(**OLD VERSION: CHECK DESCRIPTION**) Making a Single Coil Pickup: Complete Guide
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- Опубліковано 20 тра 2024
- NEW VERSION HERE: • Making a Single Coil P...
Chapters:
0:00 Pressing the Magnets
1:37 Gluing the Flatwork
2:42 Sanding it Smooth
3:10 Taping the Magnets
3:44 Spool Holder & Tensioner
4:56 Tinning the Magnet Wire
5:24 Tying the Eyelets
5:47 Onto the Winding Plate
6:07 Traverse Limiter
7:17 Winding Time
7:54 Tinning & Tying the Magnet Wire (Again)
8:12 Loading the Eyelets with Solder
8:27 Attaching the Hookup Wires
9:18 Signing the Flatwork
9:30 Wax Potting
9:56 Magnetizing
10:25 Outro
One thing I forgot to mention is tapping the threads on the pickup bottom flatwork with a 6-32 tap. A very important step. I don't do anything special -- I simply hold it by hand and tap by eye with a hand drill.
1 Ton Arbor Press can be found here:
go.harborfreight.com/coupons/...
Complete Single Coil pickup build, from soup to nuts. Check out my eBay store for some of my handwound pickups here:
www.ebay.com/usr/md4239
Major, MAJOR credit to Rob DiStefano of Cavalier Pickups, as well as Steve Kubica. If it weren't for them, I would not be doing guitar work at all or winding pickups with anywhere near this amount of precision and finesse. Or at all. Rob first reached out to me on TDPRI when I posted a picture of me using a DeWalt cordless drill to wind a pickup, telling me that if I needed help, to just shoot him a message.
And 5 years later, and dozens of pages of conversations online later, here we are. And I won't even get into the first times I started hanging out at Steve's house and watching him work on guitars, and him showing me the ropes of guitar setups and fretwork at the tender age of 15 years old, back in 2005.
Complete Pickup Testing Tutorial:
• Complete Guitar Pickup...
^^^ All credit there belongs to "Antigua Tele" on TDPRI and Ken Willmott (rigatele on TDPRI), who guided me step by step through the entire process and are another couple guys I owe a massive amount of credit to.
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My eBay store with Handwound Pickups and more:
www.ebay.com/usr/md4239
Instagram: Follow for pictures and updates on my work. I usually post more regularly here than on UA-cam:
slight_return
Bandcamp: My music and covers in high quality .WAV file format:
md101089.bandcamp.com
Imgur. Snapshots of my guitar work and wiring diagrams:
guitarmd10.imgur.com/all
NEW UPDATED VERSION OF THIS VIDEO HERE: ua-cam.com/video/5BqFoBJr10o/v-deo.html
Love your videos. You give clear, precise and complete instructions, explaining things others would gloss over. Thanks!!
Absolutely. Thanks so much for the feedback, I really appreciate it. Going to keep doing my best. Comments like this are what keep me going and inspired -- thanks again!
Just realized I forgot one thing: tapping the threads on the flatwork with a 6-32 tap. I don't use any guide or backing or anything lately and it works fine. But it just occurred to me that's one step I forgot to include. There's so much involved, it's so easy to forget to film things!
I wish Radio Shack was still around. I modified my okd Samick guitar quite a bit in my youth and people still ask how it sounds so smooth. This was when I was in middle school. Can't imagine what I could pull off now that I know my electronics.
Most expensive part are the assembly tools.
Perhaps I'll try this on the Samick and see what happens. I have a PRS too; but, I dare not experiment with a guitar like that. I didn't even attempt to install something like a killswitch because it's such a beautiful looking & sounding guitar.
My acoustic needs a new preamp so maybe I'll eventually shoot for that. I'll see what I can do. Long peoject but that's how I am. Thanks for the video. I learn new things all the time. Failure and success are just a natural part of the process
Great setup, very educational. Subscribed. Thanks.
This was very relaxing. Great video 😎
Thank you so much!
Great process video, everything very well explained.
Thanks for posting!
Thanks so much for watching and leaving a comment. It helps a lot and I really appreciate it!
Genius!
Excellent video!
Thank you!
