Modified C.B. Gitty Teisco Del Rey pickup

I'm building a 2x4 lapsteel this week and I wanted to use a C.B. Gitty Teisco Del Rey pickup on it.

Shane Speal has given these pickups a good review and the way they are made gives a lot of different mounting possibilities with the "wings".

I folded the wings over and the pickup was going to fit nicely over the body of the 2x4 - I had trimmed it down just a bit, removing the rounded over edges.

As I sat and looked at this pickup I thought I'd try something.  The cover of the pickup is held on by just two small screws, so I removed them and took it all apart.

There really isn't much to it and there was only a little bit of glue on the inside.  A coil, bar magnet and the wires are all that is inside the metal case.

The gold foil look comes from a piece of gold foil pattern paper underneath the holes.

Everything came apart easily.  One note - if you do use one of these pickups and cut the main cable - the yellow lead is the Ground.  You can see in this picture and I did check it with my Ohmmeter. 

The coil is just over 1/4 inch thick, 1 inch wide and 2 7/8 long. 

Next I grabbed a scrap of pine that is just over 1/4 thick, marked and cut out a hole for the pickup coil.

I didn't worry too much about precise cuts on this, you really just need to get the coil in the cavity and squared up - but it won't be too critical I don't think - and this one is a test.  I will tighten up my work on the next one if I like this design.

For the top I used a piece of the 2x4 lapsteel body scrap I had trimmed off.  It is about 1/16th thick - maybe a hair over that.

Glued up the wooden casing.

After the glue setup I did a little fitting and sanding.

Haven't applied a finish yet.

Total depth when finished is just a hair over 3/8 inch.  Not exactly a flatpup, but I can make it work on this lapsteel and possibly other builds.  I will hold the pickup inside the case with a couple dabs of hot glue or Goop (Goop is an all purpose glue I use, it works very well for a lot of applications)

And here's what it looks like on the lapsteel body.  I'll have to sand it a bit more and use mounting screws along the edges, keep the string height low to the pickup, but I think it will work.  I may give it a contrasting color finish so it stands out a bit more.

This gives this pickup a different look without a lot of effort.

Views: 610

Comment

You need to be a member of Cigar Box Nation to add comments!

Join Cigar Box Nation

Comment by Rooster on November 24, 2015 at 4:03pm

Great how-to Dave...........opens up a world of possibilities ;-)

Comment by Ben "C. B. Gitty" Baker on November 24, 2015 at 10:30am

Awesome work Dave, thank you for sharing this!

Comment by the anonymous pick on November 24, 2015 at 10:22am

kewl  ;-)

The Essential Pages

New to Cigar Box Nation? How to Play Cigar Box GuitarsFree Plans & How to Build Cigar Box GuitarsCigar Box Guitar Building Basics

Site Sponsor

Recommended Links & Resources


Forum

crossover guitar.

Started by Timothy Hunter in Other stuff - off topic, fun stuff, whatever. Last reply by Timothy Hunter Apr 10. 14 Replies

Tune up songs

Started by Ghostbuttons in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Timothy Hunter Mar 9. 5 Replies

Duel output jacks

Started by Justin Stanchfield in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Taffy Evans Mar 8. 6 Replies

How to Get Your Own Music on Spotify

Started by Cigar Box Nation in Feature Articles. Last reply by Southern Ray Feb 21. 2 Replies

Latest Activity

BrianQ. posted a status
"R.I.P. Dickey Betts, Thanx for the memories!!!"
1 minute ago
BrianQ. replied to Rich Butters's discussion UK - Best Place to Buy Cigar Box's
"Ever heard of The Godfather of cigarbox guitars? He has a one stop shop store complete with all the…"
5 minutes ago
BrianQ. replied to J. D. Woods's discussion Are metal frets necessary?
"Here’s a video, if you’re not into lengthy reads? …"
20 minutes ago
T-Gripped liked Ghostbuttons's photo
20 minutes ago
T-Gripped commented on Crazed Fandango's photo
Thumbnail

Frethound 4 String

"Cool shot with those wildflowers in the background and your wonderful instrument leaning against…"
22 minutes ago
T-Gripped liked Randy S. Bretz's photo
24 minutes ago
T-Gripped commented on Randy S. Bretz's photo
Thumbnail

Off the Bench !

"Yowzers! Awesome!!"
24 minutes ago
BrianQ. liked Randy S. Bretz's photo
30 minutes ago
BrianQ. replied to J. D. Woods's discussion Are metal frets necessary?
"A 3 string slider is fretless, but the higher action will take more pressure to fret notes without…"
32 minutes ago
J. D. Woods posted a discussion

Are metal frets necessary?

Hey there fellow CBN plunkers, strummers and sliders,I'm getting ready to construct a 3-string…See More
48 minutes ago
Glenn Kaiser commented on Glenn Kaiser's video
Thumbnail

GK less Paul Diddley Bow

"Thx Doug, truly fun to create and use. Plugged into a stomp box, then amp, truly amazing little…"
3 hours ago
Glenn Kaiser commented on Glenn Kaiser's photo
Thumbnail

Less Paul by GK

"Thanks Doug, a joy to build. I'll play it tomorrow night in a show. -Glenn"
3 hours ago

Music

© 2024   Created by Ben "C. B. Gitty" Baker.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

\uastyle>\ud/** Scrollup **/\ud.scrollup {\ud background: url("https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/963882636?profile=original") no-repeat scroll 0 0 transparent;\ud bottom: 25px;\ud display: inline !important;\ud height: 40px;\ud opacity: 0.3 !important;\ud position: fixed;\ud right: 30px;\ud text-indent: -9999px;\ud width: 40px;\ud z-index: 999;\ud}\ud.scrollup:hover {\ud opacity:0.99!important;\ud}\ud \uascript type="text/javascript">\ud x$(document).ready(function(){\ud x$(window).scroll(function(){\ud if (x$(this).scrollTop() > 100) {\ud x$('.scrollup').fadeIn();\ud } else {\ud x$('.scrollup').fadeOut();\ud }\ud });\ud x$('.scrollup').click(function(){\ud x$("html, body").animate({ scrollTop: 0 }, 600);\ud return false;\ud });\ud });\ud \ua!-- End Scroll Up -->