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1950 Lion - Tele®/Esquire® bridge pickup (formerly named the 50/51 Lion). 7500 turns of 43AWG over A3 rod magnets - that ubiquitous original classic Fender® vintage 1950 "stock" Leo Fender tone and output, uber twangy, exclusively used in his first "Electric Spanish Guitar", and his one and two pickup 1950 Esquire® - all these specific Fender® guitars used the same bridge pickup build, there were no other bridge pickup designs or types used. Twangy, clean, clear, and Trebly. Black or ivory/parchment string wrapped, supplied with mounting screws and tubing.
Broadcaster Lion - Tele®/Esquire® bridge pickup. 8500 turns of 43AWG over A3 rod magnets - nestled in between the 1950 Lion and Nocaster Holy Grail, the Broadcaster Lion offers a bit more midrange than the 1950 and a bit more twang than the Nocaster Holy Grail. Black or ivory/parchment string wrapped, supplied with mounting screws and tubing.
Nocaster Holy Grail Lion - Tele®/Esquire® bridge pickup. 9700 turns of 43AWG over A3 rod magnets. That original classic earliest vintage 1950/51 Fender® Esquire®, Broadcaster, Nocaster tone is back and fattened up with a higher coil wire turn count to squelch the shrill treble and thicken the midrange. This is the "mistake" pickup, the one where a pickup winder fell asleep at the wheel and added 2000 more coil wire turns. It has that fat vintage tone that we sought back in the day, but could never find ... but we did! It's the Holy Grail of the earliest Fender® bridge pickups. Twangy, thick, clean, clear, with no ice-pick-in-the-ear. Black or ivory/parchment string wrapped, supplied with mounting screws and tubing.
Bakersfield Lion - Tele®/Esquire® bridge pickup. 8500 turns of 42AWG over A5 rod magnets, plenty o' twang, some mid-range and lotsa treble on tap, yer typical vintage mid-50's Tele® pup but without the shrill treble. LOTS of treble tone, some midrange pops out, some bass is recognized, serious twang on tap. This is pretty much a classic Tele® bridge pup where the tone pot can be used to rein in the treble on occasion. Black or ivory/parchment string wrapped, supplied with mounting screws and tubing.
Oildale Lion - Tele®/Esquire® bridge pickup. 9100 turns of 42AWG over A3 rod magnets, plenty o' twang, a bit more mid-range than the Bakersfield, and lotsa treble on tap, yer typical vintage mid-50's Tele® pup but without the shrill treble. A classic 50's Tele® bridge pup where the tone pot can be used to rein in the treble on occasion. Black or ivory/parchment string wrapped, supplied with mounting screws and tubing.
51/52 Lion - Tele®/Esquire® bridge pickup. 9500 turns pf 42AWG over A3 rod magnets, the "transitional" pickup. During 1951 and 1952 Leo Fender began phasing out the A3/43AWG Tele®/Esquire® bridge pickup by using existing A3 rod magnets along with 42AWG coil wire. Sometime after 1952/53 that transition ended with the standarized use of A5 rod magnets and 42AWG coil wire. The 51/52 Lion has a bit more midrange than the Nocaster Lion, and plenty of twang. Black or ivory/parchment string wrapped, supplied with mounting screws and tubing.
Nashville Lion - Tele®/Esquire® bridge pickup. 10000 42AWG over A5 rod magnets, lots of country twang with a hefty dose of mid-range, think "Broadcaster plus", this is the original Cavalier Lion that's quite at home for country, rock, pop and bluez - a classic higher turn count 50's Tele® bridge pickup. Smooth treble that's hardly shrill, good midrange and some bass end, good fat twang, arguably the most sought after Tele® bridge pup for country and lots of other genres. Black or ivory/parchment wrapped, supplied with mounting screws and tubing.
Fat Lion - Tele®/Esquire® bridge pickup. 11300 42AWG over A5 rod magnets for a very bold tone with lots of mid-range, for serious rock and blues. Butter smooth treble that's never shrill, major midrange and good bass end, not best nor meant for twang tone. This is typically used for rock and bluez and pop, and Esquires® that need an increased range of tone. Black or ivory/parchment string wrapped, supplied with mounting screws and tubing.
