My experience is with guitar pickups and in most cases you don’t need to strip the insulation as the heat of soldering just cooks away the coating. As mentioned in an earlier comment, I wouldn’t use the wire from a dead pickup. Only three reasons a pickup would be dead. There’s an open (break) in the coil wire; there’s a short in the coil wire, the magnet has demagnetized. An open or a short leaves you with defective wire and a demagnetized magnet simply needs to be remagnetized. Pickup winding wire can be found with a bit of internet searching. Guitar pickups usually use 42 or 43 gauge and I’m sure the spec for the original wire is available. I gotta commend the effort here as most people wouldn’t have a clue or even try. When you’re doing this, you can splice the wire back together if you break it - it doesn’t matter. I will apply a coat or two of shellac to my splice and take care not to allow any wet shellac to come in contact with the rest of the coil. Solder flux helps a lot to minimize the application of heat by the soldering iron. Something I didn’t recall you mentioning or didn’t emphasize is that the direction of the winding matters as does which terminal is the beginning of the coil and which is the end. Well done for posting the video.
Hi Mark, thanks so much for watching, commenting, and also your kind words. I decided to post the video because I couldn't find too much information about re-winding, or people who had done it in the past. You raise some excellent points and questions, and a couple things I should have included in the video. There are two reasons why I used the current wire from a dead pickup. 1, because I knew it would be the correct length so once rewound, the resistance would be about right. 2, because the fault with most of my pickups was due to corrosion on the posts, I also knew the wire was probably good. I had tried just applying some heat on the posts on some to see if that would bring them back around, but on most, the wire was snapped at the winding start post. - (This is the one at the back of the pickup, so the winding goes on anti-clockwise). Because of this it makes it impossible to repair without re-winding. I did experience on a couple where the wire was snapped from the winding end post. If this is the case, you can get away with winding a turn or two off, so you have enough length to simply re-solder back to the post. I also knew the magnets were ok as I'd done the screwdriver test on the dead ones before I took them out of the piano! I did have some accidents during some re-winding with wire snapping part-way through, and after swearing, I re-joined it as you suggested! It was a lot of faff and required thinking about, but I had so many down, replacing them wasn't financially viable. The upshot is also that now I have the jig, if any others go, I can re-wind, and I have also re-wound others for clients whose pianos have come in with one or two down, which makes their bill slightly better! I now have got some empty spools, so I will wind on new wire to those, and I know I can use my jig to do so - just need to rig up a laser revolution counter, which I've been looking at. Thanks again for your kind words and comments, and I hope that answers your questions!
I'll also add that when you start winding on, there is a small channel vertically on the inside, slightly to the left, which is like a guide for the wire to sit in so you get a nice neat wind from the word go. I've no idea if the pickup would work if the wire was wound the other way round, but this channel determines that is has to be wound anti-clockwise!
@@groovemonkey73Thanks for the video. I'd highly recommend using new wire. As Mark stated, there's a good chance the problem is with the wire itself. Figure out the correct awg using a micrometer or very accurate dial caliper. The length of the wire isn't as important as the resistance/impedance of the winding. To get a ballpark, measure the diameter needed for the winding, and keep winding your new one until you're in the ballpark. Measure the resistance on a good one, then verify your reading (sounds like 180-200 ohms for yours). Also, corroded posts? It seems like that'd be much easier to fix the posts than all this. That said, this is very helpful for folks wanting to wind their own pickups. Thanks a ton for the video and great job bringing that old boat anchor back to life!
Excellent! Thank you so much for helping me understand whats going wrong with bad pickups (broken wires) and how to fix them. While your set up was a good work around, I’m going to try rewinding pickups using a sewing machine’s bobbin threading feature.
Yeah this was how I did mine 30 years ago too (pre internet)... problem was that the wire is so fragile that it could easily break mid way through... still... back in those days had no options.. .could not get any local shops to stock the wire in that gauge...