First of all my heart full thanks to you sir. Its most educative for musician and electrician. Igot sum knowledge in the both feilds I need and expecting more and more regarding this...
🙏🌹💞🌹🙏👌👌👍👍🎉
Respect from turkey
Great video.....Cheers from Canada..
Thank you!
Great work!!!
Thank you!
Wow, super cool!
Thanks so much!
You can see the wire during the spin, my scatter wounds are a little different than what I just saw. I like to keep my wire tight and I use my bare hand to feel the wire tension. I normally get a nice middy sounding wind even with an Alnico 5 mag at PAF level winding. I did one with a ceramic mag at 8.4k trying to recreate the 70s rock sound. It is a beautiful sounding Humbucker. I love what I do! 🫶🏼
man i got some good ideas for that press
Bravo! and subscribed!
Thank you so much!
Brilliant video thanks ever so much.👍
Sure thing! Be sure to check out the updated version if you're curious. I added a couple important notes that aren't in this one and also did some further color correction.
Thanks again!
@@guitar_md will do thanks 👍
I love it bro!!
Thanks so much. Appreciate it. And a lot more on the way, gonna be redoing my complete guide to testing pickups soon! Very exciting stuff and I can't wait to get it published.
Wow! This was just awesome. Been looking for something like this for a long time. I want to know more about pickup design and building, more details and thoughts please. I’ve happily subscribed, best of luck with this channel, I’m sure it will grow fast.
Now get back to work and make us some more great videos!
Thanks so much! Be sure to check out my updated version of this video here:
ua-cam.com/video/5BqFoBJr10o/v-deo.htmlsi=DFgTWXxSDKIEv7f_
You can also see my complete pickup testing guide here:
ua-cam.com/video/VwM77fmqV7s/v-deo.htmlsi=WlYmE9__5LrrOG17
For the most complete information, check out my "Pickup Building, Testing and Repair" playlist on my channel. I only put the most up to date versions of all my videos on all of my playlists.
I have more ideas for pickup videos in the future. Currently I'm working on some videos about properly spacing nut slots, doing a compound radius, doing a fretless conversion, and maybe 8 other videos that are guitar tech and playability related.
Once I get these out of the way it's very likely I'll start working on more pickup videos. A general video talking about pickup tone may be very useful. I have the video up about testing but have not made one yet about actually interpreting results in the real world, and what it means, and how it translates to actual tone.
Funnily I'm more interested lately in low impedance pickups to use for direct-in recording through an interface. Much flatter EQ, much quieter, and you can make them sound like whatever you want with post-processing due to that super flat EQ. The current one I've made is a stacked noiseless with 500 turns of 38AWG on each coil, steel poles, and a neodymium bar magnet. I'll have to figure out the circuit and preamp for it but for now am just using standard pots and amplifying it through the interface preamp. Simple. And sounds pretty good.
More and more interested lately in recording, as I've been recording a lot more. When I think of pickup winding I really think more of tube amps -- that's where the hand wound stuff truly shines. I think for direct-in recording, a more boring and more scientific approach with a lo-Z coil might be the way to go. Time will tell. Just slogging through a ton more work in the meantime. Thanks again!
@@guitar_mdone last thing… my only experience with low impedance pickups was back in the late 80’s when I borrowed a Les Paul “Recording” model guitar for a recording session. That guitar had all these specialized controls and a special set of low impedance pickups. To be honest, I didn’t understand it very well, so I don’t think I got the best results from it. I’m sure in more capable hands it would have enabled some very interesting recording results. I had a chance to buy that guitar for a pretty low price, but…another one that got away.
great video!