Huge Lion - Tele®/Esquire® bridge pickup. 13500 42AWG over A5 rod magnets with tons of mid-range and output for tone that's SO close to a P-90. Everything that applies to a Fat Lion applies to the Huge Lion, only taken up a significant Hefty amount. Black or ivory/parchment string wrapped, supplied with mounting screws and tubing.
Humongous Lion - Tele®/Esquire® bridge pickup. 16000 42AWG over A5 rod magnets and mega tons of mid-range. Everything that applies to a Huge Lion applies to the Humongous Lion, only more, LOTS MORE. Black or ivory/parchment string wrapped, supplied with mounting screws and tubing.
All Lion pickups come with a separate base plate ground wire that allows the coil wires to be reversed for use in any standard or custom circuit, ready to be used with any 3-way, 4-way, 5-way, or mega switches.
Twin Lion - Tele®/Esquire® bridge pickup. A single tapped Lion that delivers two voices. Using a push/pull tone pot (with dpdt switch), or a separate spdt or dpdt switch, in your Tele® or Esquire® allows the Twin Lion voice selection, or a 4-way or even 5-way switch can utilized for different pickup voice selections. When ordering a Twin Lion, please use the "Custom Options?" box to specify how you want the pickup to be voiced/tapped - an example of this would be "Bakersfield and Fat Lion" ... but any two of these winds can be ordered - Bakersfield, Nashville, Fat Lion, Huge Lion. Black, or ivory/parchment string wrapped, iron baseplate and supplied with mounting screws and tubing.
The Hydra Lion - Tele®/Esquire® bridge pickup. A double tapped Lion that delivers any three of these Cavalier Lion voices - Bakersfield, Nashville, Fat Lion, or Huge Lion - just specify the three voices you'd like by entering their names in the order "Custom Options?" box. Black, or ivory/parchment string wrapped, iron baseplate and supplied with mounting screws and tubing.
The Ryu Hydra Lion - Tele®/Esquire® bridge pickup. This special pickup uses the same A3 rod magnets and 43AWG coil wire as the Cavalier Nocaster pickup. It's uniquely double tapped with fixed turn count positions that deliver the wide range of typical vintage 1950/1951 Tele®/Esquire® pickup voices that were randomly offered in those guitars. The first tap is that ubiquitous low wind, low output, clear high treble 1950 tone at about 5.5k dcr, the second tap increases the midrange and output at about 7.5k dcr, and the full coil has that "holy grail" thick Nocaster fat treble tone and output at about 10k dcr. Black, or ivory/parchment string wrapped, iron baseplate and supplied with mounting screws and tubing.
Please be advised that each of the cavalier Lion family of bridge pickup models (Bakersfield, Nashville, Fat, Huge, and Humongous) will vary in their voice (tone and output) in a scaled manner because their coil wire turn counts correspondingly increase, or decrease, in an approximate 15% to 20% range. How these pickup voicing differences are perceived depends on our individual human hearing, along with all the technical factors of the guitar, any modulation employed, the entire amplification system, and playing volumes ... and therefore, you may not hear much of a difference between adjacent Lion models. As an example, choosing a wider range of treble/mid-range tone and output by selecting the Nashville/Huge Lion will yield instant audible differences between the tapped coil and the full coil.
Please also be aware that tapped Cavalier Lion pickup selections must be from the same "build family". This means that since the Nocaster Lion and 51/52 Lion have very different components (43AWG coil wire and/or A3 rod magnets) from both each other and from all the other Lions (Bakersfield, Nashville, Fat, Huge, Humongous - all of these use 42AWG coil wire and A5 rod magnets), they can't exist together in the same Twin Lion or Hydra Lion pickup build.
The Lion King - The Lion King offers unfettered vintage tone for those wishing the aesthetic look of the Tele® covered neck pickup, with more treble on tap than a typical Tele neck pickup. The thin nickel-silver mirror chrome cover is independently grounded from the coil leads, allowing phase reversal and easy hook up with ANY type of pickup select switch: 3-way, 4-way, 5-way, mega, etc. A5 rod magnets under 8500 turns of 43AWG coil wire. Supplied with body or pickguard mounting screws and height tubing.
