Hey Dan, what I do with my spool of wire is to put it into a small painter’s bucket “size depends on the size of the spool,” and It goes on the ground near my feet with the spool facing up. Make sure that there’s nothing in way that the wire may get caught in. I also use flour on my fingers. You can use baby powder as well. I have re-soldered wire breaks many times, as long as it’s on a test pickup, or a pickup I’m not selling. I loosely wind the new wire around the broken wire and gently pull both ends of the wire until it just barely contacts the broken wire and won’t pull away when you solder them together, then, you can tape off the solder joint and hand wind the bobbin until you are sure that you can use the winder. I hope this helps. I’ve learned a lot from my mistakes, so keep winding brother! Feel free to get in touch with if you have any questions.
Dan, put the spool on floor between your legs. Make sure to move your winder base that’s hanging over the edge , yo babe on top of the table so the wire won’t catch it. Use corn starch or the like between fingers as well. Finally sand smooth the bobbins where the wire will contact so as to have no snags. Lastly make sure your traverse stops don’t snag the wire as well. You’ll have success then I believe. Keep it up brother!
Well done for simply giving it a try Dan! I wound my first pickup on a hand drill. Didn't measure anything, just went for it and I got lucky, it sounded great, however trying to work out how I effected the tone was years of research, it gets insane!
Hahaha, I cracked up when you said to let you know if we have any tips. I watch your videos to see someone who’s better at doing these things and figuring them out than I am!
I set the spool on the ground and pinch the wire (with flour on my fingers) directly above the spool. You’ll get a tighter wind with the flour also because you can pinch it harder and you won’t break the wire anymore.
You should invest in a 3d printer and a 3d printer software, I recommend Inventor as the building software and mesh maker 3d as the template to set the 3d image to be printed on your 3d printer. With this you could make your own pickup casing and picks and pick guards, etc. you can do this with any filament you want, but be careful with filament like ninja flex. Ninja flex is a flexible filament, so unless you want to 3d print you a pair of shoes, don’t get it. Also, when you set the image to be imported to the 3d printer, be careful with the infill, infill is how much of the melted plastic will be spaced. 100% will take the longest because it will reduce air gaps. One last thing, if what your printing has walls similar to a vase or looks like two blocks stacked on top of one another, add supports to it so the build won’t collapse on itself when printing.
I don't know how to wined pickups but gelvin custom guitars has videos that he uploaded last week!! He was the first one I watched 8 years ago to work on a couple of strats to set them up. I was having trouble with the intonation in the trem bridge on both and it worked like a charm!! Also the old guitar doctor if you remember his show. He is the same guy!
If you break a wire you can solder it and continue but its very fiddly and if you do it a few times it will change the shape of the coil because of the the insulating tape.
Wooden dowel in place of the screwdriver holding he spool vertically off the board. I have the dowel mounted to a smaller board allowing me to move the spool around till I found a spot that worked. Some people use flour to reduce friction between your fingers. Enjoy your channel. You inspired me to start building guitar bodies. Still working on it but it is improving. Good luck with the pickups.
I apologize for the typos, most spools have a notch cut in to spool for the wire or particularly thread to store in.maybe you got hung up in the notch?
I'm wondering if to twist of the spool. I think I did mine like a bailing fishing reel with a towel as a tensioner. Guys like us always reminds me of mr. Potts from thirty thirty bang bang😂 I live alone and my living room is a workshop. Love your vids bus, btw going to your gun side, my 30 cal p-08 just turned 102 years old🤘
The flanges of tha bobbin can break the wire, its a good idea to sand them smooth before starting. Also, I find it easier to place the spool on the ground between my feet, I was breaking a lot of wire because the spool wasn't unwinding properly. The more distance between the bobbin and spool allows the wire to "swing" around the spool without getting stuck on the flange....its a matter of angles.
@@GunsandGuitars Dont hesitate to ask, I was in exactly the same position 2 years ago, I've tried every dumb method and made all the mistakes. Have fun diving in to the rabbit hole
I would suggest looking at a mechanism from a fishing reel as they are built to guide line evenly across their bobbin, just like you would want the copper wire spread evenly over a pickup bobbin.
There's a guy in Scotland named Colin. His yt channel is CS Guitars. He's an expert on pickup winding. Maybe you can talk to him about it and he can give you some pointers.
