I live in cape town South Africa, I am an electrician having found the passion for the force at a young age, also been playing music since i was 15, starting on guitar, by ear, still only by ear.. to me thats the only way.. now im 30 and im tired in my business and it struck me this morning for how long I have wanted to make my own guitar for, but entire guitar, winding the pickup coils myself too.. I am very good with wood work and have fixed a number of broken necks etc etc for friends over the year.. Now it is time to fully transision into my passion.. I am going to go pay a visit to the great guitar maker, Mark Maingaurd soon and begin this journey.. I have subscribed and thank you Dylan, watching this video right now was the deal breaker for me, I can do this!!
I was winding cigar box pickups using a hand drill...what a pain! Lol. Anyway, I recently got a sewing machine for free with a foot control for speed. I'm going to hook up a counter. I can't wait! It's so much fun to create something like pickups. I love it!
Hey brother love ur stuff I have a huge question about maybe using a copper mold around the pickup somehow or maybe like a solder affect but copper infused or copper instead completely
Winding a single pickup isn't difficult. It is when you wish to wind/manufacture many pickups and you want them to all have the same characteristics, that is when you need Science and Engineering. Great Channel, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us all.
Very informative. Thank you. Are the pickup windings different for a Baritone guitar verses a standard electric guitar? In other words, are Baritone guitar pickups made differently to produce a good tone based on their longer scale length of 27" up to 30.5"?
Does the pattern of winding "noticeably" affect the sound? I know in theory and on paper people argue that it does, but, does it actually? Uniform vs scatter wound? If all other factors are the same.
Not sure if you guys cares but if you're bored like me atm then you can watch pretty much all of the latest series on InstaFlixxer. Been binge watching with my gf recently =)
How would using a hand tensioner tool affect the final tone of the pickup, or rather the variable resistance within an individual pickup? I have been winding by hand using just my hands to guide the copper wire and the pikcups have lots of variation. Im thinking of moving to a tensioner tool but I am worried that will kill some of the Spirit of the final result as the resists will be more consistent in tension.... Thoughts on this?
Thanks for the basic primer on pickup wire. But there was no talk about tone.?. Unless I missed it, which is possible because I'm an old rock and roller and I'm a little frazzled.
So does that mean that if I don't put much tension on the pickup wire, I can get a DC resistance of about 7.6 and If i put a lot of tension then I can get to 14. Love your vids by the way!
But is it a problem having some inconsistencies during the winding process, when the resistance of the completed pick up is on par with the value you wanted to achieve?
would you do a video on creating a hot single coil with multiple taps? For example, a 14k single coil with a tap at 10 and 6.5? really get into showing us how its done. I think that would be cool
Is it a decent idea to just wind the pickup until I get the desired resistance, rather than stopping at a set number of winds? Is there anyone who does this?
If the number of winds varies, but the resistance is the same every time I wind a pickup, do you think that would produce a more/less consistent sound than if I did the exact same number of winds and ended up with different resistance due to different tension/scattering?
I don't believe for a minute that the change in resistance due to putting more tension on the wire affect the sound in any significant way. The tolerance of the potmere in the guitar has a far greater impact on the output. A much more likely explanation is that a more tightly wound pickup has a different parasitic capacitance, which can shift the resonance of the pickup. Although again, the parasitic capacitance of your guitar cable will have a greater influence. We are all mistifying this stuff way too much!
Exactly what I have found winding pickups by hand. You can have a huge difference in capacitance, and the resonant freq shifts significantly between two coils with the same inductance.
More miraculous than the 42awg wire 'stretching', the insulation must stretch as well without breaking(!!??). Theoretical true and practically impossible. I'm not sure if this was spawned by SDuncan white paper, but it just adds to the other nonsense that distracts from what really matters. This concern should be filed with the hyper-ventilating over 'capacitance due to parallel wires' (as an attack on big pickup makers). A pickup has capacitance for sure... but not due to the wildly random alignment of wire around a bobbin changing alignment every 4.5 inches (these aren't radio transmitters). Trying to hammer all these misapplied physics square pegs into the round holes of real world pickup construction is distracting from just making solid quality pickups and let the magnets do their thing.
It means theres a lower resistance. Say 7.5k comoared to 9.5k. A 7.5k piclup. Like alot of old 50s ones dont hit the amp as hard so with a tube amp you have more clean headroom before it starts making the amp break up. With a hotter pickup like 9.5k it will push the amps preamp harder and make it breakup more. Causing what we call overdrice or distortion
I'm winding my first couple of pickups and the wire keeps snapping. I think it's due to the way the wire leaves the spool. I hear everyone leaves it on the floor with no problems, but when I tried it snapped as the turn reached the back side of the loop . The only way it almost works for me is to hold the spool at a 90* angle facing the pickup bobbin so the wire leaves the spool from the top, with no angle creating tension, and relatively close to the bobbin. Anyone with the same problem? any tips?
