Leesona 102B In The House!

[JGundry]

One Leesona 102 was not enough so I bought another as backup! I'm still shocked that I ran across a second one in such good shape. It is a Leesona 102B that still has some of the original paperwork dated January 1957, right at the start of the P.A.F. era. The Leesona 102B differs a little cosmetically from the Leesona 102 but mechanically the drive gears, clutches, and traverse cam and layout on this 1957 Leesona 102B are identical to my 1948 Leesona 102. The housings on the Leesona 102b are changed in an effort to seal the oil in better but it still leaks oil.

There is one major improvement though to the auto stop counters with the Leesona 102B that makes them rock solid reliable compared to the crappy auto stop on the Leesona 102. The Leesona 102 had a wonky lever/mercury switch set up that just did not work reliably. The Leesona 102B has an electronic auto stop and improved solenoid set-up that is still running perfectly on this machine. This is speculation on my part but if Gibson had a Leesona 102 and also later bought a Leesona 102B it would explain why some later Leesona winding pattern P.A.F.'s have a much more consistent ohm range than earlier P.A.F.'s. If these later P.A.F's and Pat. # pickups were wound on a Leesona 102B with the improved auto stop it would follow that you would get a more consistent ohm range.

Anyway here are some pictures. This machine is pretty much as it was in 1957 and it still works flawlessly. I have it set up to run P.A.F. bobbins and a P-90 bobbin. It also has quick release chucks so I can do narrow spaced P.A.F. repairs and 7 string stuff if I want. Right now I'm going to run some custom P.A.F. models on it. My 1948 Leesona 102 will continue to wind the standard P.A.F. models on my site.

[salvarsan]

Outstanding score, Mr. Gundry.

Could you include a close-up of one of those tensioners?

[ReWind]

The tensioners? Clips and suede/felt, it looks like to me. :P I don't imagine those overheads would be suitable for pickups?

How about showing the cam and internals. That's a sexy gear shot. Let's see her nekkid! lol

Seriously, congrats, Jon. That's a damn cool piece you got there! Where did you score this one? Did you put the aluminum billet blocks on it or was it already winding pickups previously?

[JGundry]

This machine came from a company that bought it new in 1957 that did aerospace work. You guys are not going to want to hear this but the seller posted on this forum a few months ago that he had several Leesona 108 machines and a few Geo Stevens Machines. I posted that the Leesona 108 was a pretty large single spindle machine and not real desirable for pickup winding but the Stevens machines would probably get some interest. The seller then emailed me directly to tell me that he also had one 3 station Leesona 108. Well there is no 3 station Leesona 108 so I asked him to send me some photos and sure enough it was this Leesona 102B machine. He then clarified that it was a Leesona 102 then I made an offer to buy it and we agreed upon a price that we were both happy with. I really just stumbled upon this machine because of the email he sent me. But I'm glad he emailed me!

Here is a picture that shows the tensioners near the wire guides. It is an alligator clip and felt added to the wire guide with a modified P-90 baseplate. The tensioners above that came with the Leesona have the tensioning wheel bypassed and the wire only passes through a felt that is part of the tensioner before the wire goes to the pulley and down to the wire guide. 42 awg wire is too fine to use the tensioning wheel function. The tension comes from a combination of the overhead felt and the wire guide felt.

The fixtures were tooled for me by my plastics molder. I did take the machine apart to change the turn per layer gears and make sure the clutches and everything were running properly. I also had to reverse the winding direction which required transposing some gears and adding two gears to the counter drive so it would continue to see the same counter drive rotation. That took a little time because I had to have 3 pairs of gears custom made because the originals were long lost. But now that everything is done it is perfect for winding Gibson repro pickups. The right tool for the right job!

[Jim Darr]

Jon,

Very cool find!!!! What a great story on how you found this machine. Thanks for sharing the pics.

Jim

[David King]

Cute little machine and it looks right at home now.

[salvarsan]

... I did take the machine apart to change the turn per layer gears and make sure the clutches and everything were running properly. I also had to reverse the winding direction which required transposing some gears and adding two gears to the counter drive so it would continue to see the same counter drive rotation. That took a little time because I had to have 3 pairs of gears custom made because the originals were long lost. But now that everything is done it is perfect for winding Gibson repro pickups.

Mr.Gundry, you are one crackerjack machinist who incidentally makes pickups.

[JGundry]

Mr.Gundry, you are one crackerjack machinist who incidentally makes pickups.

Thanks but my plastic molder is the real crackerjack machinist. Although I must say having a 1964 Studebaker Daytona in high school was good practice for overhauling a Leesona 102B.