I think your biggest problem is that the spool is too close to your work. I put my spool on a small Orange Crush amp just in front of my chair. It give a lot of freeplay to the wire before it gets to your hand.
Maybe you can save broken wire by using old thread spools, winding them on a hand drill with the proper diameter drill bit to fit through the hole in the spool.
To try something you may already have on hand, I would think something like sizing lube for reloading on your fingers would be useful if you wanna go the lubrication route, personally I like the imperial wax lube
YOU NEED SOMETHING LIKE A AMBASAEDER BAIT CASTER THAT HAS THE LINE SPOOL GUIDE THAT TRAVELS BACK AND FORT .. AS IT UNSPOOLS AND HAS TENSIONER ON THE SIDE
hey dan, got one for you that shows the position where the guy has set up the spindle, Highline Guitars - Making A Humbucker Pickup For An Electric Guitar, (shows he has it on the floor)
The spool should be placed on the floor (vertically) and wearing latex or vinyl gloves (or putting powder on your finger tips) will help the wire run between the tips of your fingers with less friction. Also, you machine should be closer to the edge of the table so your wire doesn't get hung up on the edge and snap. I hope this helps.
Yes! Imagine what you can create now! Guitar building is the left hand, and pickup building/prototyping is the right......... Takes both hands to make, or hold an "ax"
I have been watching you for at least 4 years? Maybe more my child just turned 11. I think she was five or six when I found your channel.......... Thank you for the company and knowledge you have provided to me....
Happy to know that my appreciation was accepted. Thank you. It might be worth noting that, I have developed a new music company, devoted to experimental instruments, and more traditional prototyping and manufacture. I take this work very seriously, so I built a small factory........ There is a foundry for pouring metal, a full CNC and 3d print shop, wood shop...... Metal fabrication shop....... Lots of my work is related to electronic prototyping........ Ot keeps the lights on. But now I am focusing on electronic prototypes for music. (Not just repackaged stomp boxes.,...... I am talking about things like body suits that have sensors in them that convert to midi signals....... A dancer becomes the instrument.......) I feel like I am supposed to be telling you that your example has helped me to reach this end.......... I have watched how you have always adapted, saw the good, and made the best of everything you have encountered. I took some pages from your book to help me survive building ...... Whatever this thing is that I built. We (whoever is interested) should talk. I do not work for money, and I am not trying to sell a service. I just thought maybe we could use some of my stuff to make something cool together. Sorry for typos. We short scale bass guys tend to have bigger thumbs than we do cell phone keypads.
I have a Gorman Bobbineer winder that I love. I have two actually. I am selling one soon. Because one is enough. And I also have a great desktop old REA automatic traverse that is my favorite to wind on. Bill Asher of Asher Guitars has two of those too. Great winders. It's a lot of fun experimenting with wires, turns per layer and tensions. Along with magnets and such.
Sorry I missed this. I've been winding pickups for a while now. For one, you need to use much smaller lead wires. Like what you find in a usb cable. It'll take up much less room and your coil will be more consistent.
Use some pledge on your screw driver inside the box to allow your spool to spin more freely, like they do on derby cars!!! Maybe that would help reduce friction
Try using 2 locking collars for your limiters instead of the zip ties. Might also try a ball bearing set for the spool so it can spin freely. Mind you, this is coming from someone who has never wound pickups, lol. Love the channel. Just getting into modifying guitars, and your channel only feeds the addiction...
Hey Dan, what I do with my spool of wire is to put it into a small painter’s bucket “size depends on the size of the spool,” and It goes on the ground near my feet with the spool facing up. Make sure that there’s nothing in way that the wire may get caught in. I also use flour on my fingers. You can use baby powder as well. I have re-soldered wire breaks many times, as long as it’s on a test pickup, or a pickup I’m not selling. I loosely wind the new wire around the broken wire and gently pull both ends of the wire until it just barely contacts the broken wire and won’t pull away when you solder them together, then, you can tape off the solder joint and hand wind the bobbin until you are sure that you can use the winder. I hope this helps. I’ve learned a lot from my mistakes, so keep winding brother! Feel free to get in touch with if you have any questions.
Hey thanks man, I really appreciate the tips. I think I definitely need to put the spool on the ground, I’ll look for a bucket to put it in 🤘
Dan, put the spool on floor between your legs. Make sure to move your winder base that’s hanging over the edge , yo babe on top of the table so the wire won’t catch it. Use corn starch or the like between fingers as well. Finally sand smooth the bobbins where the wire will contact so as to have no snags. Lastly make sure your traverse stops don’t snag the wire as well. You’ll have success then I believe. Keep it up brother!
