I am excited to tell everyone that Station Guitars is now working with Porter Pickups to give you another option when searching for your tone. I wanted to give everyone an idea of the thoughts and motivation behind Porter pickups and why they are such a great fit with Station Guitars. With that in mind, Brian was kind enough to take a break from the soldering fumes and wax potting to answer some questions about his philosophy and techniques as they relate to pickups and tone in general.
What inspired you to build pickups? What did you feel was lacking in the marketplace?
I initially started out making my own guitars, and wanted to control all aspects of the build. There were a lot of pickups to choose from, but I wanted to be able to achieve the look and the sound to match what I was building guitar wise. I thought it would be a cost saving thing to make my own pickups, but I quickly figured out that getting the right wind and spending all the money on copper wire and parts was not very cost saving!
At Station Guitars, our slogan is “fuel for tone”. We help players find their signature tone. How does Porter Pickups fit into that idea?
I love the slogan! I’ve always been drawn to find certain guitar tones ever since I heard Stevie Ray Vaughan. I wanted to know how he made his guitar sound like that. I think we fit in with the slogan because each of our pickup models can be customized to match what the customer is after tonally. We can match pickups to styles, eras, wood types and more. Certain pickups, wire types, magnets etc, all work together to make a custom pickup, that is built just for the player they are going to. Since the pickups are the thing that translates the string vibration, custom wound pickups can make a huge difference in what comes out the rest of the gear line.
Tell me a little about the build philosophy at Porter Pickups.
I plan on always keeping things hand wound. I think there is some big tonal advantages to hand wound pickups. I make them that way because I can control the tension, winding pattern and I want to build them the way they used to be built. I do stock several go to winds in pickups models, but also enjoy doing custom winds after talking tone with customers.
Not asking you to share “top secret” info but what is more important to the end result sound of a Porter Pickup, the materials you use or the manufacturing methods?
It’s a combination of every part of the process. If I know what the customer is after tonally, the materials and the hand wound process can come together to make a truly custom pickup.
How many pickups do you produce per year?
It varies from month to month. Some months we will be building pickups late into the night, and others are slower. At the end of this year, we will probably average 15-25 sets a month, and in addition we get several rewind and repairs to do every month.
You offer Strat style sets in 50′s and 60′s. What is the primary difference between the two?
The huge difference is wire types. Both pickups have the wire that is spec to the era of the pickups. The 50’s wire has a heavier coating on it, so you get a little more space between the winds. The 60’s wire has a very thin coating on it, and is the same spec wire used in PAF and most vintage 60’s fender pickups. The same number of turns… Read the rest of this entry »