Man Alive!! Tough Luck there Joey! I keep my wire on a shelf about 2 to three feet directly below my guide bar and it spools off fine. One issue I've had with a couple wire manufacturers is they don't always put the labeling (sticker, or print) on the same end of the spool. Try flipping ypur spool upside down. Of course you want to start at a loooooww speed at first too . Another tip, you might think you need some slack from the spool.... slack, in my experience makes for a LOT more broken wire. Good Luck My Brother!
Hi Joey, I make pickups, yes the spool is on the floor but you might need to sand off any sharp edges on the spool! They always have 'em! They usually have a seam right down the middle, take that off with a bit of sandpaper then you should be good to go!
for pedal steel guitar what kind of price for 10 string single coil pickup 18K with 7/16 string spacing. and 6 string single coil with 7/16 string spacing 12K
@@DylanTalksTone Yes. In purpose not to break a wire. If a given wire gauge has a breaking tension you should be able to determine what DCR rise is at that tension. Nobody cares cause DCR is irrelevant. Wind count to DCR wind ratio tells you however how your winding is scattered or loose.
@@zbyszekolko3998 correct, so when hand winding, we wind to a particular wind count, not DCR. Once the resistance per foot of a particular roll of wire is determined, you can tell if you are over tensioning the wire. This is key for consistency
@@DylanTalksTone DCR of a given wire is specified at unknown tension used to stretch it to make a measurement. I don't think anybody bothers checking this in guitar pickup bussiness cause it is irrelevant. If you do, you should be able to reveal what is the real resistance per foot of unstreched 42AWG wire and how it rises at breaking tension. Can you?
![[UA] NAVI vs MOUZ | BO5 | IEM Rio 2024](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/CMBYk0cbGoA/mqdefault.jpg)
I live in cape town South Africa, I am an electrician having found the passion for the force at a young age, also been playing music since i was 15, starting on guitar, by ear, still only by ear.. to me thats the only way..
now im 30 and im tired in my business and it struck me this morning for how long I have wanted to make my own guitar for, but entire guitar, winding the pickup coils myself too.. I am very good with wood work and have fixed a number of broken necks etc etc for friends over the year..
Now it is time to fully transision into my passion.. I am going to go pay a visit to the great guitar maker, Mark Maingaurd soon and begin this journey.. I have subscribed and thank you Dylan, watching this video right now was the deal breaker for me, I can do this!!
I was winding cigar box pickups using a hand drill...what a pain! Lol. Anyway, I recently got a sewing machine for free with a foot control for speed. I'm going to hook up a counter. I can't wait! It's so much fun to create something like pickups. I love it!
74dart man I need to try this
@@PuckettCigarBoxGuitar Hey good idea .
Hey brother love ur stuff I have a huge question about maybe using a copper mold around the pickup somehow or maybe like a solder affect but copper infused or copper instead completely
Winding a single pickup isn't difficult. It is when you wish to wind/manufacture many pickups and you want them to all have the same characteristics, that is when you need Science and Engineering.
Great Channel, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us all.
Manufacturing engineering is a gravely underappreciated discipline. Just not sexy.
Very informative. Thank you. Are the pickup windings different for a Baritone guitar verses a standard electric guitar? In other words, are Baritone guitar pickups made differently to produce a good tone based on their longer scale length of 27" up to 30.5"?
Does the pattern of winding "noticeably" affect the sound? I know in theory and on paper people argue that it does, but, does it actually? Uniform vs scatter wound? If all other factors are the same.
God bless you brother, love the vids. Got my subscription for sure!!!!
have you tried a copper alloy wire like Copper Nickle? What was that golden copper?
2:55 - 3:05 genuinely laughed out loud at the honesty 😂. Love it mate.
Not sure if you guys cares but if you're bored like me atm then you can watch pretty much all of the latest series on InstaFlixxer. Been binge watching with my gf recently =)
@Isaiah Dante definitely, I have been using instaflixxer for years myself :D
How would using a hand tensioner tool affect the final tone of the pickup, or rather the variable resistance within an individual pickup? I have been winding by hand using just my hands to guide the copper wire and the pikcups have lots of variation. Im thinking of moving to a tensioner tool but I am worried that will kill some of the Spirit of the final result as the resists will be more consistent in tension.... Thoughts on this?
Do you use a tensioner when you wind? OR do you let the wire flow through your hand?
Very interesting. Thank you for your explanation.
Thanks for the basic primer on pickup wire. But there was no talk about tone.?. Unless I missed it, which is possible because I'm an old rock and roller and I'm a little frazzled.
the series of videos will cover the full spectrum including tone as he said..
So the tighter you wind the wire the more bass? Or is it more trebble?
So does that mean that if I don't put much tension on the pickup wire, I can get a DC resistance of about 7.6 and If i put a lot of tension then I can get to 14. Love your vids by the way!
But is it a problem having some inconsistencies during the winding process, when the resistance of the completed pick up is on par with the value you wanted to achieve?
would you do a video on creating a hot single coil with multiple taps? For example, a 14k single coil with a tap at 10 and 6.5? really get into showing us how its done. I think that would be cool
Anthony Park that is in the works actually
I’m going to give it a try
Is it a decent idea to just wind the pickup until I get the desired resistance, rather than stopping at a set number of winds? Is there anyone who does this?