Thanks! For mine I was using the old wire, so I didn't need to worry about the length for the resistance, but if I was winding on new wire, I probably would of used some sort of laser revolution counter. Quite cheap to pick up on places like Ebay etc.
Great video thanks, my question is i found half of the pickup coils wrapped in clear plastic (like a finger plaster) on my Rhodes, ive searched the internet but cant find any info if this would prevent further erosion, or do you think it only keeps dust away from them? Thanks
I've seen that before on some Rhodes pianos, its supposed to help keep dust and muck off of them, but I don't really think it makes much difference to how long they last, as in my experience, it's corrosion at the posts which 9 times out of 10 causes them to fail, not breaks or crud on the actual winding!
Hey thanks for the useful vid. I am wondering though, why rewind the entire pickup when you could just unwind one loop then reattach the wire the spool post? Thanks for your help
You are most welcome. The reason for rewinding the entire pickup, was because in my case a lot of them had corroded at both ends, so I would of needed to do the same at the winding start post, which of course you cannot do!
This video is what i was looking for 2 days long now... (Not that much people talking about it actually !) I have half my pickups down and looking for a solution without have my entire bank account in debt...thinking to get new wires on the internet to make each pickup over from it. I only know the 180 ohms they should have... dont know which pole N/S my 73 pickups should have, how to propely remagnetize ?
@@groovemonkey73 i checked each magnet orientation and they are all the same so i think it is good. I will receive an unwinder machine -hum.. from china- at the end of the mounth and i made a 3D printed part so that the pickup can be plugged in and turn freely as you did here.
My experience is with guitar pickups and in most cases you don’t need to strip the insulation as the heat of soldering just cooks away the coating. As mentioned in an earlier comment, I wouldn’t use the wire from a dead pickup. Only three reasons a pickup would be dead. There’s an open (break) in the coil wire; there’s a short in the coil wire, the magnet has demagnetized. An open or a short leaves you with defective wire and a demagnetized magnet simply needs to be remagnetized. Pickup winding wire can be found with a bit of internet searching. Guitar pickups usually use 42 or 43 gauge and I’m sure the spec for the original wire is available. I gotta commend the effort here as most people wouldn’t have a clue or even try. When you’re doing this, you can splice the wire back together if you break it - it doesn’t matter. I will apply a coat or two of shellac to my splice and take care not to allow any wet shellac to come in contact with the rest of the coil. Solder flux helps a lot to minimize the application of heat by the soldering iron. Something I didn’t recall you mentioning or didn’t emphasize is that the direction of the winding matters as does which terminal is the beginning of the coil and which is the end. Well done for posting the video.
Hi Mark, thanks so much for watching, commenting, and also your kind words. I decided to post the video because I couldn't find too much information about re-winding, or people who had done it in the past. You raise some excellent points and questions, and a couple things I should have included in the video. There are two reasons why I used the current wire from a dead pickup. 1, because I knew it would be the correct length so once rewound, the resistance would be about right. 2, because the fault with most of my pickups was due to corrosion on the posts, I also knew the wire was probably good. I had tried just applying some heat on the posts on some to see if that would bring them back around, but on most, the wire was snapped at the winding start post. - (This is the one at the back of the pickup, so the winding goes on anti-clockwise). Because of this it makes it impossible to repair without re-winding. I did experience on a couple where the wire was snapped from the winding end post. If this is the case, you can get away with winding a turn or two off, so you have enough length to simply re-solder back to the post. I also knew the magnets were ok as I'd done the screwdriver test on the dead ones before I took them out of the piano! I did have some accidents during some re-winding with wire snapping part-way through, and after swearing, I re-joined it as you suggested! It was a lot of faff and required thinking about, but I had so many down, replacing them wasn't financially viable. The upshot is also that now I have the jig, if any others go, I can re-wind, and I have also re-wound others for clients whose pianos have come in with one or two down, which makes their bill slightly better! I now have got some empty spools, so I will wind on new wire to those, and I know I can use my jig to do so - just need to rig up a laser revolution counter, which I've been looking at. Thanks again for your kind words and comments, and I hope that answers your questions!
