josephryanevans - Posted - 11/14/2024:  14:21:28

Hey folks,
First post here. Thanks for all your collective and archival knowledge.

I’d like to put a magnetic pickup on/in the cover plate of my dobro. I know it will sound electric and not capture the cone. That’s fine. I’m after a lap steel sound here.

I already have a Humbucker installed in the “neck position” but I want the sound of a “bridge” pickup.

More specifically, I’d like a Supro style string through pickup (Lollar or Mojo). Just can’t get enough of that sound and would prefer to add it to this instrument rather than buying a lap steel.

My questions are about how to do so without adversely affecting the acoustic tone of the spider bridge and cone. I will have to cut a hole in the cover plate and possibly even rest/anchor the pickup to the spider. Would either of these things mess up the acoustic sound?

I saw a post from a decade ago wherein a member did something like this. I think he attached the pickup solely to the cover plate which would be my goal, but the string through PUs are quite deep and big.

Any help would be appreciated.

josephryanevans - Posted - 11/14/2024:  14:59:38

Here’s a link to the old post I saw:
resohangout.com/archive/36442

MarkinSonoma - Posted - 11/19/2024:  12:46:11

I read your post a couple times along with the link to the one in the archives - but that was for a biscuit bridge reso rather than spider bridge. 

Mounting a Supro style string through on the coverplate, or routing out a rectangle to attach it to the spider strikes me a being a tall task. Sort of a square peg in a round hole scenario. 

If you figure out how to do it and it contacts the spider my guess is that it will mess with the acoustic sound. Whether it's a good or bad thing - no idea. 

There is a reason why players will  upgrade  for example from a crappy imported spider on a low priced reso to something like a genuine #14 from Beard - it definitely has an effect on the sound of the guitar. Having a fairly beefy pickup contacting the rather delicate aluminum spider might be a bridge too far - but I would never dissuade someone from tinkering. 

The reason I don't have a clear recommendation be it positive or negative is that I have never come across anyone attempting a modification like this in the past. 

Edited by - MarkinSonoma on 11/19/2024 12:48:30

gzerninplatz - Posted - 11/24/2024:  13:27:03

My custom Ben Bonham lap/reso has a Lollar string-through simply screwed to the cover plate, with appropriate spacers ...the tone matches my classic Oahu Diana lap steel, fat, liquid tone which blooms with a bit of overdrive...

. I use a Fishman PowerChip to blend the Fishman Nashville bridge pickup with it...gives me both stereo and mono output options...

Note that the sound will be different for the player....you hear the cone even though the pickup does not.

Edited by - gzerninplatz on 11/24/2024 13:28:46

CooderNator

 

josephryanevans - Posted - 11/29/2024:  15:08:27

Thank you both for your responses. I truly arriviste the thought. After reading and thinking for a bit, I’ll surely avoid messing with or contacting the spider.

Those Ben Bonhams are what gave me the idea for this. I actually reached out to him to see if he’d sell me a cover plate made specifically for the modification like on yours. He was very kind and understandably not interested in that. He’s quite the artist.

So, I’m thinking that I will either install a short P-90(Fralin Pickups makes one that’s .38 inches!) directly to the cover plate without cutting it or I’ll go with the Mojo version of the string through. The mojo would require cutting a cover plate but not directly under the strings. I would have to carve out above and below where the cover plate rises up from under the strings. This option is of course more expensive and labor intensive. But the string through sound is what I’m after.

Next question: could I put a hole in the cone to run the pickup lead without too much compromise of acoustic sound? If not, I have a few other solutions in mind.

gzerninplatz - Posted - 11/29/2024:  15:18:19

the lollar string through did not require cutting into the cover plate...strings are high, and the pickup just sits on a couple of washers above the cover plate.
and if you get a guitar pickup, it will sound like a guitar. I went through a bunch of those - P-90, humbucker, etc. The string-through gives you a really fat, round sound that a guitar pickup just can't do, unless you just want to sound like a regular slide guitar, not a lap steel - you need a pickup with the magnetic field surrounding the string, not just off to one side. Even better would be a horseshoe, like the Rickenbacker Panda and the new Beard custom made for Megan Lovell of Larkin Poe.

gzerninplatz - Posted - 11/29/2024:  15:26:05

I don't actually remember exactly how he routed the wire, but I believe it did go through the edge of the cone...clipped to the inside of the cover plate to that point. I could be wrong though ...it was right at the edge somewhere....

gzerninplatz - Posted - 11/29/2024:  15:27:32

pickup...he made a nice thin little wood piece as a hendrest for the top of the pickup...

Edited by - gzerninplatz on 11/29/2024 15:28:43

Lollar

 

gzerninplatz - Posted - 11/29/2024:  15:47:10

Actually, not through cone...you can see screws on cover plate holding wire clip, wire goes to edge of cover plate an then through the wood ring around the spider.

 

josephryanevans - Posted - 11/29/2024:  21:18:25

That’s all incredibly helpful. And yeah, I think I’ve got to have that string through sound.

The schematic on Lollar’s site for the string through shows screws that protrude down quite a ways. By my measurements, those would interfere with the spider. Maybe I’m misreading it though. The mojo wouldn’t do that.

From what I’ve read the mojo might be slightly more hi-fi/modern sounding compared to a more traditional sound from the Lollar. But I think it will still sound right. Plus it’s $80-100 cheaper depending on the exchange rate.