Thanks so much!
damn, man, your content is a treasure for fellow aspiring pickups builders. Tho, I'm just a curious guy, unfortunately 😂
great content
Thanks so much. Made my day! Got a lot more on the way too, so stay tuned if you're still curious. I'm a big fan of tinkering :)
You stager the pickup after magnetizing then pot
Where do you get your plastic jars from? The ones you use to hold your 5lb rolls of wire. I've been looking and dont see any that big. Thanks
I've gone to using Rubbermaid pitchers. You can see those in my new updated version of this video here:
ua-cam.com/video/5BqFoBJr10o/v-deo.html
Much, *much* better than the canister/hinged lid style, funnily enough. And much easier to find. Like this one here:
www.amazon.com/Rubbermaid-Pitcher-Classic-Gallon-Clear/dp/B00FSLRH2K/ref=sr_1_4?crid=WAES3ZN71D8D&keywords=rubbermaid+pitcher&qid=1691812634&sprefix=rubbermaid+pitche%2Caps%2C101&sr=8-4
Should be at any Wal-Mart, or easy to get online. Let me know if it works for you
Nice tensioner. Luckily I haven't broke any wire yet when winding, I just use baby powder on my fingers. I use the mojotone winder, which has presets that I love. Nice store btw, some of the best prices for alnico V pickups. Can't believe some companies charge over a hundred for one single coil pickup. Just greedy. I think the trend I see most is that cheaper guitars are getting better pickups. Harley Benton, Donner offer alnico pickups. Hopefully this forces bigger companies like Ibanez and Squier to follow. Just no excuse for larger companies to produce cheaper ceramic pickups when the magnet cost 5 bucks. Probably cheaper if they buy in bulk. This makes me happy. Seeing somebody kick butt and offer affordable pickups.
Thanks! The tensioner is Rob DiStefano's idea, from Cavalier Pickups. I've been in touch with Rob for many years and he pretty much got me started with winding pickups. I've modified the tensioner to fit my own needs -- Rob uses a hemostat but it's all the same at the end of the day. Baby powder will of course do it too, whatever works.
My goal with pickups is to offer ones that no one else is offering as well. My heavyweight model, and some of the newer ones using 46AWG, I haven't seen anywhere else -- and on my own Strat I'm using the 32k one that I sell on eBay, and love it. The 46AWG wire is very expensive and hard to get, though, so I've been trying to see if I can redesign it.
So, so much with pickups. I'm redoing that Pickup Testing video as I write this as well. Totally overhauled the second part, and showing how to export the data as a text file and upload it into an Excel spreadsheet for easier comparisons.
I use this all the time now for comparing models. And I plan on doing more experiments with it to test individual variables of each pickup build. Exciting stuff! I can't wait to get that video up. I'll be unlisting the old one, as usual, but I'll let you know in the comment you left on that video when I have the new one ready to go.
Thanks again! I actually boosted my prices lately on eBay as well. The major thing that's tough with pickups is overhead. I only sell a few pickups here and there and most of that money goes right back into buying more flatwork, magnets, and wire. Definitely tough times we're living in too, so people have been tighter with their money.
I've actually been gravitating more towards single pickups for that reason. Winding entire sets can be exhausting. And the benefit with single pickups is you can focus on just one tone at a time and what you want out of that specific position.
For me, and my favorite that I offer, that super overwound bridge pickup that just gets a fat and strong P90 tone. I'm so used to it now that I can hardly even imagine using anything else in the bridge position. Though on my Strat I made a custom pickguard and only use two pickups. Overwound bridge pickups blend beautifully with "underwound" neck pickups. Series/parallel, in phase/out of phase...great stuff
@@guitar_md Amazing work, can't believe you use that gauge. You are totally nuts. Yeah I would need that tensioner for that lmao. Yeah was surprised at your prices. They still undercut so many other makers and you are doing original stuff. You can make them so much hotter with that gauge. LOL im scared to goto 43 awg. Trully amazing stuff here. You can stack a humbucker in there. And you share your information freely. Totally appreciate man. Very inspirational! I love the 4th position on the start. Can't imagine what a hot neck and middle would sound like.
@@AmerikkkaGuitars The tensioner absolutely helps there. I can wind at 4300RPM with 46AWG, and no issues. I will also add that a Wisker Disk is a huge, huge help -- the ones that Azonic makes. I always use those on new spools as well as not using them on the large 5lb spools can cause issues, like the wire getting irreversibly stuck on the spool and unable to dereel.
Ultra Fine Copper Wire, based in China, supplies wire to companies like Panasonic and more. I had to e-mail them directly. With all the craziness in China lately I'm almost tempted to buy a huge spool of 46AWG from them. My only reservation is I'm not sure if I'd use 46AWG or 45AWG more. But they're much, much cheaper. Even with 80 dollar shipping, it's half the price it would cost here.
