Pickup Winding!

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
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ScottCirrus
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Pickup Winding!

Post by ScottCirrus » Mon Sep 10, 2018 3:49 am

Hello there,

I've recently been dabbling in pickup winding and wanted to share a few pictures - if any of you have thought of this, maybe it will inspire you to try it out :)

First of all, my DIY pickup winder made from an RC motor, a PWM controller, an infrared light switch & counter plus some scrap metal & wood:
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I did my first winds on a couple of JM and Tele pickups and built these WRHB clones for a friend - they turned out quite nice:
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Right now I'm working on a WRHB-style humbucker in Jazzmaster format (obviously inspired by Curtis Novak's pickups :whistle: ) - with the help of a 3D-printed baseplate (and laser cutting for clean cover holes soon)
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There really is some interesting stuff to be made from bobbins/flatwork, magnets and a bunch of wire!
If you are interested, I write some blog posts now and then on my wordpress @ https://topologytwang.wordpress.com/blog
Would love to hear your pickup winding stories as well! :)

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s_mcsleazy
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Re: Pickup Winding!

Post by s_mcsleazy » Mon Sep 10, 2018 3:53 am

pretty sweet man. ive never tried winding my own pickups (well sucsessfully) but i do have a few sets of jazzmaster bobbins kicking around that i would love to get something done with down the line.

i also love your take on a wide range.
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'Are you trying to seduce me Mrs Robinson? Or do you just want me to solder a couple of resistors into your Muff?'

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ScottCirrus
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Re: Pickup Winding!

Post by ScottCirrus » Mon Sep 10, 2018 3:57 am

I've found jazzmaster pickups to be a bit harder to wind, because they are so flat - standard Telecaster pickups are pretty easy to practise winding on, plus the flatwork and magnets for those are pretty cheap and ubiquitous as well.
Last edited by ScottCirrus on Tue Sep 11, 2018 1:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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timtam
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Re: Pickup Winding!

Post by timtam » Mon Sep 10, 2018 4:15 am

Where do you get your WRHB parts ?
"I just knew I wanted to make a sound that was the complete opposite of a Les Paul, and that’s pretty much a Jaguar." Rowland S. Howard.

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ScottCirrus
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Re: Pickup Winding!

Post by ScottCirrus » Mon Sep 10, 2018 4:17 am

From this UK shop: https://www.axesrus.co.uk/Wide-Range-Hu ... s/2502.htm
Mojotone, Stewmac etc. might have those as well, not sure.

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Re: Pickup Winding!

Post by timtam » Mon Sep 10, 2018 4:49 am

Thanks for that. Looks like they're pushing more of the reissue style WRHB with bar magnet than the original configuration.

I've had vague thoughts of trying to build an original-style one. I have an original 1970's WRHB to work off. Of course the Cunife is probably never going to appear again, but there are threaded Alnico-like rods around ...
https://www.philadelphialuthiertools.co ... -set-of-6/
I thought that the cheapest way to get started was possibly to buy one of GFS's reissue-styled alnico or ceramic bar magnet WRHBs and modify it. Their DCR is already up around the high values of the originals (unlike the Fender reissue WRHBs), so a first attempt might not even require a rewind ??
https://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-WideTo ... c_488.html

Then there are the more 'mystical' original elements like the 'reflector' plate ...
http://curtisnovak.com/pickups/repairs/WRHB-ri/
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussio ... ment_43108
Last edited by timtam on Mon Sep 10, 2018 6:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"I just knew I wanted to make a sound that was the complete opposite of a Les Paul, and that’s pretty much a Jaguar." Rowland S. Howard.

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ScottCirrus
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Re: Pickup Winding!

Post by ScottCirrus » Mon Sep 10, 2018 5:08 am

Yes, definitely looks like they intend to sell those parts for a "PAF in a WRHB cover".

I have not yet found a good enough source for AlNiCo/FeCrCo screw-shaped magnets, so I'm sticking to non-adjustable rods for now. I have come across the ones you linked before, but they are rather pricey and ship from the US, so I'm still searching..
Modding those GFS pickups could be promising, considering how cheap they are!

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Re: Pickup Winding!

Post by TeenageShutdown! » Tue Sep 11, 2018 9:04 am

Do you have a pic of that JM? The pickguard & control layout looks pretty cool!

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ScottCirrus
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Re: Pickup Winding!

Post by ScottCirrus » Tue Sep 11, 2018 1:24 pm

I posted some pictures in another thread here: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=102898
(tl;dr - it's a semi-hollow walnut mustang with a third-bridge tele pickup)

Today I had my first experience with a laser cutter - I cut some Jaguar flatwork plates and some baseplates for the WRHB design mentioned above out of acrylic glass (I did 52mm for bridge pickups and 50mm for neck pickups):

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Exciting stuff! Now I'll need to get my hands on some of those no-holes JM covers and laser-cut the holes for the WRHB arrangement. Tomorrow I'll be taught how to use a CNC router - that will allow for even more experimentation :w00t:

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Re: Pickup Winding!

Post by TeenageShutdown! » Wed Sep 12, 2018 6:44 am

Wow! What a brilliant guitar. You’re a genius, man!!!

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ScottCirrus
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Re: Pickup Winding!

Post by ScottCirrus » Wed Sep 12, 2018 7:45 am

TeenageShutdown! wrote:
Wed Sep 12, 2018 6:44 am
Wow! What a brilliant guitar. You’re a genius, man!!!
Haha, thanks! My craftsmanship on that neck was still lacking though. But it sounds great and I found the third bridge strings to even be usable in a melodic way rather than just 3rd bridge noise freakouts. (quick demo from way back: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2aspwgygxzr2d ... a.wav?dl=0)

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Re: Pickup Winding!

Post by s_mcsleazy » Wed Sep 12, 2018 1:35 pm

well man, i'm sure if your looking to get your craftsmanship up, many people on here would be more than happy to test em out for ya
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Re: Pickup Winding!

Post by TeenageShutdown! » Sat Sep 15, 2018 9:54 am

The demo sounds interesting. How’s it sound overdriven?

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ScottCirrus
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Re: Pickup Winding!

Post by ScottCirrus » Thu Sep 20, 2018 8:53 am

TeenageShutdown! wrote:
Sat Sep 15, 2018 9:54 am
The demo sounds interesting. How’s it sound overdriven?
Pretty much uncontrollable :D
https://www.dropbox.com/s/d4xsh2xxsb040 ... d.wav?dl=0 (3rd bridge blend pot 0%, 50%, 100%)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bjbog1kkhi1cy ... y.wav?dl=0

This is on E standard through a fully cranked Harmonic Percolator. Have yet to experiment with different drone tunings and other fuzz/OD boxes, could be more interesting. The 3rd bridge resonances are pretty loud even without the pickup blended in, as you can hear.

Pickups:
Sadly, Fender style pickup covers seem to be made out of PVC, which can't be cut on a laser cutter :mellow:
So I have to make use of my 3d-printed drilling templates for now.

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