics has excellent reviews from SGF members.