Aria Pro II bass pickup rewind

OilCityPickups · December 2019

Here we have a pair of sad, dirty old Aria Pro 2 bass pickups that came into our workshop a little while ago. All four coils down. Their construction is a bit interesting, so i thought I'd post their restoration.

Inside we have an almost P Bass setup, but with full length bobbins ... all mounted on a brass base-plate. There was virtually no tape covering or strain relief on the coil wires, so everything had torn loose from the coils, thus killing the pickups, A cautionary point, if you have these pickups fitted to your bass ... BE CAREFUL not to disturb them, they are quite crudely made and will break easily.

Off came the wire ... must return the wife's nail scissors at some point ...

Rewound coils (to about 11k the pair) showing the blob of 'hot melt' we used to stop the coils moving about in future.

The completed pair with their covers cleaned and polished.

90% of the pickups we rewind ... and we rewind a lot ... get damaged or damaged further by being disturbed or messed about with by owners who try to fix things themselves. Perhaps 'contains no user serviceable parts' should be marked on all new pickups. Luckily this owner had not tried to 'fix' them ... but we get all sorts of horror stories on our bench. If it's a rare or valuable pickup ... and these Aria bass pickups are quite rare ... don't have a go yourself ... hand over to an expert.

FelineGuitars · December 2019

I like the interlocking tabs on the bobbins

You were quite lucky with these - often they were fully epoxy filled and you had no way of getting into the coils

I believe that the contraction of the epoxy over time actually caused a lot of them to break down as the coils got crushed

I think those ones had no visible poles though...a bit like these

Image: http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/projectguitarcache/monthly_2016_07/IMG_4717.JPG.1468f6a32447da613e54d234727ded96.JPG

OilCityPickups · December 2019

Lol we wouldn't have even considered trying to repair the epoxy potted ones ... epoxy potting is pretty much the kiss of death for any pickup ... when they go wrong ... the bin about the only recourse.

Funkfingers · December 2019

FelineGuitars said:

fully epoxy filled ... no way of getting into the coils

Some of the Seymour Duncan active bass guitar pickups look fully resin potted but are not. On the early Eighties ones, the resin eventually breaks away from the black plastic cover. With careful use of a craft knife or small flat bladed screwdriver, it is possible to get inside.

https://i.imgur.com/VfUKG7Q.jpg?1

OilCityPickups · December 2019

Fully epoxy potted pickups include many Blll Laurence creations, and of course Gibson 'tar backs' ... all very difficult if not impossible to fix.

Roland · December 2019

OilCityPickups said:

... must return the wife's nail scissors at some point ...

If you bought her a pair for Christmas then she might let you keep the old, scratched ones?

ICBM · December 2019

I found this a while back when someone was looking for options for an Aria pickup - in fact one of you might have given me the link, in which case I apologise!

https://www.rautiaguitars.net/aria-pro-ii.html

As the owner of an SB-R60 with the no-poles style pickup, I'm almost tempted to buy a spare one even though the original appears to be working fine.

Funkfingers · December 2019

ICBM said:

SB-R60 ... no-poles style pickup

One has to wonder whether something more interesting could be constructed to fit under the stock Aria covers? Perhaps, that would be Overkill?

OilCityPickups · December 2019

Funkfingers said:

ICBM said:

SB-R60 ... no-poles style pickup

One has to wonder whether something more interesting could be constructed to fit under the stock Aria covers? Perhaps, that would be Overkill?

There's tons of space under the covers for all sorts ... my temptation would be for double split coils bass and treble ...

polotska · December 2019

ICBM said:

I found this a while back when someone was looking for options for an Aria pickup - in fact one of you might have given me the link, in which case I apologise!

https://www.rautiaguitars.net/aria-pro-ii.html

As the owner of an SB-R60 with the no-poles style pickup, I'm almost tempted to buy a spare one even though the original appears to be working fine.

I think that was me! Long ago I’d thought about picking up an SB-R60 with a broken pickup and was looking into the options—but I didn’t end up buying the pickup (or the bass).

impmann · December 2019

OilCityPickups said:

Fully epoxy potted pickups include many Blll Laurence creations, and of course Gibson 'tar backs' ... all very difficult if not impossible to fix.

I have a fabulous old Kent Armstrong pickup from the late 70s that's fully epoxy filled - sadly one of the contacts has been snapped off, rendering it useless. I can't bring myself to bin it, but even Kent has said its not repairable. :-(

OilCityPickups · December 2019

impmann said:

OilCityPickups said:

Fully epoxy potted pickups include many Blll Laurence creations, and of course Gibson 'tar backs' ... all very difficult if not impossible to fix.

I have a fabulous old Kent Armstrong pickup from the late 70s that's fully epoxy filled - sadly one of the contacts has been snapped off, rendering it useless. I can't bring myself to bin it, but even Kent has said its not repairable. :-(

I had those on my old Manson guitar ... Kent Armstrong 'Rainbow' humbuckers I believe they were called. (image from Reverb.com)

Image: https://images.reverb.com/image/upload/s--wT1SA7ln--/a_exif,c_limit,e_unsharp_mask:80,f_auto,fl_progressive,g_south,h_1600,q_80,w_1600/v1473356002/cw03xrrr87p3fxojvx5q.jpg

impmann · December 2019

OilCityPickups said:

impmann said:

OilCityPickups said:

Fully epoxy potted pickups include many Blll Laurence creations, and of course Gibson 'tar backs' ... all very difficult if not impossible to fix.