Well done for simply giving it a try Dan! I wound my first pickup on a hand drill. Didn't measure anything, just went for it and I got lucky, it sounded great, however trying to work out how I effected the tone was years of research, it gets insane!
You'll get it soon, I'm sure! As Matt Flaherty is fond of saying, "People do this, and you're a people."
Hahaha, I cracked up when you said to let you know if we have any tips. I watch your videos to see someone who’s better at doing these things and figuring them out than I am!
Hey we are all learning together! It’s impossible for me to be the expert when it’s my first time!
I set the spool on the ground and pinch the wire (with flour on my fingers) directly above the spool. You’ll get a tighter wind with the flour also because you can pinch it harder and you won’t break the wire anymore.
You should invest in a 3d printer and a 3d printer software, I recommend Inventor as the building software and mesh maker 3d as the template to set the 3d image to be printed on your 3d printer. With this you could make your own pickup casing and picks and pick guards, etc. you can do this with any filament you want, but be careful with filament like ninja flex. Ninja flex is a flexible filament, so unless you want to 3d print you a pair of shoes, don’t get it. Also, when you set the image to be imported to the 3d printer, be careful with the infill, infill is how much of the melted plastic will be spaced. 100% will take the longest because it will reduce air gaps. One last thing, if what your printing has walls similar to a vase or looks like two blocks stacked on top of one another, add supports to it so the build won’t collapse on itself when printing.
I don't know how to wined pickups but gelvin custom guitars has videos that he uploaded last week!! He was the first one I watched 8 years ago to work on a couple of strats to set them up. I was having trouble with the intonation in the trem bridge on both and it worked like a charm!! Also the old guitar doctor if you remember his show. He is the same guy!
If you break a wire you can solder it and continue but its very fiddly and if you do it a few times it will change the shape of the coil because of the the insulating tape.
Wooden dowel in place of the screwdriver holding he spool vertically off the board. I have the dowel mounted to a smaller board allowing me to move the spool around till I found a spot that worked. Some people use flour to reduce friction between your fingers. Enjoy your channel. You inspired me to start building guitar bodies. Still working on it but it is improving. Good luck with the pickups.
Thanks for the tips!
I apologize for the typos, most spools have a notch cut in to spool for the wire or particularly thread to store in.maybe you got hung up in the notch?
I'm wondering if to twist of the spool. I think I did mine like a bailing fishing reel with a towel as a tensioner. Guys like us always reminds me of mr. Potts from thirty thirty bang bang😂 I live alone and my living room is a workshop. Love your vids bus, btw going to your gun side, my 30 cal p-08 just turned 102 years old🤘
You should cover that box with tolex.
The flanges of tha bobbin can break the wire, its a good idea to sand them smooth before starting. Also, I find it easier to place the spool on the ground between my feet, I was breaking a lot of wire because the spool wasn't unwinding properly. The more distance between the bobbin and spool allows the wire to "swing" around the spool without getting stuck on the flange....its a matter of angles.
Thanks these are really good tips!
@@GunsandGuitars Dont hesitate to ask, I was in exactly the same position 2 years ago, I've tried every dumb method and made all the mistakes. Have fun diving in to the rabbit hole
I would suggest looking at a mechanism from a fishing reel as they are built to guide line evenly across their bobbin, just like you would want the copper wire spread evenly over a pickup bobbin.
That’s a great idea, I’ll have to look into that. I’d just need to figure out how to limit the distance it traverses
There's a guy in Scotland named Colin. His yt channel is CS Guitars. He's an expert on pickup winding. Maybe you can talk to him about it and he can give you some pointers.
Ive watched a TON of his videos.
And now you're going to slowly build your bridge as well I gues ?... Great job as always !
Man I wish I could. It would be really nice to not have to depend on anyone else to build these guitars
I think your biggest problem is that the spool is too close to your work. I put my spool on a small Orange Crush amp just in front of my chair. It give a lot of freeplay to the wire before it gets to your hand.
Dan, show us how you put your winder together plz
Check out scar my guitar, Sean built it for me
@@GunsandGuitars I’ll check it out, thanks
Maybe for your first pickup you should try with a much ticker wire and see how many turns you can fit in.
