Call Me Crazy: Cheap Winder Build

Robert Herndon said:
That's a Lotta work, Man. I tried something similar with an old, hand-crank pencil sharpener modified with a counter, but it took too long and I kept breaking the wire.

Good lesson though, because it proved that there isn't any black magic in pickups...just attention to detail and subtlties.
Click to expand...
I agree about the lack of magic. That wire is mighty small and tedious to work with. I'm getting a pretty good feel for hand feeding the winder.
 
FYI- if I haven't already said this:
I'm getting magnets, slugs and screws from Addiction FX. Wire from Remington Industries in Chicago. Get everything else from Mojotone if you can. They have the best prices on bobbins and base plates that I have found. Availability seems to be a bit of an issue though.
 
Cadorman said:
FYI- if I haven't already said this:
I'm getting magnets, slugs and screws from Addiction FX. Wire from Remington Industries in Chicago. Get everything else from Mojotone if you can. They have the best prices on bobbins and base plates that I have found. Availability seems to be a bit of an issue though.
Click to expand...

You are a real detail guy...I admire that.

I built a few pickups by taking shorted pickups and switching bobbins around until I had a working humbucker. I played with many different magnet types too, including quite a few AlNico4 swaps and a few out of phase customs that I gave away. I just never really made anything from my box of clunkers that was memorable in a good way.

What I learned was that nothing that I made myself came anywhere near the EMG81TW. Period...

That's the pickup that sounds the best to my ear in the bridge. The DiMarzio Neanderthal 16.5k AlNico9 humbucker (they made for me recently) comes really close to matching the EMG81TW.

I mix-matched a few in the 14-16k range and they never came close...

For my work, I'm generally playing rhythm, although I had to take over lead duties at our last gig due to a departing member. I try to avoid focusing on subtle things to keep from plunging down the rabbit hole.

I used to dick around with settings so much that it actually cut into my playing time. Finally, I decided that enough was enough and that you will NEVER hear the "bedroom subtlties" in a live mix.

I called Kurt at Primo Rehearsal Studios in Riverside and booked an entire day. I dialed in my rig at full stage volume and once it was right, those settings are never changed.

I may switch on a delay on some solos, like Skid Row's "I Remember You," or "Hotel California," but other than that, I just don't screw with any of my settings...I just focus on putting on a good show.

I use a GE-7 for solo boost and if the song needs "clean" guitar, I roll off the guitar volume and hit the EQ to boost the "cleaner"sound. Since my boost EQ is in the FX loop, the boost doesn't add any gain.

20210320_174553.jpg

I watch other bands and the guitar players all dick with their amp constantly, (back turned to crowd, missing cues) or spend a lot of time knelt down tweaking their pedalboard.

Funk That.. its too distracting and takes away from the connection with the audience. I wanna keep the momentum going.

I've had other guitar players ask me why they never see me mess with my amp or pedals. I tell them, "Easy!!! I'm running everything balls-out. There's nothing left to tweak!!!"

TBTH, it's a true statement.

Now, I gotta admit that I do really like my Artec Hum canceling single coils in the middle and neck positions. I dig how they sound for solos, especially with the 0.01uf tone capacitors.

Very pleased this has worked out for you!!!!

20210320_195041.jpg
 
20210410_150527.jpg
Finally got the neck pickup done. I ran out of wire and had to order more. Went with a half pound this time. Barring mistakes I should get about 5 pickups out of this.
20210410_151719.jpg
It is installed in Blueberry now and has been tested. I have about 5,000 winds on the screw side and 3.99k ohms. Slug side is around 4,950 winds and 3.90k ohms. All assembled with a foot of 4 conductor wire it came in at 7.77k ohms total. Probably have better conductivity through the soldered wires than just touching with the probes. It sounds really good. Very bright and open. Just a little hotter than the Seth Lovers that I used to have in it and a little less dark and muddled than the 57 classic and classic + that just came out. They are definitely keepers.
 
Just a little update after a few days of use. I have been struggling with just a little too much brightness in the bridge pickup. After messing around with pickup height, pole screw height and amp/eq settings for a few days I pulled out the 1022 pole screws and replaced them with some from a set of Seth Lover Duncans which I believe are 1010 alloy. This took care of the overly bright problem. I am keeping the 1022 screws in the neck pickup since it needs all the help it can get in the brightness department, but the bridge is much better with the 1010 pole screws. I'm going to get some of these on order right away. So, for the record I have 1018 slugs in both pickups and 1022 pole screws in the neck and 1010 pole screws in the bridge. It really makes a difference.
 
chilipeppermaniac said:
Here is a question for you, Cador.

Does it matter if the wire is wound clockwise or counter clockwise? Clue me in.
Click to expand...
Yes, it does matter, just like the magnet's orientation (north/south) matters as it affects "phase".
A bit of pickup winder lingo that I've picked up through talking with winders/having pickups wound;
If we look at Cadorman's pics of the bobbin being wound, it is oriented "top right, top going," where if you have the winding machine in front of you, the top of the bobbin is facing towards your right side & the top of the bobbin is being rotated away from you, or going away from you. This arrangement results in an anti-clockwise winding on the bobbin, as Cadorman's has already said.
Cadorman said:
FYI- if I haven't already said this:
I'm getting magnets, slugs and screws from Addiction FX. Wire from Remington Industries in Chicago. Get everything else from Mojotone if you can. They have the best prices on bobbins and base plates that I have found. Availability seems to be a bit of an issue though.
Click to expand...
Tone Kraft is another place you can get pickup components through, bobbins, flatwork, pole pieces/magnets, wire etc etc.

Should you ever have some formvar insulated 43AWG wire, I would be willing to pay you to wind me up a couple of single coil pickups. I already have the flatwork with poles, waiting to be wound. Cheers
 
Thanks buddy, much appreciated.
43 AWG heavy formvar wire was used in the early Fender Champion lap steel pickups & Esquire/Broadcaster/Nocaster bridge pickups, along with 0.195" diameter A3 poles.
Fender soon after switched to using enameled wire & 0.187"poles in all their pickups. I get the 0.195" diameter flat top poles from Tone Kraft. Cheers
Edit:
I've been using a Broadcaster type pickup that a local winder wound me with enameled wire in my tele, but have had the flatwork/poles/baseplate assy's to be wound with formvar for a while.
Compared to a normal tele bridge pickup, these are kinda like a cross between a tele bridge/P90 in sound.
Well worth checking out for anyone using a tele. Cheers
 
Last edited:
20210428_103827.jpg
Just finished winding 2 more bobbins. I have 4.15K on the slug side and 4.07K on the screw side. These are in the 5300 wind range with just a little more on the slug side. Using 42 awg plain enamel wire with butyrate bobbins. Slugs, screws and metal spacer are 1010 steel alloy. Maple spacer, brass mounting screws and nickel base plate. Wrapped with paper tape and no lid on this one. Once I finish assembly it will go in the bridge of blueberry for testing. It hopefully will be just a little darker than the previous bridge pickup. The wind is tighter and more consistent and there are no splices to make air gaps.
 
Yargnad said:
Nice, I've always wanted to do this. My dad had rewound the bridge pickup in my 79 The Paul at some point before he gave it to me. After watching Dylan Talks Tone quite a bit back in pre-COVID times I wanted to try but I doubt I will ever get around to that.
Click to expand...
I'm having fun with it. Just experimenting at this point figuring out what different steel alloys, magnets and wire do to the tone.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top