I have a fabulous old Kent Armstrong pickup from the late 70s that's fully epoxy filled - sadly one of the contacts has been snapped off, rendering it useless. I can't bring myself to bin it, but even Kent has said its not repairable. :-(

I had those on my old Manson guitar ... Kent Armstrong 'Rainbow' humbuckers I believe they were called.

Yup, thats them. I can't bring myself to bin it...

OilCityPickups · December 2019

impmann said:

OilCityPickups said:

impmann said:

OilCityPickups said:

Fully epoxy potted pickups include many Blll Laurence creations, and of course Gibson 'tar backs' ... all very difficult if not impossible to fix.

I have a fabulous old Kent Armstrong pickup from the late 70s that's fully epoxy filled - sadly one of the contacts has been snapped off, rendering it useless. I can't bring myself to bin it, but even Kent has said its not repairable. :-(

I had those on my old Manson guitar ... Kent Armstrong 'Rainbow' humbuckers I believe they were called.

Yup, thats them. I can't bring myself to bin it...

Would you consider letting me have a crack at sorting it? No charge ... I just hate seeing one of those 'lost' ...

impmann · December 2019

OilCityPickups said:

impmann said:

OilCityPickups said:

impmann said:

OilCityPickups said:

Fully epoxy potted pickups include many Blll Laurence creations, and of course Gibson 'tar backs' ... all very difficult if not impossible to fix.

I have a fabulous old Kent Armstrong pickup from the late 70s that's fully epoxy filled - sadly one of the contacts has been snapped off, rendering it useless. I can't bring myself to bin it, but even Kent has said its not repairable. :-(

I had those on my old Manson guitar ... Kent Armstrong 'Rainbow' humbuckers I believe they were called.

Yup, thats them. I can't bring myself to bin it...

Would you consider letting me have a crack at sorting it? No charge ... I just hate seeing one of those 'lost' ...

Gladly, mate! I'd be very happy to send it over. These are very interesting pickups.

Thanks for the offer, greatly appreciated. I'll ping you a PM.

HarrySeven · November 2022

Thread resurrection!

I was in my local music shop today and they’d just had an ‘80’s Aria Pro II RSB Performer in with a dead neck pickup (MB-III) and were scratching their heads re. repair/replacement.

ICBM · November 2022

Rautia Guitars website appears to be dead now unfortunately. A few months ago he posted on it saying that he had health issues and was suspending new orders.

HarrySeven · November 2022

ICBM said:

Rautia Guitars website appears to be dead now unfortunately. A few months ago he posted on it saying that he had health issues and was suspending new orders.

impmann · November 2022

That reminds me... any news on that Kent Armstrong, Ash... its been a couple of years. @OilCityPickups ;

OilCityPickups · November 2022

impmann said:

That reminds me... any news on that Kent Armstrong, Ash... its been a couple of years. @OilCityPickups ;

The news isn't really super good @impmann: the area where the tag broke off is full of green corrosion - If I were successfully get into the wires they may well be corroded themselves. All I can think is some moisture or a adverse reaction during the epoxy potting originally has caused this. I may well have to concede defeat and get it back to you.

JayGee · November 2022

OilCityPickups said:

impmann said:

That reminds me... any news on that Kent Armstrong, Ash... its been a couple of years. @OilCityPickups ;

The news isn't really super good @impmann: the area where the tag broke off is full of green corrosion - If I were successfully get into the wires they may well be corroded themselves. All I can think is some moisture or an adverse reaction during the epoxy potting originally has caused this. I may well have to concede defeat and get it back to you.

Would there be any value in taking it apart anyway to work out the construction details, magnet types, wire types (and maybe rough approximations to winding count) etc assuming that information isn’t available anyway?

Not that I’m encouraging you in any way to destroy somebody else’s pickup or for the owner to sacrifice it. I’m just curious as to whether there’d be anything to learn from an autopsy… :-)

Bork · January 2023

impmann said:

That reminds me... any news on that Kent Armstrong, Ash... its been a couple of years. @OilCityPickups ;

Maybe give Aaron Armstrong a call. He will almost certainly be able to replace it.

OilCityPickups · January 2023

Bork said:

impmann said:

That reminds me... any news on that Kent Armstrong, Ash... its been a couple of years. @OilCityPickups ;

Maybe give Aaron Armstrong a call. He will almost certainly be able to replace it.

Well I have some more technical info on it that may mean it's impossible to repair: I strongly believe the pickups are in fact bonded wire air coils this means my original idea of boring down to find the 'pigtails' won't work - I can send it back - but short of winding two air coils and casting a replica with resin I think I'm scuppered.

impmann · January 2023

OilCityPickups said:

Bork said:

impmann said:

That reminds me... any news on that Kent Armstrong, Ash... its been a couple of years. @OilCityPickups ;

Maybe give Aaron Armstrong a call. He will almost certainly be able to replace it.

Well I have some more technical info on it that may mean it's impossible to repair: I strongly believe the pickups are in fact bonded wire air coils this means my original idea of boring down to find the 'pigtails' won't work - I can send it back - but short of winding two air coils and casting a replica with resin I think I'm scuppered.

Thanks for trying Ash... seems like a real shame, as they are such cool *looking* pickups as well as sounding (when they work!). It works as a single coil (IIRC) so I may find a use for it.

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Aria Pro II bass pickup rewind

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