flat work

[jason lollar]

with all this talk about flatwork- Heres what you do- get a 2 d cad program like delta cad- draw it up and anywhere you need a hole drilled just mark it with a small circle with centerlines through it- cut the parts and tape the full size print out paper pattern to the forbon or plastic part and center punch where you want a hole drilled- then do it.
Man if you cant make flat work or put a bobbin together- how are you going to ever go anywhere making pickups?- well you wont be a pickup maker youll be a guy that just winds and assembles them, while your at it might be a good idea to learn to play guitar and maybe have a few nice amps to try stuff out on assuming you even listen to what you send out. alot of guys dont which I find hard to believe but its true!

I have a laser cutter now but I wont make parts for you- remember though I cut tens of thousands of parts out by hand for years just like you guys have to- its totally possible to do well without a lazer cutter and you dont need a 10 or 15 thousand dollar winding machine- the little hand operated deal like my book showed still is in service to this day in my shop- I have 5 of them and i have a few very old commercial machines I use to- nothing fancy

[David Schwab]

Jason, I used your Tele bobbin diagrams to make my latest pickup.

I did more-or-less just what you said... printed it out and used it as a pattern.

Wasn't hard at all.

[soundmasterg]

Do you only use your laser cutter on forbon stuff Jason? So only on Fender style pickups, or customs??? What do you do for your plastic bobbin stuff like most Gibson style pickups? I'm still not winding pickups myself, but I plan to within the next year or two, and planning it out before-hand makes a big difference.

Greg

[jason lollar]

I cut plasit with it- a variety of matertials- 1/4" thick acrylic.
like I said I use to do it all by hand but now I almost never do- I had thousands of pickup drawings I made over the years- If I dont have it I can draw it.
I dont cut parts and re-sell them though. I have no sympathy for not handutting them if you need them

[soundmasterg]

If I was going to do lots of pickups like you do then I think a laser cutter would be a great choice. When I finally start out doing it, I'm sure I'll do a limited amount of pikcups, so I'll be cutting up flatwork on my own like you suggest. I didn't know that a laser cutter would work well with plastic in addition to forbon.

Greg