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Hi,
This is my first time on this forum, so please be gentle with me!!
What prompted me to enter the mystical world of pickup winding, was my constant quest for this or that tone...see, I build all my own valve gear too, and that includes a really high end HiFi rig with full range horn speakers too...a quest for truth and detail from music recordings......
Its a bit of a long winded intro., but for many years playing I was after 'that' strat. sound (among others), and realising I couldn't afford $**** for a real vintage strat, I spent ages going around all the London (yes I'm UK based) guitar shops trying new Fenders, Squires, etc, etc, and leaving disapointed and confused as to why they all sounded so bad (thin/shrill/boring/nasty/tinny), 'cause back then I didn't have a clue about p/ups contribution, except that I had read somewhere that some strat p/ups had 'ceramic' magnets instead of 'Alnico', and they were bad news!!
Anyway, 'bout 10 years back I went to see the Fab. Thunderbirds live at the Town & Country Club, and Duke Robillard had taken over Jimi's role, and he was playing a Tokai strat....so looked for 'Guitarist Mag.' interviews, and sure enough he proffessed to really liking their sound, and sure his sound that night was 'special'....so (gradually getting to the point)...I went hunting for a Tokai (and had by then sussed that the early ones sounded better (for some unknown reason...except a hunch that the Jap's always put all their effort into the first release, to get great mag. reviews...
Finally picked up a bit of a 'dog' (well the owner hadn't liked the light blue finish so had really badly scraped it off, digging into the body in many places and leaving some finish where it wasn't seen under the scratch plate..but,as soon as I plugged that guitar into an amp...it had 'that' sound...for years didn't consider what the pickups role was, but everyone I met wanted to buy the guitar off me..
Anyway, with my newfound interest in this whole subject area (and now gearing myself up to have a go at winding myself) i investigated further....and suprise, suprise, the pickups have alnico magnets (cannot yet tell what grade / gause), less than machine even winding under a tape overcoat, no potting at all, pale grey cardlike coloured flatwork, south pole up, and measure 6k24 for neck and mid, with 6k26 for bridge....
To my question (finally).....the coil is fairly full to the flatwork edges (say aroud 2mm shy on average)...so do you think they would have used 42gauge wire (redish gold colour)..what insulation type, and the likely magnet type for an early Tokai ??...any thoughts?
Many thanks....
This is my first time on this forum, so please be gentle with me!!
What prompted me to enter the mystical world of pickup winding, was my constant quest for this or that tone...see, I build all my own valve gear too, and that includes a really high end HiFi rig with full range horn speakers too...a quest for truth and detail from music recordings......
Its a bit of a long winded intro., but for many years playing I was after 'that' strat. sound (among others), and realising I couldn't afford $**** for a real vintage strat, I spent ages going around all the London (yes I'm UK based) guitar shops trying new Fenders, Squires, etc, etc, and leaving disapointed and confused as to why they all sounded so bad (thin/shrill/boring/nasty/tinny), 'cause back then I didn't have a clue about p/ups contribution, except that I had read somewhere that some strat p/ups had 'ceramic' magnets instead of 'Alnico', and they were bad news!!
Anyway, 'bout 10 years back I went to see the Fab. Thunderbirds live at the Town & Country Club, and Duke Robillard had taken over Jimi's role, and he was playing a Tokai strat....so looked for 'Guitarist Mag.' interviews, and sure enough he proffessed to really liking their sound, and sure his sound that night was 'special'....so (gradually getting to the point)...I went hunting for a Tokai (and had by then sussed that the early ones sounded better (for some unknown reason...except a hunch that the Jap's always put all their effort into the first release, to get great mag. reviews...
Finally picked up a bit of a 'dog' (well the owner hadn't liked the light blue finish so had really badly scraped it off, digging into the body in many places and leaving some finish where it wasn't seen under the scratch plate..but,as soon as I plugged that guitar into an amp...it had 'that' sound...for years didn't consider what the pickups role was, but everyone I met wanted to buy the guitar off me..
Anyway, with my newfound interest in this whole subject area (and now gearing myself up to have a go at winding myself) i investigated further....and suprise, suprise, the pickups have alnico magnets (cannot yet tell what grade / gause), less than machine even winding under a tape overcoat, no potting at all, pale grey cardlike coloured flatwork, south pole up, and measure 6k24 for neck and mid, with 6k26 for bridge....
To my question (finally).....the coil is fairly full to the flatwork edges (say aroud 2mm shy on average)...so do you think they would have used 42gauge wire (redish gold colour)..what insulation type, and the likely magnet type for an early Tokai ??...any thoughts?
Many thanks....
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