He said that you can Sauder the break and super glue some ⏲️ when you break the wire in mid wind.
Maybe you can save broken wire by using old thread spools, winding them on a hand drill with the proper diameter drill bit to fit through the hole in the spool.
To try something you may already have on hand, I would think something like sizing lube for reloading on your fingers would be useful if you wanna go the lubrication route, personally I like the imperial wax lube
YOU NEED SOMETHING LIKE A AMBASAEDER BAIT CASTER THAT HAS THE LINE SPOOL GUIDE THAT TRAVELS BACK AND FORT ..
AS IT UNSPOOLS AND HAS TENSIONER ON THE SIDE
I put my spool of wire on a stand with a skateboard bearing. It unspools very easily now!
Cool idea!
I buy parts from Guitar Madness too!
Need to buy a neck. Where do you sell them?
hey dan, got one for you that shows the position where the guy has set up the spindle, Highline Guitars - Making A Humbucker Pickup For An Electric Guitar,
(shows he has it on the floor)
Thanks! I have watched a TON of his videos on winding pickups. Not sure how I missed that one.
The spool should be placed on the floor (vertically) and wearing latex or vinyl gloves (or putting powder on your finger tips) will help the wire run between the tips of your fingers with less friction. Also, you machine should be closer to the edge of the table so your wire doesn't get hung up on the edge and snap. I hope this helps.
Thanks so much for the tips! I think that’s my issue
Yes!
Imagine what you can create now!
Guitar building is the left hand, and pickup building/prototyping is the right.........
Takes both hands to make, or hold an "ax"
I have been watching you for at least 4 years? Maybe more my child just turned 11.
I think she was five or six when I found your channel..........
Thank you for the company and knowledge you have provided to me....
Happy to know that my appreciation was accepted. Thank you.
It might be worth noting that, I have developed a new music company, devoted to experimental instruments, and more traditional prototyping and manufacture.
I take this work very seriously, so I built a small factory........ There is a foundry for pouring metal, a full CNC and 3d print shop, wood shop...... Metal fabrication shop.......
Lots of my work is related to electronic prototyping........ Ot keeps the lights on. But now I am focusing on electronic prototypes for music. (Not just repackaged stomp boxes.,...... I am talking about things like body suits that have sensors in them that convert to midi signals....... A dancer becomes the instrument.......)
I feel like I am supposed to be telling you that your example has helped me to reach this end..........
I have watched how you have always adapted, saw the good, and made the best of everything you have encountered.
I took some pages from your book to help me survive building ...... Whatever this thing is that I built.
We (whoever is interested) should talk. I do not work for money, and I am not trying to sell a service.
I just thought maybe we could use some of my stuff to make something cool together.
Sorry for typos. We short scale bass guys tend to have bigger thumbs than we do cell phone keypads.
Awesome vid man. I've been wanting to do this for a while now.
I have a Gorman Bobbineer winder that I love. I have two actually. I am selling one soon. Because one is enough. And I also have a great desktop old REA automatic traverse that is my favorite to wind on. Bill Asher of Asher Guitars has two of those too. Great winders. It's a lot of fun experimenting with wires, turns per layer and tensions. Along with magnets and such.
That’s the stuff I can’t wait to play with. For now I’m just hoping to get a bobbin wound without breaking the wire 🤦♂️
@@GunsandGuitars it's a addicting. Here I am on Saturday morning having my coffee and getting ready to start winding some humbuckers. 😂
Sorry I missed this. I've been winding pickups for a while now. For one, you need to use much smaller lead wires. Like what you find in a usb cable. It'll take up much less room and your coil will be more consistent.
Use some pledge on your screw driver inside the box to allow your spool to spin more freely, like they do on derby cars!!!
Maybe that would help reduce friction
Not a bad idea, I’ll play around with it
Try using 2 locking collars for your limiters instead of the zip ties. Might also try a ball bearing set for the spool so it can spin freely. Mind you, this is coming from someone who has never wound pickups, lol. Love the channel. Just getting into modifying guitars, and your channel only feeds the addiction...
God job for the effort!
A difference of a few hundred winds won't matter nearly as much as might think.
It's all good! You just keep working to improve and trusting the Lord!
Thanks for the encouragement!
You personally know someone that winds their own pickups for a living - Dylan. Why not get his advice?
Wheeeeeeeeeeee...🤙🏼
Message me on Facebook Messenger and I can show you my simple setup Dan.