the Thomas Winder

[Rob DiStefano]

bought off ebay a week ago for less than $300/shipped, and it arrived this afternoon. i love my sidewinder, but this machine is simply better. the main tower is an extruded aluminum square, the base is aluminum w.rubber feet, the digital counter (with reset) goes at least to 5 digits and uses a photo-optic trigger for accuracy, the 12v dc motor has reverse and on/off switches and a speed pot. it has a faster no-load 1825rpm compared to the no-load 1250rpm on the sidewinder. the thomas is notably smoother and quieter, too. i wound up a tele bridge pup in 2/3rds the time it would have taken the sidewinder. the pic below was sent to me by the builder during its construction, and is not complete. i'll post some pics of my machine tomorrow. anyone interested in learning more about the excellent Thomas Winder can contact me directly - rob@frettech.com

[Chris Turner]

Looks nice!

[JCrab]

Rob, post this in the beginners corner.. Looks sweet

[David Schwab]

Nice looking winder. Obviously based on the Schatten, but made like the Schatten should have been made.

[edit] since photos were removed I'lll add some:

[David Schwab]

trust me dude, this mutha ain't based on no krap schat-tan. not at all.

Yes, it is. It's the exact same layout, even with the rectangular bars to hold the bobbins. Why not round platens? It's made better, but it's the exact same layout. The "Sidewinder" was also an improved Schatten clone.

Look, the original eBay listing is titled:

SCHATTEN STYLE PICKUP WINDER: THOMAS DESIGN M1,FT SWITCH & ADAPTER INCLUDED. | eBay

So clearly they agree.

I mean there's no point in reinventing the wheel, but there are other winders that look totally different. I'm not criticizing this winder, just stating an obvious fact.

So as you see here, we have the "winding tower" in the back, with the two rectangular aluminum platens to attach the bobbins on either side.

The Schatten also has the optical trigger for the front mounted counter.



The differences are it's made of metal and not plastic (although mine is steel because it's an older one), and it has a nice metal base instead of laminated particle board.

It's also nice having the controls out front, and clearly the motor is better, etc. But it's a Schatten clone. They even said so.

My point is that design is not new, and it's clearly derived from the Schatten, but made better, which was my original statement. This one looks like its worth the money, while I feel the Schatten is not.

As an example, something like this is a totally different design:

[Rob DiStefano]

"schattan clone"??? what ARE you talking about????

saying that because a thomas *looks* lke a schatten means nothing. almost all winders are a box with a motor and some form of counter - reed, optic, etc. the schattan is as simple a planform as necessity needs to house the motor and counter, and so are most others. however, it's what's inside that counts and how it performs. i've had a schatten, and *for me* there is no comparing that krap to a sidewinder or thomas. ymmv.

dude, you've to got joking to compare even the look of a multi thousand dollar ingrid commercial coil winder to ANY "hobby" coil winder.

[big_teee]

Hey guys what difference does it make?
Peace,
T

[StarryNight]

I like the design idea of having two bars for wire stops. This would remove some resetting when switching out different bobbins. I guess you could even install a third rod if needed. Also putting the pot in the front rather than the top seems like a sensible idea. Looks nice a portable. I'm currently building a new winder with DC motor and prox sensor counter. I don't think it will look as handsome as this one but of course the cost will be much less. Other than putting fins on one side to cool you down while you wind, I still can't see the advantage of having two bobbin mounts. I have trouble concentrating when winding one bobbin let alone two! Maybe an auto-traverse setup down the road? I'm so looking forward to a smooth and quiet winder! Must be nice!

[David Schwab]

"schattan clone"??? what ARE you talking about????

saying that because a thomas *looks* lke a schatten means nothing. almost all winders are a box with a motor and some form of counter - reed, optic, etc. the schattan is as simple a planform as necessity needs to house the motor and counter, and so are most others. however, it's what's inside that counts and how it performs. i've had a schatten, and *for me* there is no comparing that krap to a sidewinder or thomas. ymmv.

dude, you've to got joking to compare even the look of a multi thousand dollar ingrid commercial coil winder to ANY "hobby" coil winder.

Why are you so defensive about this thing? Did you build it? Are you selling them? Does it belong to your mom? Chill out, ok?

You came on here hawking the Sidewinder from what I remember.

It's based on the Schatten. It's not an original design. They even said so.

Saying it's a clone of the Schatten doesn't take away from the fact that it appears to be made much better. Personaly I would change a few things on it that were slavishly copied, like the rectangular platens. I've been using a Schatten for the past six years, so I know how they work, and guess what, it's not a hobby winder since I wind pickups full time on the thing.

But it is over priced and under powered. But I took care of that. If this was out at the time I would have bought this. But I would have changed a few things on this too.

My new winder won't be anything like either of these.

And stop calling people dude, it makes you sound like you are 13 years old.

[David Schwab]

I like the design idea of having two bars for wire stops. This would remove some resetting when switching out different bobbins. I guess you could even install a third rod if needed. Also putting the pot in the front rather than the top seems like a sensible idea. Looks nice a portable. I'm currently building a new winder with DC motor and prox sensor counter. I don't think it will look as handsome as this one but of course the cost will be much less. Other than putting fins on one side to cool you down while you wind, I still can't see the advantage of having two bobbin mounts. I have trouble concentrating when winding one bobbin let alone two! Maybe an auto-traverse setup down the road? I'm so looking forward to a smooth and quiet winder! Must be nice!

I don't see where the two bars is useful at all. I prefer having a single bar. Less junk in your way. It only takes a few seconds to adjust the stops.

But it looks like a nicely made machine for hand guided winding.

[Rob DiStefano]

the twin bar thing is useless for me as well. i've collaborated with him on building another machine more to my requirements.

[StarryNight]

noted, thanks...

the twin bar thing is useless for me as well.

[rjb]

Saying it's a clone of the Schatten doesn't take away from the fact that it appears to be made much better.

Semantics. To some, "clone" implies "inferior copy".

And stop calling people dude, it makes you sound like you are 13 years old.

OK, Dad.

[Stratz]

Unless they're somehow welded in place, all you would need to do to remove one of the rods is loosen the outer stops and take it out.

Nice hand winder but $300 is a bit steep IMO.

[Rob DiStefano]

... I have trouble concentrating when winding one bobbin let alone two! Maybe an auto-traverse setup down the road? I'm so looking forward to a smooth and quiet winder! Must be nice!

just finished a winding session using the thomas m2 - a stacked tele bridge, 2 vintage teles for bridge, a trio calibrated strat set and a special way overwound neck strat. i really like this machine. it's very very quiet, easy to listen to radio or hold a normal conversation. also, i'm used to 1300rpm with the sidewinder and this puppy flies at over 1800rpm. pups are now in the vacuum wax bath. life is good, er, dude. sorry. "dude" is typically acceptable veribage around guitar related forums. it's a vernacular salutation that's typically endearing and yes, even hexigenarians use it since for some of us it was a large part of our musical culture from many decades ago. dude!