Wire gauge to fit split coil?

[elipsey]

Has anyone here tried winding side by split "single" coil pickups, in the style of Novak split pickups?


I would like to know whether the wire will have to be smaller to fit between the pole peices, while still holding ~8000 turns. Is 42 single build too big? Would 43 work?

Thanks, and sorry if this has already been answered -- I couldn't find it.

[big_teee]

If you have the dimensions of the coils, I can make you a custom layout for them.
I can attach it here.
Probably 43 gauge will work.
Your pickup will be similar to my split J pickup project here.
http://music-electronics-forum.com/t39825/
T

[elipsey]

Thanks T, nice project. I haven't tried making flatwork yet, but I have some strat flatwork that I was planning to cut in half. After looking at your post, it seems like what I need to do is measure what I have, and use coil estimator to see what will fit.

I'm curious if anyone has tried a strat or tele pickup, and how it worked out. I'm not sure what using a smaller wire guage with the same turn count will do, and I'm also wondering if the change in magnet polarity between the D and G strings had a noticible effect on performance.

[elipsey]

Looks like I would be hard pressed to get past 7500 turns with 43 awg. 44 might do it. I wonder what that would sound like...?

[big_teee]

Here's a layout for a split Strat.
There is only .200" between magnets.
So that only gives .100" on the cut end.
I made modifications to make allowances for the .100" on the end.
You will need to make the height between the flats taller to make room for more wire.
Somewhere around .5"
8000 will not be possible with 43, maybe with 44.
Another great option is the rail pickup.
It can be wound in a variety of ways.

T

[Alberto]

What happens when you bend a note and the g string moves from one bobbin to the other? I once read that you need to make overlapping poles to avoid volume drops.

[big_teee]

Also what about the polarity of the other pickups in the guitar.
How will the phasing match with the Spli- coil and other pickups.
Will the other pickups also be split coils.
Starting to get more complex.
These problems might be why split-coils haven't caught on to big?
T

[elipsey]

What happens when you bend a note and the g string moves from one bobbin to the other? I once read that you need to make overlapping poles to avoid volume drops.

Yeah, I thought about that kind of stuff but I couldn't find anyone who had tried it who was talking about it so I thought maybe I'd find out for myself. Fender sold the split coil Super 55's and nobody seems be complaining in the reviews. It has some split internal rails hidden under the cover. Maybe they help. Also, it looks like they use 44 AWG wire to me, for whatever that's worth.

Also what about the polarity of the other pickups in the guitar.
How will the phasing match with the Spli- coil and other pickups.

This shouldn't be an issue: the two coil halves will have in phase signals and out of phase noise, just like any humbucker or stack. Either the signal is in phase with other pickups, or it's not. If it's not, reverse the pickup that's out of phase

[big_teee]

Reverse the pickup?
Which half?
Won't that just make the other half out of sorts?
T

[elipsey]

Reverse the pickup?
Which half?
Won't that just make the other half out of sorts?
T

The whole thing. It's no different than a humbucker. Two coils with opposite magnet polarity and handed-ness. What do you do if your humbucker is out of phase with you other humucker, or a single coil?

[big_teee]

No, not exactly the same, the pickup works the same, but you're dealing with 2- 3 string halves, different polarity.
With a 2 bobbin humbucker you have both polarities, for all strings.
As long as you have both pickups with the + output wired to each pickup the same direction, & same polarity, you should be fine.
It can get a bit fussy at times, but I know you will beat it into submission.
That is a good design for bass where you have more magnet space and room!
For me, there's too many other good guitar pickup possibilities that really work.
Let us know how it works out.
Good Luck,
T
**Anyone else have any split strat info and ideas?
Please jump in!

[elipsey]

No, not exactly the same, the pickup works the same, but you're dealing with 2- 3 string halves, different polarity.
With a 2 bobbin humbucker you have both polarities, for all strings.
As long as you have both pickups with the + output wired to each pickup the same direction, & same polarity, you should be fine.
It can get a bit fussy at times, but I know you will beat it into submission.
That is a good design for bass where you have more magnet space and room!
For me, there's too many other good guitar pickup possibilities that really work.
Let us know how it works out.
Good Luck,
T
**Anyone else have any split strat info and ideas?
Please jump in!

I'll draw myself a picture and make sure I'm not being stupid. Everything else your said makes a lot of sense: there are comprimises involved in this aproach, especially wire size I think.

[Alberto]

Some good info on building hum-cancelling pickups here Dr. Lawing's Blog ? Lawing Musical Products ScottA is a member of this forum so he may have something to say on this topic.

[big_teee]

This is a good project to use the millivolt test on.
The Thread below posts 17-25 explains how it works.
http://music-electronics-forum.com/t40544/
If you have any old pickups laying around you can try it.
T

[Lollar Jason]

I have built those years ago - 15 or 20 years ago so this is what I recall, I think I did it with 43 gauge but you really have to wind evenly to get enough wire to fit. if you have one side north and the other south and you have the pickup in the neck position where you could bend the string far enough youll get a dead spot in the middle where the volume drops. If you have both sides north or both south then one side will be out of phase with the other- when you bend to the middle youll get an out of phase sound. this is what I recall and could be wrong but I make that supro pickup and it performs much the same but the design is a little different because its all tied together with steel plates.
Dimarzio makes or use to make jazz bass pickups like this- I call it an in line humbucker so its not something never made but the other thing I found with it was a coil with 3 poles and shorter length doesnt sound like a longer coil with 6 poles even if you have two of them wired in series or parallel- if thats part of what you are going for, on the other hand I only made 20 or 30 of various designs and never really pursued it other than a custom item to fulfill a more basic design parameter- make a bucker to fit in this hole basically