any ideas?

[dougal]

Hi there, I finally got round to winding some strat pickups. I'm now at a stage where I can wind a coil that looks good without it breaking. So far so good.

So, I wound one this morning, and my winding machine was reading that I had 7700 turns of 42AWG wire on the bobbin. When I tested the resistance it was reading at approximately 4.1-4.2k. I had expected it to be nearer to 5.7-5.9k.

This suggests to me that there may be a callibration issue with my winder? Is there anything else I may be missing?

Any help and ideas would be hugely appreciated.

[big_teee]

Hi dougal:
I would start by making sure the meter is reading correctly.
Read some known pickup values, to check the meter.
If it checks out, then you might check to see what the wire reads per foot.
To do that I measure off 10 feet of wire and solder 28 gauge wire ends to it.
Then measure the 10 feet of wire with the ohm meter, and you should have it the 16-20 ohm range.
If that checks out, then I would suspect the counter on the winder.
T

[dougal]

Hi dougal:
I would start by making sure the meter is reading correctly.
Read some known pickup values, to check the meter.
If it checks out, then you might check to see what the wire reads per foot.
To do that I measure off 10 feet of wire and solder 28 gauge wire ends to it.
Then measure the 10 feet of wire with the ohm meter, and you should have it the 16-20 ohm range.
If that checks out, then I would suspect the counter on the winder.
T

Brilliant, thanks T. Will try these steps. Think the meter read some of my bare knuckles accurately a little while back, or at least they read in the range uggested by the BKP website. Very helfpul .

Dougal

[copperheadroads]

Are you insulating your magnets ?
you possibly have a short .use your meter for continuity between the coil & the magnets

[dougal]

Are you insulating your magnets ?
you possibly have a short .use your meter for continuity between the coil & the magnets

Haven't been insulating my magnets, but there is no evidence of a short.

What sort of tape do people use? Does it matter? Would electrical tape or masking tape do the trick?

[big_teee]

If not thoroughly dipped or taped, the magnets can short to some of the bottom turns of wire.
Usually the loss is minimal and if you ground the start lead the pickup will work ok.
To lose over 1k ohm of the pickup, the short would have to be further up from the bottom.
So after you rule out short to magnet, your back to the other items mentioned.
For tape you can use several different tapes.
Some use Kapton tape, scotch tape, teflon tape, or waxed floral tape.
T

[dougal]

If not thoroughly dipped or taped, the magnets can short to some of the bottom turns of wire.
Usually the loss is minimal and if you ground the start lead the pickup will work ok.
To lose over 1k ohm of the pickup, the short would have to be further up from the bottom.
So after you rule out short to magnet, your back to the other items mentioned.
For tape you can use several different tapes.
Some use Kapton tape, scotch tape, teflon tape, or waxed floral tape.
T

Thanks. Have bought some spray laquer and tape, so will start doing this as a matter of course now. I'm pretty sure my issue is because of a calibration issue. I wound a coil more slowly this morning and it read 5.75k. The other 2 I had problems with had been wound at a much faster speed, and I think my counter is telling me more turns have happened than is the case, once it goes over a certain speed. The coils were much smaller, even taking into account variations in tension.

Thanks for your help all.

[copperheadroads]

If you have a jewelry scale you could compare the weight of the coils & it is a common problem with some counters not counting correctly at higher speeds ,especially the DIY winders

[big_teee]

You can also take a dial caliper and measure the outside diameter of the coil, and compare between pickups.
I do that on rewinds that are dead.
I measure the coil diameter, and I try to weigh the pickup, and coil of wire after removed.
Sounds like you're gaining on it!
GL,
T