Loss of high frequencies in Humbucker build

[big_teee]

The PAF and most other Gibson humbuckers traditionally are not hand wound, they are machine wound instead. In fact I can't say I know of a popular humbucker from the big name manufacturers such as Gibson, Duncan, DiMarzio, etc., that are hand wound. Hand winding can make the pickup sound duller in comparison to a machine wound pickup. There are other differences caused by the hand winding in comparison to machine winding. Just something to consider.

Greg

You're correct about the machine wound.
However there has been lots of PAF style humbuckers wound successfully hand guided.
I have wound tons of them,.
To compensate for a hand guided neck pickup, put less turns on the bobbins. (4800-4900, not 5000+)
The issue the OP was having was a short.
He wound a new bobbin and that fixed it.
T

[soundmasterg]

You're correct about the machine wound.
However there has been lots of PAF style humbuckers wound successfully hand guided.
I have wound tons of them,.
To compensate for a hand guided neck pickup, put less turns on the bobbins. (4800-4900, not 5000+)
The issue the OP was having was a short.
He wound a new bobbin and that fixed it.
T

I am aware that there are lots of boutique winders out there that hand-wind PAF style humbuckers. If you will notice I said big name manufacturers such as Duncan, Gibson, DiMarzio, etc. As a general rule none of them hand-wind humbuckers. I'm also aware that the OP fixed his issue. My post was basically to point out that if he was trying to emulate the sounds of PAFs or most commercial humbuckers, then since they are not made with hand winding except for some boutique stuff, then he should use machine winding to get the sound, or compensate his winds as you mentioned to get closer to the sound.

Greg

[big_teee]

I am aware that there are lots of boutique winders out there that hand-wind PAF style humbuckers. If you will notice I said big name manufacturers such as Duncan, Gibson, DiMarzio, etc. As a general rule none of them hand-wind humbuckers. I'm also aware that the OP fixed his issue. My post was basically to point out that if he was trying to emulate the sounds of PAFs or most commercial humbuckers, then since they are not made with hand winding except for some boutique stuff, then he should use machine winding to get the sound, or compensate his winds as you mentioned to get closer to the sound.

Greg

I agree with that.
Only thing, it gets to looking here in this forum, that you can't make a pickup without a CNC machine.
I was trying to point out, that there is all kinds of methods to make pickups, and hoping the hand winding option doesn't get lost in the process.
A guitar player that is just going to make a few pickups for his own use, can still do a good job, hand guiding.
We don't want to discourage winding with whatever you have available, whether CNC, old Gibson machine, or a power drill!
There is room here for all types of winding.
T

[soundmasterg]

I agree with that.
Only thing, it gets to looking here in this forum, that you can't make a pickup without a CNC machine.
I was trying to point out, that there is all kinds of methods to make pickups, and hoping the hand winding option doesn't get lost in the process.
A guitar player that is just going to make a few pickups for his own use, can still do a good job, hand guiding.
We don't want to discourage winding with whatever you have available, whether CNC, old Gibson machine, or a power drill!
There is room here for all types of winding.
T

Yeah there are many ways to make a pickup and many design choices that can be made to change the sound. The fun is in the variety of design and the novel approaches that people come up with.

Greg