If the number of winds varies, but the resistance is the same every time I wind a pickup, do you think that would produce a more/less consistent sound than if I did the exact same number of winds and ended up with different resistance due to different tension/scattering?
I don't believe for a minute that the change in resistance due to putting more tension on the wire affect the sound in any significant way. The tolerance of the potmere in the guitar has a far greater impact on the output. A much more likely explanation is that a more tightly wound pickup has a different parasitic capacitance, which can shift the resonance of the pickup. Although again, the parasitic capacitance of your guitar cable will have a greater influence. We are all mistifying this stuff way too much!
Exactly what I have found winding pickups by hand. You can have a huge difference in capacitance, and the resonant freq shifts significantly between two coils with the same inductance.
..and what the deuce is a 'potmere' ??
Nice explanation..
Does different coil wire affect the pick up or its plain tension?
The coil wire affects it big time. Subscribe to the channel, we are releasing a few more videos on this subject
sure im already in since long ago thanks btw!
what would you recomand ?
Mkay.
What happens if wound too loosely?
Would it be possible to wind the pickup with a lot stronger wire like speaker wire or something?
I think with thicker wire it limits the number of turns and may not be effective
when is part 2? and etc... good info!
In a few days. Hit the subscribe button and we will make sure you know
Does anyone have a good supplier of the bulk wire for pickups? I have been shopping around. Thanks.
we do, shoot me an email at dylan@dylanpickups.com
Can I use pure silver wire for this,even though it’s 15.77 an ounce
the average savage you could. It wouldn’t be worth it, and it’s very difficult to use, but you could!
More miraculous than the 42awg wire 'stretching', the insulation must stretch as well without breaking(!!??). Theoretical true and practically impossible. I'm not sure if this was spawned by SDuncan white paper, but it just adds to the other nonsense that distracts from what really matters. This concern should be filed with the hyper-ventilating over 'capacitance due to parallel wires' (as an attack on big pickup makers). A pickup has capacitance for sure... but not due to the wildly random alignment of wire around a bobbin changing alignment every 4.5 inches (these aren't radio transmitters). Trying to hammer all these misapplied physics square pegs into the round holes of real world pickup construction is distracting from just making solid quality pickups and let the magnets do their thing.
When someone says 1 pup has more headroom than another pup,, could u tell me what is meant by that plz. Thx
It means theres a lower resistance. Say 7.5k comoared to 9.5k. A 7.5k piclup. Like alot of old 50s ones dont hit the amp as hard so with a tube amp you have more clean headroom before it starts making the amp break up. With a hotter pickup like 9.5k it will push the amps preamp harder and make it breakup more. Causing what we call overdrice or distortion
I'm winding my first couple of pickups and the wire keeps snapping. I think it's due to the way the wire leaves the spool. I hear everyone leaves it on the floor with no problems, but when I tried it snapped as the turn reached the back side of the loop . The only way it almost works for me is to hold the spool at a 90* angle facing the pickup bobbin so the wire leaves the spool from the top, with no angle creating tension, and relatively close to the bobbin. Anyone with the same problem? any tips?
Man Alive!! Tough Luck there Joey!
I keep my wire on a shelf about 2 to three feet directly below my guide bar and it spools off fine. One issue I've had with a couple wire manufacturers is they don't always put the labeling (sticker, or print) on the same end of the spool. Try flipping ypur spool upside down. Of course you want to start at a loooooww speed at first too . Another tip, you might think you need some slack from the spool.... slack, in my experience makes for a LOT more broken wire. Good Luck My Brother!
Hi Joey, I make pickups, yes the spool is on the floor but you might need to sand off any sharp edges on the spool! They always have 'em! They usually have a seam right down the middle, take that off with a bit of sandpaper then you should be good to go!
Thanks for this excellent video. Guitar players, educate from this instead of believing in mambo jumbo hand-winding, which is only a marketing humbug.
for pedal steel guitar what kind of price for 10 string single coil pickup 18K with 7/16 string spacing. and 6 string single coil with 7/16 string spacing 12K
Seriously? You can significantly (let's say more than 2%) rise the resistance of 42 AWG wire by streching it?
I don't think so.
You can actually. It’s something you have to watch while winding
@@DylanTalksTone Yes. In purpose not to break a wire. If a given wire gauge has a breaking tension you should be able to determine what DCR rise is at that tension. Nobody cares cause DCR is irrelevant. Wind count to DCR wind ratio tells you however how your winding is scattered or loose.
@@zbyszekolko3998 correct, so when hand winding, we wind to a particular wind count, not DCR. Once the resistance per foot of a particular roll of wire is determined, you can tell if you are over tensioning the wire. This is key for consistency
@@DylanTalksTone DCR of a given wire is specified at unknown tension used to stretch it to make a measurement. I don't think anybody bothers checking this in guitar pickup bussiness cause it is irrelevant. If you do, you should be able to reveal what is the real resistance per foot of unstreched 42AWG wire and how it rises at breaking tension. Can you?
I’ll mention this in a livestream to explain it so you can understand it.
That's not how copper wire is made. Copper wire is made by throwing a penny between two Jewish guys and letting them fight over it.