Winding HB's to an exact DCR?

[ken]

Hello...

A customer sent me three StewMac humbuckers in the mail to wind for him,
but he wants one to be 12K DCR and the other two to be 16K DCR. I know that I have to use 43gauge, but roughly how many turns per coil will get me there?

Thank you,
Ken

[EtLa]

for the 16K you will have to use 44 gauge magnet wire.

[NightWinder]

Use 43 for the 16k, perferably PE. Start around 8600. 44 is going to have a narrow coil, and have a tighter focus. Spikes in the mids CAN come from 44, and ultimately it is up to the customer for the tone he/she wants to get. Stick with the 43. You will be rewarded

[SK66]

Use 43 for the 16k, perferably PE. Start around 8600. 44 is going to have a narrow coil, and have a tighter focus. Spikes in the mids CAN come from 44, and ultimately it is up to the customer for the tone he/she wants to get. Stick with the 43. You will be rewarded

I get .8k/1000turns with 42 and 1k/1000turns with 43...These are averages and it depends upon the wire batch...

[Mark Hammer]

Many rolls of wire I've bought in past came with info on the number of ohms per line foot or per 20 ft or something to that effect. If you know how many inches a turn equals, or how many turns you get from X number of line feet, you can extrapolate form there and calculate a reasonable estimate of either kohms for the anticipated number of turns, or number of turns required for a given DCR goal.

[ken]

Hello...

This customer called me today on the phone, and we settled on 'pickup design'.

He's into '70s and '80s rock like Skynrd and Floyd, so I told him a 16K HB wouldn't be such a good idea. I had to explain to him that getting an exact DCR was almost impossible without unwinding coils, and he said he got his choices from Duncan's website. We settled on roughly 12K each. Thank you for helping me, I was going crazy trying to figure out how many turns 16K would be.

snip/
I get .8k/1000turns with 42 and 1k/1000turns with 43...These are averages and it depends upon the wire batch...

Then with 44 gauge wire, would you get roughly 1200 ohms DCR from 1000 turns?

Thank you,
Ken

[EtLa]

for the 16K you will have to use 44 gauge magnet wire.

oupss sorry I mis-read Jason book "Humbucker generally ... over 12K is 44AWG"

@NightWinder I have never tried to achieve a resistance of 8K with #43 AWG but I imagine that the bobbin end up not far from full?

Did I saw a pickup calculator software somewhere?

[NightWinder]

Never read Jason's book. Needless to say, Im sure there is superb info there. I've been wanting to read it for some time, but you know, its out of publication. Generally, 44 is used highly by the "BIG" guys, and maybee some like yourself here. DCR should'nt be a factor in determining your overall tone you are trying to achieve in the pickup. I suppose I would use 44 if the need arises. THERE ARE NO RULES! Thats what makes everone here different, etc.......
Etla, you should really try some 43 around 8 per. This is where the fun begins!! You get drastic results from 14 to 16 k total, and anything in between. You'd be surprised at the different frequencys you can achieve, and generally the wide window you have with this gauge. The bobbins are just to full, with plenty of room to tape and assemble neatly.AHHH such MAdness!!

[ken]

Thank you all for the advice... I'm going to wind his pickups with 43# wire and see how they do. I'll have to buy some 44# to experiment with, maybe I'll find some on Ebay.

Ken

[NightWinder]

You may be able to use 42 for the 12k if your skills are really sweet. 12k with 42 is going to require a heafty offset too. Try mixing the scatter, and not as wide a pattern. Just a thought, as using 43 at 12k is going to put the bobbins around half full. Its going to be really clear, tight, and focused.
Rock and ROll Ken

[ken]

This customer is driving me nuts... now he wants to know if I can make pickups with the same number of winds and the same wire size on each coil but 1 or 2K DCR variance per coil, while using 2 conductor lead wire. Where is he getting his info from? Whatever website he's visiting for his info would maybe be a good candidate for a spam attack. (LOL)

Now I know why most makers have a 'vintage' pickup and a 'blues' pickup and no choices... their indecisive customers would drive them nuts.

Thank you for all the good info...
Ken

[NightWinder]

You know, you'd be surprised how many turns you can spread between 2 coils. I have had as much as 1,000 turns difference without any audible noise.There is that fine threshold where it magically pops up thought. Keep that wind tight. Is this guy a solo artist? Hefty offsets like that are usually for the higher ohms (12-14k), and work quite nice for someone whos doing alot of solos, but from a rythem point of view, you will be missing the thump of the lowend. Your lowend will be tight, just focused with no sag.
Take it as a blessing, you might find a killer model out of this!
Good Luck!!

[EtLa]

Etla, you should really try some 43 around 8 per. This is where the fun begins!! You get drastic results from 14 to 16 k total, and anything in between. You'd be surprised at the different frequencys you can achieve, and generally the wide window you have with this gauge. The bobbins are just to full, with plenty of room to tape and assemble neatly.AHHH such MAdness!!

Thanks NightWinder it's surely worth a try.

[NightWinder]

I guess that makes us all different from one another. Pesonally, 43 is great for the modern stuff, and can still keep the vintage vibe intact with a slight roll of the volume. Have fun, and keep us posted on the results!!

[Rob S]

This customer is driving me nuts... now he wants to know if I can make pickups with the same number of winds and the same wire size on each coil but 1 or 2K DCR variance per coil, while using 2 conductor lead wire. Where is he getting his info from?

Sounds like a two wire version of the unbucker LOL!


http://www.fralinpickups.com/humbuckers.asp#un