A dead Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates, need some info...

[Slobrain]

Hey Folks, I have a dead Seymour Duncan Pearly gates that was submerged in a strat in Hurricane Ike and its been sitting since. I've debated to gut the pup for the magnet but I hate to trash it. One bobbin has cracks and both coils are open so my question is can I find a replacement bobbin that will fit the SD baseplate?

I might want to use this to try to do my hand at winding a pup...

Thanks

[big_teee]

If it were mine, I would carefully take it a part.
Reuse what parts are salvageable and replace the rest.
I would stress any replaced parts and keep the relic vintage look.
Option 2 is after rewinding it is to put a stressed nickel pickup cover on it.
Then, Rock & Roll!
T

[Jim Shine]

You need to figure out the pole spacing. Taking a picture of the bottom will help.

[Slobrain]

That sounds like a good idea putting a cover on it. I might have to do that depending on if I can't find a replacement bobbin.

[Slobrain]

What I need to buy is some digital calipers that measure to see what size maybe in MM. I did find these at Philly Luthier. They measure 49.2MM vintage pole spacing. I might have to change both bobbins though and not sure I want to do that. Terry had a good idea about putting a cover on it. I'll have to toss up some ideas... I really want to get this working but I want to try doing the rewinding as to see if I can do it.

Vintage PAF Cream Screw Side Butyrate Cab BOBBINS Black Set of 2 | eBay

You need to figure out the pole spacing. Taking a picture of the bottom will help.

[mr fab]

yep I reckon if you pull it apart and the bobbins are still intact, u should rewind them. if the cracks are too bad, I would repair them with the old superglue and baking soda trick, sand them flat again, and then after rewinding, put a suitable cover over it

[big_teee]

Seymour Duncan uses 49.2mm on all their humbuckers unless they are called trembuckers.
You can measure the poles with a ruler.
49.2 mm = 1.937 inches, or 1-15/16 inches, center to center.
53mm trembucker = 2.09 inches center to center.
T

[Slobrain]

Thanks guys,
Terry that was exactly the info I needed. I guess I'll have to decided to try to glue the bobbin or maybe just replace both bobbins but use the rest of the pickup. This might be the time for me to try my hand at winding a pup... that should be fun...

Cheers

[Jason Rodgers]

Ok, so let me get this straight: this unit, while it may have been an awesome pickup at one time, is basically toast. You're going to strip it down to it's salvageable parts and rewind it as closely as possible to original specs... on your first winding attempt.

At what time does a pickup in this condition join the other nameless, generic pickups slated for rewind/rebuild discussed in your other thread on this board? Maybe I'm not understanding the value of this particular example, but unless you're just using this as an opportunity to practice repair, I don't think you can rewind this thing, put it in any guitar (or hide it under a pickup cover), and say, "Yeah, I've got a Pearly Gates in there."

I guess I'm not understanding the motivation to put any time/effort into this pickup. There have been a lot more valuable things destroyed in natural disasters that just got tossed.

[big_teee]

Ok, so let me get this straight: this unit, while it may have been an awesome pickup at one time, is basically toast. You're going to strip it down to it's salvageable parts and rewind it as closely as possible to original specs... on your first winding attempt.

At what time does a pickup in this condition join the other nameless, generic pickups slated for rewind/rebuild discussed in your other thread on this board? Maybe I'm not understanding the value of this particular example, but unless you're just using this as an opportunity to practice repair, I don't think you can rewind this thing, put it in any guitar (or hide it under a pickup cover), and say, "Yeah, I've got a Pearly Gates in there."

I guess I'm not understanding the motivation to put any time/effort into this pickup. There have been a lot more valuable things destroyed in natural disasters that just got tossed.