Not using a tensioner definitely requires more care and it can be very tough not to break finer wire. I actually haven't used 42 or even 43 in a while, as I've focused so much on overwound single coils, it's been 44, 45 and 46 for me. I also have a humbucker I designed a few years ago that sounds very Fenderish, which I do with 44AWG on both coils to the tune of 9,000 turns each. Insane amounts of output, it's really a killer humbucker. At some point I'd love to offer it on my store. Humbuckers are just such a royal pain to make.
@@guitar_md I could imagine stacked humbuckers being a pain. I want to stack a p90 but I keep thinking if it's really worth it. It'll just sound like a standard humbucker? I also heard other companies stack the pickups but use different counts instead of them being the same on both coils. I think Duncan does that on their crazzier designs. Just want that 4th position strat sound in a humbucker. That's my dream pickup to make.
You know what, I think I'm overwind the single coils like you. I want the 4th position but not the others because of the hum. I'll use a 3 way with humbucker in bridge and the 4th position sound on the other end of the 3 way. Completely humless, no option for single coil only. Overwinding is key for sure, to keep levels close enough. So much drop off with 4th position. Thanks again. Video is life changing lol
Is the flat work different dimensions on the bridge, middle and neck pickups? Thanks Glenn
Same for all of them: 52mm. This is the way Fender has always done it.
However, foreign copies will often use 48mm neck, 50mm middle, 52mm bridge. This does line up better with the strings, but in reality I'm not convinced there's any audible difference whatsoever.
The funny thing is that Tele pickups are spaced differently. I think 50mm on the neck pickup and 55mm on the bridge if I remember correctly. The reason Strats are spaced the same was probably to save money and expedite the process.
When they designed the Tele pickup set, they clearly were aware of the narrower string spacing at the neck position compared to the bridge.
@@guitar_md thanks for the help that’s brilliant. 👍
I shouldn't popularize kapton tape in pickup group 7+ years ago. Other started to copy me i mean a lot of people, and i shared some other trick. No matter that use tape if you use it a way you do corrosion will start for sure it will pass trough a thin gap. Super glue should be a HUGE NO NO but sometimes the best way is keep my thoughts to myself. Good luck in your work, it's nice video well done.
The primary tape I used for years was black cloth acetate tape. I still use it pretty frequently, and have used it far more than Kapton tape -- only moved to Kapton tape this year.
Black cloth tape is much cheaper and also much thicker. Thick tape can be problematic in terms of winding space as it will reduce the amount of turns you can fit on a bobbin before filling it up.
Usually with the black tape I will have an overlap so there is no gap at all. It will cover a portion of the top and bottom flatwork via overlap.
However, I have wondered if tape is a no-go. Professional magnet manufacturers often use an epoxy coating to prevent corrosion over time. I have thought for a while that using some kind of painted on coating over the magnets would be much more effective than tape.
I've done a lot of vintage pickup rewinds and I do know what you mean: all it takes is a tiny amount of corrosion to ruin a pickup. I recently rewound an original 1951 Nocaster neck pickup, and the magnets had no tape around them at all. They were virtually mint condition inside, except for a very, very tiny amount of corrosion that I had to capture with a macro lens to see.
I can understand why you'd be concerned about a small gap. I probably should have shown my usual method of using black cloth tape with a slight overlap on the top and bottom flatwork, though I thought of Kapton tape as the "industry standard" and wanted to have the most professional quality for this video. Could have ended up being a mistake.
I'm curious why superglue is not appropriate. If there are any major concerns with it that would give me reason to stop using it -- I will stop using it. My only concern is making the highest quality pickups as I can, as a hobbyist. I don't run a business doing this. It's a labor of love.
I haven't had any issues with superglue so I would be curious what issues would exist with it.
Most of the pickup assembly methods I use were taught to me by Rob DiStefano of Cavalier Pickups, who's been winding pickups for decades. Everyone has their own way of doing things -- I'm most concerned with the correct way, and the most effective way.
I don't agree with the idea that it's "best to keep your thoughts to yourself."
