Another new guy

[aaronbrill]

I've been lurking here for a little while trying to soak up as much knowledge as I can from all of the helpful people here! I'm a hobbyist in northern Michigan that's been building some acoustic instruments and electric guitars for the past several years, and I also have a few tube amp builds under my belt; so naturally I've been getting more and more interested in trying to make some pickups. Funny how that works. Anyway, I just finished building my pickup winder and will be starting on a Tele bridge pickup for my first attempt. Thanks to everyone here for sharing your knowledge and hopefully I'll have something to contribute soon!

Aaron

[big_teee]

I've been lurking here for a little while trying to soak up as much knowledge as I can from all of the helpful people here! I'm a hobbyist in northern Michigan that's been building some acoustic instruments and electric guitars for the past several years, and I also have a few tube amp builds under my belt; so naturally I've been getting more and more interested in trying to make some pickups. Funny how that works. Anyway, I just finished building my pickup winder and will be starting on a Tele bridge pickup for my first attempt. Thanks to everyone here for sharing your knowledge and hopefully I'll have something to contribute soon!

Aaron

Welcome Aboard Aaron:
We try to share all we can here.
I too am a retired hobbyist, and don't know much, but willing to share what few brain Cells are left!
Most of the info is in the first sticky Thread "Get Started".
Your starting with a pickup that can be wonderful or frustrating.
Be sure the screw holes in the forbon bottom flatwork are larger than the screws.
So the screws thread only in the metal plate beneath.
I like to end up gluing the metal plate to the flatwork.
Then wax pot the hell out of it, so there is no microphonics.
Make sure you don't break the wax seal.
Microphonics is the biggest probem with the Tele bridge.
Good Luck,
Terry

[aaronbrill]

Thanks for the tips! I was able to wind my pickup tonight and the winder worked great. I also charged the magnets, so now I just need to wrap the coil and wax pot it and it'll be finished. Hopefully I'll get a chance to try it out pretty soon!

[big_teee]

Looks great!
T

[madialex]

Looks good. One thing, it looks as if the tension was a bit high, the E magnet on the left of the pic looks as if the flat work has pulled up on it a little. This will cause you major headaches if you don't catch it. The wire will pinch between the magnet and flatwork and short to the magnet. Most times you end up with a flat sorta muddy tone, but sometimes it seems ok, thats not good, Failure down the road. You can check this with your DVM one probe to the start eyelet and touch the outer magnets. if it reads open you're ok, if you get any reading it has shorted.

[aaronbrill]

Yes, I think my tension was a little higher than it needed to be. The bobbin didn't flare too much though, if I set a straightedge across the top of the bobbin there isn't much of a gap in the middle (maybe 0.010-0.015"). Everything tests out good with the meter so far, and I did lacquer the bobbin and tape wrap the magnets before winding so hopefully I won't get any shorts down the road. I ended up going 8900 turns which yielded about 7.2k with my 42awg wire. The real test is yet to come

[Stratz]

The flaring can happen with moderate tension as well depending on how full you load the bobbin. You can move your traverse stops in a few thousandths and that may help. Basically you just need to keep an eye on it as the bobbin gets more full. If you see the top starting to flare you can either stay away from the outside edges or just stop winding and save the bobbin for a different set or application. This might not be practical if you're only planning on winding one but if you make a lot of pickups sooner or later you will find a match for it.

I sometimes wrap the bobbins with Kaptan tape if I'm using very old Formvar or Plain Enamel wire to stop the wire from shorting on the alnico poles. I'll use 12mm wide Kaptan tape for a standard Strat bobbin height of .436" which it's a tiny bit wider than the bobbin which assures that the pole pieces are completely covered. The stuff I use only one mil thick and it stands up well to heat for potting.

Looks like you have your eyelets installed upside down. The factory side should be on the bottom of the bobbin and the staked side facing towards the coil. The wire can snag under the eyelet if you get too close.
Counter sink the staked side and you'll be good to go.

All in all it looks very nice for a first wind.
Rob.

[big_teee]

I am a real tight winder, one of my many faults. lol
After I build the flatwork, and get it like I want it, I sand everything smooth.
I like to super glue the E string Magnets inside the flatwork top and bottom.
I sand again.
I then spray the whole bobbin inside and out with Krylon clear lacquer.
Lots of little tricks to single coils, but Ain't it fun?
It Beats the Hell out of Working!
Like Stratz said, overall great job.
T

[Ward]

No curl up with the woody tops