What Could Account For This?

[Mike Sulzer]

I think electrical tests would be sufficient to pick up problems in production of the same pickup model.

Pickups are made of of a collection of parts made by humans, all with different tolerance levels for the parts they themselves make. In other words, somebody who is tired on Friday afternoon after lasering bobbin flats all day and wants to go home is not going to be as fussy about the parts they made as I would be, because I'm OCD about pickups and make my own parts. Each part you add to your pickup adds its own set of variables to the finished piece, and sometimes the accrued tolerances can really mess you up.

I have found the best way to deal with the problem is to test *each step* in your process after you do it.
Assembled your bobbin? Measure it with calipers and make sure the magnets are correct and tight before you wind the coil. Wound your coil? Make sure your coil is complete and not shorted or open before you pot the pickup or wrap it in tape. Wrapped or potted the coil? Check it again. Did the measurements you get this time change from the ones you took after winding? Why?

This will teach you how each step in your process can change your finished product, and can help you find what exactly went wrong. Besides, the info you will generate will give you an education in pickup making you won't get on YouTube.

Yes... I test every pickup I make in a guitar before I send it out as part of final inspection. How are you going to know if you have a defective product if you don't test it?

Ken

[J M Fahey]

it's best to strive to understand tolerances ....
you have to wind a few more coils.....
The sample size is just too small.....

Same here.
Canīt believe we have reached more than 30 answers wondering about unimportant differences (IF there is any audible one, that is) between 2 handwound pickups, on a homemade machine, within 10% (or less) from each other, and based on a grand total sample of 2 (two).

[ken]

I think electrical tests would be sufficient to pick up problems in production of the same pickup model.

I have a 5S7 (1957 Strat style) pickup in my collection I made years ago. It looks perfect, it electrically tests perfectly, but for some weird reason it has a strange fizzy distortion product when played loud I can see on my scope. Play it soft, it's fine. Problem is I can't figure out why it did it, and it was the only one I ever made that did that. I keep it as a reminder to test everything before it leaves here whether it needs it or not.

The only explanation I can think of is some kind of insulation issue on the coil wire. Like I said, it's electrically perfect.

[ken]

You're right about that. I had no idea the sample size was so small. Leo would have been happy with those measurements, as his pickups were +- 20%.

Ken

[David Schwab]

Absolutely. But, in a production scenario in which I am winding familiar coils and 'this' happens, it makes me wonder and ask.

Obviously every pickup made isn't being put in a guitar first and played. The best 'I' have to go with are subject limits of anomaly that tell me a given coil or pickup shouldn't be sent out.

It might sound perfectly normal. But in a production scenario, just rewind the coil is it's out of spec. That's what I do. Why take chances.