Exactly!
If you want to preserve the existing bobbins.
Take them off and leave them intact.
Then practice winding on new bobbins with new screws and new slugs.
Once you get the hang of winding, then I might attempt rewinding the old bobbins.
with the cracks and rust issues, they will be extremely fragile.
When you take the old wire off the bobbins, I would count turns per layer, and measure wire coil diameter.
Also Mic the wire to see what size it is, and measure 10 feet of it to get the ohms per foot, and determine the wire type.
You can also weigh the old wire per coil, once removed to determine the amount.
It will probably be 42 PE.
GL,
T

[Slobrain]

Ok, so let me get this straight: this unit, while it may have been an awesome pickup at one time, is basically toast. You're going to strip it down to it's salvageable parts and rewind it as closely as possible to original specs... on your first winding attempt.

At what time does a pickup in this condition join the other nameless, generic pickups slated for rewind/rebuild discussed in your other thread on this board? Maybe I'm not understanding the value of this particular example, but unless you're just using this as an opportunity to practice repair, I don't think you can rewind this thing, put it in any guitar (or hide it under a pickup cover), and say, "Yeah, I've got a Pearly Gates in there."

I guess I'm not understanding the motivation to put any time/effort into this pickup. There have been a lot more valuable things destroyed in natural disasters that just got tossed.

Well, I have been working on a few different pups lately doing magnet swaps. This particular pup was laying in a drawer and I got to thinking about using it as a project to challenge myself. I'm not sure yet what direction I'll go with it but I do want to do something with it. I'm not trying to make it another Pearly Gates, just using it as a learning experience the same way I did with a Squier strat neck when I first learned how to do refretting work years back. I'm one of those kind of people that can't stand throwing away stuff when I see potential to fix it or use it to learn from. That is why I posted this, lots of good folks here always sharing their knowledge with the others when someone needs help. Right now I'm contemplating building a winding machine and trying to figure a way to do that. Anyway this was the reason for the post.

Cheers

[Slobrain]

Seymour Duncan uses 49.2mm on all their humbuckers unless they are called trembuckers.
You can measure the poles with a ruler.
49.2 mm = 1.937 inches, or 1-15/16 inches, center to center.
53mm trembucker = 2.09 inches center to center.
T

Hey Terry,

Have you ever used the superglue trick with the baking soda on any SD bobbins and if so did it work pretty well?

[big_teee]

Hey Terry,

Have you ever used the superglue trick with the baking soda on any SD bobbins and if so did it work pretty well?

No, I've not tried that on any bobbins.
T

[Jason Rodgers]

Well, I have been working on a few different pups lately doing magnet swaps. This particular pup was laying in a drawer and I got to thinking about using it as a project to challenge myself. I'm not sure yet what direction I'll go with it but I do want to do something with it. I'm not trying to make it another Pearly Gates, just using it as a learning experience the same way I did with a Squier strat neck when I first learned how to do refretting work years back. I'm one of those kind of people that can't stand throwing away stuff when I see potential to fix it or use it to learn from. That is why I posted this, lots of good folks here always sharing their knowledge with the others when someone needs help. Right now I'm contemplating building a winding machine and trying to figure a way to do that. Anyway this was the reason for the post.

Cheers

I can dig that! If you can make it a study in reverse-engineering, then that's certainly a good use of your time. If there are then parts that can be salvaged for other winding attempts, sure. I wouldn't lose sleep over repairing that top bobbin, though. Once you get it all apart, see if you can squeeze and/or clamp the cracks closed, then apply thin CA. I'm guessing the rust bloomed on the poles and pushed out to the point of cracking the plastic. Actually, you might find quite a lot of trouble getting those rusty slugs and screws out without breaking more of the plastic, especially if it has become brittle.

Good luck!

[the great waldo]

HI Slobrain

I would use acetone on the bobbin. If it's butyrate it should literally melt back together together. You will have to be careful as acetone melts the plastic but it should weld it back together, leave it for a couple of days to dryout. to be realistic I would not bother to repair the pickup as you could get a replacement from sd or ebay for not a lot however to experiment with, why not ! makes a nice practice piece.

Cheers

Andrew