I am completely open to criticism as long as it's actually valid and can improve my skills. As long as people are respectful of me I have absolutely no problem with criticism.
Honestly, the most distressing thing to me is feeling like I put out some information that isn't accurate, or is teaching people the wrong thing. Like you said you wished you never introduced the idea of using Kapton tape years ago.
However, I do need solid reasons for the methods I use -- for or against. To change my mind on something I need evidence and good reasons. Criticism in a respectful way is welcome here -- debate is healthy as long as the goal is coming to a more sound conclusion and having better, more reliable information.
So please don't hesitate to tell me your thoughts. You haven't been disrespectful in anything you've said so I have no problem with you. I'd love to know what you think I'm doing wrong -- but more importantly, *why" you think it's wrong.
I am always open to changing my methods when I'm presented with evidence that what I'm doing right now is not optimal.
My guitar tech friend and mentor Steve really drilled that into me. He's been doing guitar work full time since 1968. Worked for Dan Armstrong and is still going full force, better than ever.
He always told me not to get married to any method. "Show me a better way, and I'll be doing it tomorrow."
I'm the same way. If there is a preferable alternative to taping the magnets I'd like to know -- I've considered using a painted-on coating that prevents rust, but haven't tried it yet. Black cloth tape has worked well for me but I'd be open to trying something else. Rust-proof coatings make the most sense, like what major manufacturers of magnets use to protect them -- but curious what your thoughts are.
Hi, is the tape you are using polyimide tape? Thanks
Yep, that's it! You can get it much cheaper going generic with that stuff vs. the Kapton brand itself. I've also used black cloth acetate tape from China for many years with great results for the same purpose.
I wind great humbuckers, buty singlecoils, are always bright and scooped. Any tips
I like overwinding my single coils for that reason, at least in the bridge position. Thinner wire and more turns will do it. Anywhere from 10,000 turns and up will pretty significantly attenuate the high end. More turns = less high end, more mids and low end.
Agree but then the more turns the more lifeless, it's the perfect in-between, which I found with humbuckers, but can't get my single coils to sound how I want.
@@wesleymorris1 It's important to define what lifeless means. That could be higher capacitance, or a lower Q factor (less amplitude at resonant frequency), or a more rapid dropoff in treble frequencies. And those all can be very hard to control.
You might change the way you're building the bobbins. Shorter coils vs. taller coils. I haven't tested enough to conclusively say much except that shorter coils appear to have lower capacitance, which usually results in less attenuation of high end frequencies. So for the same inductance/resonant frequency, shorter coils will tend to retain more treble.
On paper that sounds good, but it can also result in an unconventional tone. Bill Lawrence's "Micro Coils" are a good example of this. Much, much shorter coils (.120" tall vs. the conventional .430" tall for a Strat pickup, for example). I've made my own version of them, and for the same inductance, they have considerably more high end. I have two pickups I made, both at 5 Henries, and with the shorter coil, the resonant frequency is 3.3dB @ 2.8kHz, while the taller coil is 3.4dB @ 2.3kHz. The shorter coil has a capacitance of about 25pF, and the taller one, 98pF.
The shorter coil has kind of an odd sound, but very, *very* clear. The shorter coil is 9,500 turns, and the taller coil is 13,000 turns. So, coil geometry is a huge factor. Turn count is the biggest factor when dealing with bobbins of the same style. But you can alter the coil height to your advantage depending on what you want to achieve. I haven't settled on any models yet. I have made a bunch of taller coils with .781" mags and a ton of turns of wire (up to 18,000 of 44AWG), and people quite like them. I also like them myself. I'm used to a heavier, thicker sound in the bridge position, and that's what I prefer.
For Neck and Middle single coils, I still use a very conservative wind of about 7,600 to 8,000 turns. I don't like those positions to be wound too much. Another thing to consider is using phenolic standoffs (or whatever else will work) and metal bolts, like on a Fralin Steel Pole pickup. The steel poles + bar magnet combination will be like a P-90. The Eddy Current losses from the steel poles will draw down the high end a bit and will go a long way in smoothing out the tone without having things go lifeless. It all gets very complicated the more you experiment though, for example, I've found neodymium magnets to make for uncomfortably shrill sounding pickups, in the designs I've tried.
