8 String Tele Style Pickups

Thought some of the Tele fans might get a kick out of this. I'm building a 8 string lap steel and wanted a set of Tele style pickups for it. Lots of great 8 string steel pickups out there, not so much in Tele style, so I ordered up some magnets, fiberboard and jumped in head first. The flatwork was not too bad, but it took a bit of head scratching to figure out what I wanted to do for a neck cover.
I'm not going to do the winding though, I'll leave the rest to the pros.

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http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/quarterbend/JYD-001/bobbins5ss.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/quarterbend/JYD-001/cover1ss.jpg

Hey Tom what does the new lap-steel look like? Those pickups are beautiful.

Thanks, it was fun putting them together. Here is a rough idea where its heading, 24" scale, swamp ash body, figured black walnut drop top, and birdseye maple neck.

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http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/quarterbend/JYD-001/JYDMockup2sss.gif

Fender Stringmaster pickups would work but dont have the std tele way of mounting like the bridge pickup you made.

Good job on those pickups.

Thanks Mark! ... I thought about some Stringmaster pickups and also some of the Vintage Vibe CC's, but in the end wanted something different for this one. The project was originally conceived as a 6 string with Tele pups and figured I'd go for broke and give it a go.

Thanks Mark! ... I thought about some Stringmaster pickups and also some of the Vintage Vibe CC's, but in the end wanted something different for this one. The project was originally conceived as a 6 string with Tele pups and figured I'd go for broke and give it a go.

You did great be sure and post pics of the finished project.

Ive been playin lap steel almost 40 years now started in 71 love it.

Thanks Mark, I'll definitely post up some pics when I get her done.

Ive been playin lap steel almost 40 years now started in 71 love it.
It is a great instrument and a ton of fun. I'm not much of a player, but enjoy building them. There are some mic pics of my steels at this Photobucket page http://s302.photobucket.com/albums/nn87/tompettingill/

As promised, here she is and I am extremely pleased with how she came out, both in looks, but more importantly her voice.
I had Bryan Gunsher at BG-Pups do the winding and he nailed the tones I was shooting for first time, I would not change a thing!
The tone is is everything I had hoped and imagined, crisp, clear, airy and articulate, sweet and smooth with a sexy bite. With a little gain she pushes the amp and has a killer overdriven tone.

And a recap of some specs:
24" scale
modern 3/8" string spacing
chambered swamp ash with a feathered black walnut top.
black walnut neck with birdseye maple fretboard and head cap.
4 way rotary switching
matching knobs and pickup rings
string through set bridge with a phosphor bronze saddle
Grover Rotomatics

This one is kind of hard to get captured in pics, but here are a few that didn't come out too bad.

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http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/quarterbend/JYD-001/JYD-001-16.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/quarterbend/JYD-001/JYD-001-10.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/quarterbend/JYD-001/JYD-001-15.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/quarterbend/JYD-001/JYD-001-18.jpg

Beautiful!! - Very Danelectro looking....
What is the tuning?

Thanks Larry ... its setup in a C6 variant with a D on top, low to high A-C-E-G-A-C-E-D