The Fat Lion King - The Fat Lion King offers more output and more midrange that its Lion King brother, for those wishing a bolder Tele® neck pickup tone and output. The thin nickel-silver mirror chrome cover is independently grounded from the coil leads, allowing phase reversal and easy hook up with ANY type of pickup select switch: 3-way, 4-way, 5-way, mega, etc. A5 rod magnets under 10500 turns of 43AWG coil wire. Supplied with body or pickguard mounting screws and height tubing.
The Wolf - The Wolf is a covered Tele® neck pickup that's wound with 9000 turns of 42AWG coil wire (instead of the normal 43AWG Tele® neck coil wire) over A5 rod magnets and offers a more Strat® type of treble tone. The thin nickel-silver mirror chrome cover is independently grounded from the coil leads, allowing phase reversal and easy hook up with ANY type of pickup select switch: 3-way, 4-way, 5-way, mega, etc. Supplied with body or pickguard mounting screws and height tubing.
All Lion King and Wolf pickups come with a separate cover ground wire that allows the coil wires to be reversed for use in any standard or custom circuit, ready to be used with any 3-way, 4-way, 5-way, or mega switches. Chromed nickel-silver covers are held in place by wax potting.
The Lioness - The original Tele® neck pickup was metal covered to attenuate the high end, reduce treble, and offer a more mid-range or baritone sound for rhythm playing and to offer an alternative to lugging around an upright string double bass. Within short order, Fender® invented the Precision Bass, yet still built the Tele® neck pickup with a tone blanketing thick metal cover. The Lioness frees up that great, natural single coil tone that's long been hidden under cold metal. A5 rod magnets under 8500 turns of 43AWG coil wire. The coil wire is string wrapped in either black or ivory/parchment, supplied with body or pickguard mounting screws and tubing.
The Fat Lioness - The Fat Lioness offers more output and more midrange that its Lioness sister, for those wishing a bolder Tele® neck pickup tone and output. A5 rod magnets under 10500 turns of 43AWG coil wire. The coil wire is string wrapped in either black or ivory/parchment, supplied with body or pickguard mounting screws and tubing.
The She Wolf - The She Wolf is an uncovered, Tele® neck pickup that's wound with 9000 turns of 42AWG coil wire (instead of the normal 43AWG Tele® neck coil wire) over A5 rod magnets and offers yet a bit more Strat® type of treble tone because there is no ground shield cover. The coil wire is string wrapped in either black or ivory/parchment, supplied with body or pickguard mounting screws and tubing.
Cavalier Tiger Strat® pickup, calibrated by position. Based on 1950's to early 1960's Fender® Strat® designs, the Tiger Strat® pickup set offers classic vintage Strat® calibrated tone and volume for all three Strat® positions. Supplied with white or black covers, pickguard mounting screws and tubing. A favorite for the neck position in a Tele®!
Tiger Strat® Trio Pickups Sets ...
50's Tiger and 60's SRV Tiger use 42AWG coil wire over AlNiCo 5 magnets.
Bengal Tiger Strat® bridge pickup - want more Strat® bridge output and increased midrange? This Strat® bridge pickup uses taller AlNiCo V rod magnets which allows lots more coil wire turn count, and that turns the bridge position into a smokin' afterburner of fat tone and output! This pickup is an option only for the SRV Tiger Set, or available as a single purchase. All Cavalier Strat pickups utilize 42AWG coil wire over AlNiCo 5 magnets.
50's Tiger coil wire turn counts = 7800/neck, 8000/middle, 8600/bridge.
60's SRV Tiger coil wire turn counts = 8200/neck, 8700/middle, 9300/bridge.
Bengal Tiger coil wire turn count = 12500/bridge.
60's SRV Tiger coil wire turn counts = 8200/neck, 8700/middle, 9300/bridge.
Bengal Tiger coil wire turn count = 12500/bridge.
Cavalier '51 P-Bass® - The single coil electric bass pickup that started it all for replacing the double string bass and giving rock and country the kick in the pants it sorely needed. 12000 turns of 42AWG over A5 rod magnets for added volume and sweeping range of tone. Black (default) or ivory string (optional) wrapped, supplied with either body mount screws or pickguard 6-32 machine screws, both come with height tubing.