@@guitar_md I define lifeless as no character or kinda of flat response, I prefer Brite top end with a growl in the mid and snappy low strings. Example would be like Seymour Duncan quarter pounder type tone or fender 69 strat pickups, alnico 5 with some output. Everything I make is like big dippers , scooped mids and shrill, I'm getting some new magnet wire, to try some plain enamel, poly heavy build and formvar. I make killer humbuckers, better then anything I've bought from all the name brands, but my single coils are needing some work. I hand wined all my pickup, I traverse with my fingers and i keep it between the flatwork with no stops, I probably spun 2000 pickups, so I got some experience doing it. I'm going to try different wire, I let u know the results.
It seems to me that wrapping the tape blocks waxing from the inside of the coil. Other than that, thanks for a great movie.
Thanks for the comment! I appreciate it. Allow me to explain about the tape and reducing the potting of the inside of the coil:
It might, though the wax penetrates the entire coil regardless, as I've discovered from tearing down many of my own pickups after potting. However, if it has less penetration on the inner coil due to the tape, I'd argue that this is actually desirable. The purpose of the wax potting is to reduce microphonics/microphonic feedback, and once this goal is achieved, any excessive potting (such as vacuum potting) only serves to increase the capacitance of the pickup. I'll also add that the holes in Fender style pickups that allow wax inside are not there to allow wax inside, but to mount the pickup for winding.
I've never had any of my pickups struggle with microphonic feedback, unless I deliberately built them that way by leaving them unpotted. Interestingly, all early Gibson humbuckers were unpotted, but it's worth pointing out that even if you do pot humbucker bobbins, the wax can *only* penetrate from the outside, so on all commercial humbuckers available today, the wax does not enter the coil from the inside, as there's no 'access hole' as there is on Fender style pickups. Potting the outside of the coils only is more than sufficient to achieve the end goal of nullifying microphonic feedback.
Anyway, back to wax potting and capacitance: potting draws down the high end already, so excessive drawing down of high end (higher capacitance) via excessive potting is not desirable, for the same reason that more expensive cables are desirable -- better quality cable has lower capacitance, which means more high end. Generally speaking, lower capacitance is desirable, and more wax saturating the coil beyond what is needed to reduce microphonic feedback will only increase the capacitance, which means less high end/less fidelity in the pickup.
However, aside from that, the tape is absolutely, 100% essential. The reason being, over years, the magnetic polepieces will corrode. If there's no tape around the magnets, that corrosion will eat through the magnet wire, and kill the pickup. The copper in the magnet wire, especially, has a reaction with the aluminum in the AlNiCo polepieces. Specifically, the reaction is called Galvanic corrosion, and copper and aluminum are a particularly bad combination for that, so an insulator between the two is extremely necessary.
I've rewound many vintage pickups that had that exact issue, particularly Fender pickups -- Jaguars, P-Bass, J-Bass, Tele, Strat -- without tape around the polepieces, the corrosion on the magnets eats through the delicate magnet wire and then you end up with a dead pickup. The tape is a necessary safeguard against this. One thing I've wanted to investigate more is the actual effect of the size and material of tape around the magnets as I do believe this has an influence on the final tone of the pickup, even if it's a small influence.
@@guitar_md Thank you for your answer. The problems you describe are well known. When it comes to corrosion of magnets, a commonly used method of insulation that I'm sure you know about is varnish. Do you know any model of Fender pickups that use any tape on magnets?
@@redcatstw I have rewound a set of Jazz Bass pickups from the early '70s that used Formvar wire and had the rod magnets wrapped in masking tape. That was very interesting.
Surprisingly, those also failed. I've also rewound a set of 1963 Jaguar pickups that, upon unwinding, didn't seem to have much of any corrosion on the magnets whatsoever. Those had no tape, and if there was lacquer on the rod magnets, I couldn't see any. However...just about pristine. No sign of corrosion whatsoever, and again, those were from 1963, so they've had plenty of time. Maybe they were lacquered.
