I had 2 of such pickups, of which one was dead. So a replacement was direly needed anyway. I could go out there and buy me a set of SJM-1's, some other Duncans, some Lollars,... But then I was left with a set of pickups no-one really wanted. Then I read on the interwebz about someone in Holland who rewinds, reconstructs and designs pickups, and apparently developed a special way of winding the pickups in such a way he can "steer" the frequency response and string balance, thus making a bright pickup, or a punchy one, or a warm one, or a combination of those properties. A few forumites of another forum have worked with him in the past, and he can indeed deliver what he claims, which made it very interesting for me, since I was in the market for a set of very warm, punchy sounding JM pickups. And it wouldn't break the bank either, as they would be cheaper than buying new SJM's, with the added benefit of not being left with surplus hardware.
So I mailed Paul, and we chatted back & forth about the desires and wishes, what is possible from a technical point, whether I want RWRP or not,... Turns out my desires were within the possibilities, so I sent my pickups his way to have them rewound, based on the pickups in his 1963 Jazzmaster (which have quite a substantial coil to them, almost like a big patty of meat oozing between the two fiberboards).
I sent him 2 stock MIJ JM Pickups with a coil-height of 7mm, and a co-axial hookup wire, and I was returned:
2 modified JM pickups with the bottom being lifted a bit to limit the height of the coil to a mere 4mm on the neck and 5mm on the bridge, rewound with Elektrisola Red 42AWG wire (the same wire used in Höfner Pickups), double wax-potted, and the coil protected with some protective tape both on the inside (magnetic slugs) and outside and cloth hookup wires. So in pictures:
Before:
After (but prior to applying the tape):
At this moment, the pickups are on their way to my place, so I hope they'll arrive here before/around the weekend, so I can install them. Obligatory soundfiles will follow.