NOTE: The current stock Squier® Bronco® Bass uses a STRAT GUITAR pickup (yeesh!) and real '51 P-Bass® pickup top flatware will not fit without some sanding of the pickguard's pickup rout to open it up just a little.
Cavalier Bear AR90 (P90®) Pickups
A vintage P90® style soapbar pickup, calibrated by position (neck, middle, bridge). This is an early rendition of the classic P90® that Gibson used in their 1946 ES125 guitars and uses rod magnets and 42AWG coil wire, with 10000 turns for the neck position, 11000 for the middle and 12200 for the bridge. A blend of "Gibson meets Fender". A favorite for the neck position in a Tele® and just perfect for a lap steel! A choice of all A5 rod magnets for the most output and aggressiveness, or a blend of A5 rod magnets for the bass strings (E/A/D) and A3 rod magnets for the treble strings (G/B/E) that allows a sweeter high end, or all A3 rod magnets for the most string to string clarity. Supplied with covers (a choice of black or cream) and body mounting screws with height tubing.
NOTE: The current stock Squier® Bronco® Bass uses a STRAT GUITAR pickup (yeesh!) and real '51 P-Bass® pickup top flatware will not fit without some sanding of the pickguard's pickup rout to open it up just a little.
Cavalier '57 P-Bass® - The next generation P-Bass® pickup that's dual coil and humbucking. 12000 turns of 42AWG over A5 rod magnets for each coil/bobbin. Volume and tone to please the most discriminating P-Bass® artist. Supplied with black plastic covers, body mount screws and neoprene cushion height pads.
A vintage P90® style soapbar pickup, calibrated by position (neck, middle, bridge). This is an early rendition of the classic P90® that Gibson used in their 1946 ES125 guitars and uses rod magnets and 42AWG coil wire, with 10000 turns for the neck position, 11000 for the middle and 12200 for the bridge. A blend of "Gibson meets Fender". A favorite for the neck position in a Tele® and just perfect for a lap steel! A choice of all A5 rod magnets for the most output and aggressiveness, or a blend of A5 rod magnets for the bass strings (E/A/D) and A3 rod magnets for the treble strings (G/B/E) that allows a sweeter high end, or all A3 rod magnets for the most string to string clarity. Supplied with covers (a choice of black or cream) and body mounting screws with height tubing.
AR90 bobbins are constructed with vulcanized fiberboard, as most vintage pickups are built. In the image below, the top bobbin is a plastic Gibson® P90®, below it is a fiberboard P90® bobbin, and at the bottom is an AR90 fiberboard bobbin. The much taller AR90 bobbin is actually about the same depth as a completed P90® with its bar magnets and baseplate.
The Cavalier Phoenix Firebird® is a vintage build mid-1960s Gibson® Firebird® that uses 42AWG coil wire, AlNiCo 5 bar magnets inset into individual mini bobbins, chromed nickel-silver cover, fully wax potted, each coil is wired in series and fitted with leads that have an insulated shield over a pair of conductors .
True vintage Gibson Firebirds are NOT mini-humbuckers! Firebirds are unique in their internal design/build than any size typical humbuckers, and sound more like a good single coil.
Twin conductors allows swapping the leads to care for phasing issues with other pickups. Supplied with machine mounting screws and height tubing.
True vintage Gibson Firebirds are NOT mini-humbuckers! Firebirds are unique in their internal design/build than any size typical humbuckers, and sound more like a good single coil.
Twin conductors allows swapping the leads to care for phasing issues with other pickups. Supplied with machine mounting screws and height tubing.
The Phoenix Firebird® can be calibrate wound for the neck postion in a Tele®, or two or three Phoenix Firebirds® can be wound to suit a particular guitar and sonic requirements. It can also be a direct replacement for any existing Gibson build Firebird® pickup, and can be calibrated for pickup position location. The Phoenix Firebird® cover dimensions are 2.70" long, 1.125" wide, .625" high. Mounting screws and height rubbers are supplied.