I'll also add that when you start winding on, there is a small channel vertically on the inside, slightly to the left, which is like a guide for the wire to sit in so you get a nice neat wind from the word go. I've no idea if the pickup would work if the wire was wound the other way round, but this channel determines that is has to be wound anti-clockwise!
@@groovemonkey73Thanks for the video. I'd highly recommend using new wire. As Mark stated, there's a good chance the problem is with the wire itself.
Figure out the correct awg using a micrometer or very accurate dial caliper. The length of the wire isn't as important as the resistance/impedance of the winding. To get a ballpark, measure the diameter needed for the winding, and keep winding your new one until you're in the ballpark. Measure the resistance on a good one, then verify your reading (sounds like 180-200 ohms for yours).
Also, corroded posts? It seems like that'd be much easier to fix the posts than all this.
That said, this is very helpful for folks wanting to wind their own pickups. Thanks a ton for the video and great job bringing that old boat anchor back to life!
Excellent! Thank you so much for helping me understand whats going wrong with bad pickups (broken wires) and how to fix them. While your set up was a good work around, I’m going to try rewinding pickups using a sewing machine’s bobbin threading feature.
More than welcome - thank you for leaving a comment - I'm glad my video helped you out! Ha - that's a good plan!
Shoutout to the Zoom LiveTrak in the background. An underated studio tool.
They really are, it's an amazing piece of kit - used this for all my production work for a few years now!
Yeah this was how I did mine 30 years ago too (pre internet)... problem was that the wire is so fragile that it could easily break mid way through... still... back in those days had no options.. .could not get any local shops to stock the wire in that gauge...
I had this happen a few times. Scraped each broken end back, tied back together and carried on!
nice job ! how to measure the length of the wire for the appropriate pick up resistance !?
Thanks! For mine I was using the old wire, so I didn't need to worry about the length for the resistance, but if I was winding on new wire, I probably would of used some sort of laser revolution counter. Quite cheap to pick up on places like Ebay etc.
@@groovemonkey73 hey, thanks for your video :) if I were to use a laser counter, how many revolutions should I aim for?
Hey, thanks! I don't know exactly, but I THINK it's around 2900.
Great video thanks, my question is i found half of the pickup coils wrapped in clear plastic (like a finger plaster) on my Rhodes, ive searched the internet but cant find any info if this would prevent further erosion, or do you think it only keeps dust away from them? Thanks
I've seen that before on some Rhodes pianos, its supposed to help keep dust and muck off of them, but I don't really think it makes much difference to how long they last, as in my experience, it's corrosion at the posts which 9 times out of 10 causes them to fail, not breaks or crud on the actual winding!
thanks for the info, yeah i think ill remove them, also the lid is always on, so don't think much dust or muck will get in@@groovemonkey73
Hey thanks for the useful vid. I am wondering though, why rewind the entire pickup when you could just unwind one loop then reattach the wire the spool post? Thanks for your help
You are most welcome. The reason for rewinding the entire pickup, was because in my case a lot of them had corroded at both ends, so I would of needed to do the same at the winding start post, which of course you cannot do!
This video is what i was looking for 2 days long now... (Not that much people talking about it actually !) I have half my pickups down and looking for a solution without have my entire bank account in debt...thinking to get new wires on the internet to make each pickup over from it. I only know the 180 ohms they should have... dont know which pole N/S my 73 pickups should have, how to propely remagnetize ?
Exactly why I did the same. Simply couldn't afford to replace all the dead ones with new. The magnets shouldn't need re-magnetizing?
@@groovemonkey73 i checked each magnet orientation and they are all the same so i think it is good. I will receive an unwinder machine -hum.. from china- at the end of the mounth and i made a 3D printed part so that the pickup can be plugged in and turn freely as you did here.
Nice! Good luck!
Which is the correct wire to buy and where is it available? Excellent explanation indeed