Solder start to eyelet before or after winding?

[David King]

I just want to take an informal pole as to how many solder their start wires to the lug or eyelet before they wind.

I've been winding first and then drilling the eyelet holes and soldering afterwards but I'm wondering if that's the most efficient way...

[Jim Darr]

Eyelets installed first for “F” style flatwork, then solder after winding.

Jim

[J S Moore]

I used to solder before but the odd shorted coil was a real pain in the ass. Now I solder everything up afterwards and I think it makes a neater job.

[jonson]

Same here. through the eyelet a couple of times round the edge of the forbon and the same at the finish and then solder. But then it's not often I wind these.

[Zhangliqun]

I solder before winding so I can take readings during the winding process, make sure there are no shorts or other problems.

[Bill M]

Originally Posted by Zhangliqun

I solder before winding so I can take readings during the winding process, make sure there are no shorts or other problems.

For strat bobbins, i thread the wire through the eyelet several times and on the last thread i use a sewers cinch knot and leave approximately 2 inches of wire. Then i tape the left over 2 inches to the bobbin face plate and sand the end so if i need to take readings during winding i can. IMHO if you solder before winding you are taking a chance of damaging/breaking the wire when you are installing the lead wires.

[Possum]

Its really not a good idea to take readings during winding unless you are painting over the scraped insulation with laquer or whatever, or you leave a weak spot that will be subject to break down. I used to do that when I started but now I rely on turn counts and only take a reading when the wind is finished so I have one clean continous coil. I just tape the start to the faceplate and put the ends through the eyelet when its off the winder. I read that Fender would wrap the wire through the eyelet without removing the insulation and when the pickup was soldered they would scrape the wire with the tip to break through the insulation, maybe one reason alot of old Fender pickups go bad. Seth Lover thought this was a really poor practice...

[Bill M]

I totally agree, its not a good idea to take readings on your wire during winding. Sometimes I take readings from the start wire to the magnets after a few passes to make sure that the first few passes did not short out on the magnets. I do it as a precaution only, even though the bobbins are laquer dipped. As for failed pickups, the majority that i have rewound were either from internal corrosion or from someone pushing the magnets down for string balance reasons. I haven't been fortunate enough to have a pickup in for repair that only needed the solder joint retouched at the lead wires.

[Possum]

With any dead pickup the first thing I do is resolder the joints, I saved a dead Duncan someone sent me for my collection, and a couple Fender strats that way. With old PAFs or P90s, often I will just start unwinding and see if I can find whats going on, measuring now and then looking for good wire. Many times I will come to a point where the wire just dissolved at a tiny point leaving a clean break. You usually only see this on unpotted type pickups. If you're lucky and find such a spot near the end of the coil you can splice in good wire and put back the winds you took off, much preferable than rewinding the whole coil with modern wire. The last PAF I did unfortunately the coil start solder joint was bad and those are buried inside the coil, spent hours unwinding by hand but found some surprising things along the way, very eye opening....

[mkat]

I install the eyelets, thread the wire through one eyelet (no wrapping), wind, then wrap the wire and solder to the eyelets. I also go by turn count and don't take readings till the end, unless I'm trying things out then just lacquer the area when done.

[David King]

The reason I asked is that I end up breaking the inside lead off at the edge of the coil when i try to remove the dumb tape that keeps it from flapping during the wind. It sound's like I'm just clumsy and I am but there has got to be a better way to stash that loose leader than taping it down.

I'm going to try a piece of "hook" velcro around the edge of the platter/ disk and just see if it holds the wire w/o breaking it when I pull the coil off the platter.

Any other ideas? I tried double stick tape but it was too strong the first coil and too weak after that

[jonson]

I said I wrap round a few times without soldering earlier on but I also leave about a 4inch tail and pull it fairly tight and masking tape it behind the faceplate. Just cut it and remove coil leaving 3+ inches to play with.lift tape on next one and hold down again.

[David King]

I just tried the velcro and it works!

[David Schwab]

Originally Posted by David King

Any other ideas? I tried double stick tape but it was too strong the first coil and too weak after that

I use either the foam type double stick tape or the thin stuff from Stew-Mac. I can get about 4 winds before I have to replace it.

I don't use eyelets though, but I solder my start lead before I start winding, then I tape it to the inside of the bobbin and wind over it.

[mkat]

Originally Posted by David King

The reason I asked is that I end up breaking the inside lead off at the edge of the coil when i try to remove the dumb tape that keeps it from flapping during the wind.

I use double sided foam tape too. I run the wire through an eyelet, then run it to the top of the winder plate and tape it at the top. Do you mean the bobbin or wire flapping?

[Possum]

I tape the magnet wire to the back of the face plate using blue painter's tape, delecate surface, it pulls off easiily without ripping the magnet wire but you do have to be slow about it....

[David King]

I tell you I'm liking the velcro a lot because the wire just slips right out of it when you pull the coil out. I put one tiny patch 1/4" square on the edge of the platter and the other on the opposite side but on the face away from the coil mounting side.

I've also instituted a 1/16" pin dead center on the winder shaft to locate the flatwork, I wish I'd done that a year ago. I had to drill the corresponding hole in all my drilling jigs for all the different styles and string spacings (14 of them now) It took me all afternoon on the milling machine.

Now that I have a live tailstock that takes 2 seconds to slide in and out and lock, I can change bobbins in seconds instead of minutes. I actually wound a useable J coil at 2K rpm with it and the wind took just 5 minutes from start to finish. Too bad I need 8 coils for just one bass...

Now if we could just get that CNC traverse going and then find a quicker way to thread the wire through eyelets. I might be able to finish a set in less than a full day.

[Spence]

Originally Posted by David King

Now if we could just get that CNC traverse going and then find a quicker way to thread the wire through eyelets. I might be able to finish a set in less than a full day.

Have you considered using the mechanism from a desk fan?

[Bill M]

Originally Posted by David King

The reason I asked is that I end up breaking the inside lead off at the edge of the coil when i try to remove the dumb tape that keeps it from flapping during the wind. It sound's like I'm just clumsy and I am but there has got to be a better way to stash that loose leader than taping it down.

This is why I thread my wire first with a cinch knot at the last thread. When I first started rewinding old Fender pickups I wouldn't thread the wire before winding, and I would finish the wind, remove the bobbin from the winder and start to thread the start wire. I've had the wire break on the first thread, then you are SOL. Now you have to strip the bobbin and start all over again.

[Zhangliqun]

Originally Posted by Bill M

IMHO if you solder before winding you are taking a chance of damaging/breaking the wire when you are installing the lead wires.

There is a risk there to be sure but I've developed a technique to where that just doesn't happen.

Originally Posted by possum

Its really not a good idea to take readings during winding unless you are painting over the scraped insulation with laquer or whatever, or you leave a weak spot that will be subject to break down.

I hit it the bald spot with a thin coat of red nail polish -- red so I can make sure I hit the spot -- wait for it to dry and then continue winding.