Cavalier Pickups Build - Cavalier Tele®, Esquire®, Stealth®, and Firebird® pickups are all built to respective vintage footprint specifications and all will properly fit into Fender® guitars and basses, or any guitars/basses built to Fender® pickup footprint specifications. I hand build all Cavalier bobbins with vulcanized fiber board flatware, AlNiCo V or III rod magnets, hand guided 42AWG or 43AWG coil wire using a custom coil winding machine of my own build, with Red Lion infrared trigger and digital counter.
Using a simple magnetic compass to check single coil pickup polarity ...
In the image below, the North needle of the compass points to the top of the Cavalier Lioness Tele neck pickup, showing that pickup as SOUTH top poled ...
In the image below, the South needle of the compass points to the top of the Cavalier Lion Tele bridge pickup, showing that pickup as NORTH top poled ...
(Note - "Fender", "Tele", "Esquire", "P-Bass", are all copyrights of FMIC, "Firebird" and "P-90" are copyrights of Gibson, Inc.)
Cavalier Pickups
Rob DiStefano
58 Linden Avenue
Park Ridge, NJ 07656
201-573-0080
rob@cavalierpickups.com
The real Cavalier pups!
The Lion bridge pickup has a steel base plate and its wire coil is wound with cotton string. The Lioness and Fat Lioness Tele® neck pickup wire coil is covered with black or ivory/parchment string. All Cavalier non-tapped pickups have cloth covered lead wire. Light wax potting (which is the default for all Cavalier Pickups) will suppress feedback and microphonics well enough for the vast majority of guitarists and will allow pickups to render "lively" and "resonant" sounds with increased harmonics. Wiring - black cloth covered leads are the coil ground and white or yellow cloth covered leads are the coil hot side.
AlNiCo rod magnets are never staggered. All coils are light wax potted by default for increased lively harmomics. Leads are black, yellow or ivory cloth covered "push up" stranded wire. 6-32 mounting machine screws, or body wood screws, and height rubber tubing included.
Unlike the early Strats of the 50's and 60's, most Strats these days are built with the middle pickup as RWRP (Reverse Wind, Reverse Polarity) which means that the 2 and 4 Strat pickup switch positions will be noiseless. For a three pickup Cavalier Strat set, order the bridge and neck pickups with the default setting of "ClockWise South" and order the middle pickup as "CounterClockwise North" (that's the RWRP setting).
Unless customer specified, all Lion bridge pickups are wound counter-clockwise and are top North poled (a magnetic compass South needle will point to the pickup's top), the Lion King, Fat Lion King, Lioness, Fat Lioness, Wolf, She-Wolf Tele® neck pickups are wound clockwise and are top South poled (reverse polarity, or RWRP, from bridge pickups to allow noiseless parallel humbucking mode when both pickups are selected).
In the image below, the North needle of the compass points to the top of the Cavalier Lioness Tele neck pickup, showing that pickup as SOUTH top poled ...
In the image below, the South needle of the compass points to the top of the Cavalier Lion Tele bridge pickup, showing that pickup as NORTH top poled ...
| <<< How to Change a Rod Magnet Pickup's Top Polarity >>> |
As with most vintage style single coil pickups, the pickup height distance between the top of the pickup and the guitar strings is critical to tone - closer to the string for more volume and punch, further away for less volume and more acoustic sweetness.
Special Lion Info - There is no ground lead base plate strap with all Lion bridge pickups. Included with all Lions is a wired ground washer that slips over any one of the Lion's mounting screws and is soldered to the back of any pot. After putting a Lion mounting screw in the Tele/Esquire® bridge, slip on the wired washer over the screw, then slip on the rubber height adjustment. Without pickup ground strapping, the leads for all Lions can be swapped within the control cavity to fix any possible phasing issue. ....
Lion Tele/Esquire® bridge pickups may have unusually high coil wire turn counts, therefore their tall bobbins are packed full. Take care installing a Lion into its bridge mount, insuring the string wrap and wire beneath it aren't crushed.
Cavalier Pickups
Rob DiStefano
58 Linden Avenue
Park Ridge, NJ 07656
201-573-0080
rob@cavalierpickups.com
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