Fender traditionally did use nitrocellulose, dipping the bobbins in and letting them dry prior to winding, to insulate the magnets. It seems to be hit or miss with how many pickups survived that. One thing is also the breakdown of the enamel on the magnet wire itself. I suspect that's to blame in a lot of cases.
Like the Jaguar set I rewound, I've seen a fair amount of vintage pickups that looked nearly pristine when stripped down to the magnets, but the coil was measuring as an open circuit. Some are extremely corroded, but not all.
To me, masking tape is too weak, and while varnish could be a good solution, I don't think lacquer is the best choice, not only because it tends to get brittle as it ages, but the drying time is very long.
I'd be tempted to look into an automotive enamel like they use to protect cars from the salt on the roads in the winter. However, that stuff is all available mostly in spray cans. Something that could be painted on with an artist's brush would be ideal. Spraying it into a bottlecap first is perfectly feasible but way too much of a pain for production level work.
I've tried Paraloid B72, which I think would be superior to lacquer as it doesn't seem to have the issues with aging and cracking that nitrocellulose does. Paraloid B72 is used in taxidermy to seal and preserve animal skulls/skeletons, and it's also used pretty extensively in art conservation.
However, I don't trust it long-term anymore than I'd trust nitrocellulose or shellac. Something formulated specifically to coat metal as an anti-corrosive/rust preventive would be ideal. Again, something in the automotive world, preferably that could be applied with a brush. It would certainly make life a lot easier.
I'll admit that tape can be a royal pain, especially when dealing with custom bobbin sizes, which I use all the time. I'm currently making a copy of Bill Lawrence's Micro Coil, or I should say, my own take on it. I had a customer request for a super low capacitance pickup, and the only way I know for sure how to do that is by using a much shorter coil and much thinner wire.
So this Tele bridge pickup has 1/8" winding space, and I'm using 48AWG for it. Insanely, insanely thin. But that 1/8" winding space was a real pain to wrap tape around. I had to do so very carefully with a pair of needle nose pliers. The space is actually .133", so a little over 1/8", so even if I had 1/8" wide tape, it wouldn't be thick enough to 100% cover the mags.
I've made some experimental Fender style pickups by mounting PAF bobbins on bottom fiberboard flatware. Very interesting stuff. And completely foregoes the need for tape, as the bobbin itself is completely insulating. The smaller winding space (1/4") also lends for some very interesting sounds.
The tape/varnish is so much of a pain that even the extra work of mounting a PAF bobbin on some fiberboard feels like it's worth it. Also, not having to CA glue anything like you do (or, should) with fiberboard pickups.
Really, to me, the winding is the easiest part of the job, especially with my PenPal lathe that goes up to 4,300 RPM. The bobbin building and the bobbin prep (CA glue + tape)....I get tired just thinking about it.
It's almost enough to tempt me to just try using shellac or paraloid B72 for coating the mags before winding. I will say that I think Paraloid B72 has a potential great variety of applications in guitar work, but I've never heard a single person in the guitar world mention it, ever. You have to get the pellets on eBay, and if I recall correctly, they dissolve in acetone. I have a chart somewhere, or had one, about the ratios for mixing.
The method of wrapping magnets interested me very much for several reasons. Compared to traditional varnishing, it is quick and easy, does not require time for the varnish to dry and all the mess associated with it. This greatly simplifies the whole process. If actually using this method has no effect on the quality of operation and parameters, it would be a big revolution.
What size eyelets are used on it?
.093" length, .089" outside diameter, .070" inner diameter
@@guitar_md thankyou
@@lordrahulcool you're welcome!
Will 3mm length , 3.5 outer , 1.5 inner work?
@@lordrahulcool that should work fine. I get my eyelets from Mojotone and addiction fx on eBay, and that seems close enough to the size.
Plastic bobbins suck for soldering
Yep they absolutely do!
What the heck is this or what does it do?
It's what enables an electric guitar to make sound. Simply put, it's just wire wrapped around magnets.
When a string is plucked over this device, it actually creates a tiny electrical current, which is sent to an amplifier, which amplifies that tiny current enough to be audible.
Pickups are like tiny generators that work on a concept called Electromagnetic Induction. But it's that simple: wire wrapped around some magnets.