Flatwork and Bobbins

[Woodenspoke]

My never ending questions.

On one of the site sites Visit I could swear they are using a bobbin for fender single coil pickups instead of two pieces of flat work. maybe I am missing something or it just looks that way.

Even though Flatwork and Bobbins seems like the cheapest part of pickup I find it the most confusing part of what should I do about them.

First a bobbin is under $2 in quantity more like $1 through a retailer with discounts. The flatwork can be bought in huge plywood sized sheets for about $170 at .062, Haven't priced out the next larger Strat size base. I guess if I made my own flatwork it would cost pennies for each piece.

I can see that the bobbins may be metric which may not be such a big deal since slugs and the additional hardware is also on the low end.

Flatwork in metric is a pain because 5mm vs 3/16 inch Al5 magnets may be more difficult to find and any Guitar labeled (cut for use in instruments) parts are expensive.

Making quantities of flat work without killing yourself would be my question. Figure I have every tool known to man plus a small CNC mill. The issue with using a mill is holding stock. If I could cut it out of a large sheet it would work but the mill is very small (Mini mill). I had thoughts of just drilling two holes and then bolt together a stack finish drilling the holes and pattern route the shape.

I can see the pricing on SM's flatwork sheets are very expensive.

I guess my question would be two fold, buy or make the flatwork and would you know of a magnet dealer who sells 5MM sizes for single coils?

The other question is their a bobbin manufacturer who will sell in bulk rather than a going through a discounted retailer. Or a flatwork wholesaler who has the capacity to sell in quantity?


MY main point is sometimes time is more valuable than doing it on the cheap, but in this case it brings up a whole host of issues.

[David King]

Most of the production shops are probably using cnc laser or a stamping press to cut forbon. I'd recommend a Freud Diablo 40 tooth x 7 1/4" contractor's blade on a tablesaw to quickly and accurately rip the strips to width and cut those to length with a miter fence. You could then drill them in stacks using a fixture on your cnc and radius the corners of a stack using a corner rounding bearing bit in a router (while holding the stack together with dowels using the holes you just drilled).

Take how much is your time worth, divide by # sets of flatwork you can make an hour, add in materials and tooling cost. Compare to cost of finished flatwork + time selecting and ordering it + cost of shipping. Don't neglect to factor in the expense of downtime when your supplier runs out of something for months at a time...

[Dave Kerr]

There are several threads here on this, for example, this. I'd suggest using search terms Forbon, Jonson, Gwinn, Schwab, Lollar, ...

[Woodenspoke]

I think you are just repeating my question time vs money. Again I have more tools than anyone can hope for in one lifetime. I can use several of the dozen blades I own to cut the material on my unisaw,bandsaw and router without buying another blade. I don't have the issue with building or figuring out how to do the actual work, there has never been any question at making a jig. It would not be all that difficult (for me). I have seen some of the posts on the jigs and the things people have built and the fighting over if a down spiral bit or a flat template bit as to which is better. All of which I can say been their done that and didn't want that to be my point in the post. The only time saver would be large routers or laser mills which can crank out thousands from a single sheet. Or a good punch and bit both of which I don't have(OK almost every tool anyone could want)

I see that people refer to the product under a Trade name I was always lead to believe it was just called Fishpaper and just trademarked under different names. I am wondering if I missed something here.

I think my issue is I have other products to make; and spending several days cutting out flatwork may just be more costly in the long run. If you know of a wholesale distributor who you use I would not mind a PM, plus I don't plan to build thousand's of pickups or I really would be asking questions in the wrong place, LOL

[David King]

Sorry If I completely misread your question, wouldn't be the first time and won't be the last.
No I don't have a laser or a punch press either so can't help you there.
Try RFQwork.com if you have a DXF file ready to go or contact the usual suspects in the pickup maker phone book and see if any of them needs a little extra cash. Most of the guys doing production don't have time to hang out here so I doubt they'll ever see this.

[Woodenspoke]

david thanks.


A dxf file for flatwork seems like a super easy project.

[chevalij]

I've did a .dwg (easily exported to dxf) if you want it. Fully dimensioned, easily modified.