Homebrew pickup winder, many on Youtube

[Slobrain]

I found this on YouTube and can see this guy used parts from a sewing machine but the end plates and pulley he must have had fabricated. Definitely looks cool. I want to build one like this. This one is simple but looks effective. Too bad I threw away my wife's old Singer sewing machine a year ago... I could have used that to build a cool winder like this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfv1Mbzc5zE

[John_H]

It looks well built, but there is one major flaw in my opinion. The cam that triggers the counter has to throw it horribly out of balance. He must have it screwed to the table because I cant imagine it not trying to walk away due to the vibration. I'm sure that mechanical counter is really loud as well. Notice the alligator/felt tensioners. There's room for improvement there too because those aren't adjustable like some sort of screw clamp would be.

Here's the first winder that I built when I was a beginner. I still use it when I hand guide. (note the original soundtrack and fancy edits)

[Slobrain]

Hey John,

Yes, I probably would have went with a digital counter. Can you show some pics of yours? I'm contemplating buying a sewing machine motor to get my winder build started. I seen a picture of Seth Lovers original winder from the 50's and it was a sewing machine motor mounted to a 2x4 with a counter connected to the back shaft. He used the sewing machine foot pedal to control the speed. simple as it can get...lol

Slo

[John_H]

Hey John,

Yes, I probably would have went with a digital counter. Can you show some pics of yours? I'm contemplating buying a sewing machine motor to get my winder build started. I seen a picture of Seth Lovers original winder from the 50's and it was a sewing machine motor mounted to a 2x4 with a counter connected to the back shaft. He used the sewing machine foot pedal to control the speed. simple as it can get...lol

Slo

http://music-electronics-forum.com/t2989/
How about my original thread from '07. I'm surprised the images are still there. I'd do the counter different nowadays, but it hasn't stopped me from using it.

[Slobrain]

http://music-electronics-forum.com/t2989/
How about my original thread from '07. I'm surprised the images are still there. I'd do the counter different nowadays, but it hasn't stopped me from using it.

That winder looks great. Where did you find the parts to put it together? I've been trying to look at many different winders on Youtube to get an idea of a build that's not expensive but sturdy and simple.

[John_H]

That winder looks great. Where did you find the parts to put it together?

Thanks, That's all hardware store stuff. The cage bearings are like those on a swamp cooler. The motor is mounted on a door hinge that I cut down. The reed switch is like those used for a door or window alarm. The rubber wheels are common and inexpensive.
I saw that pulleys were expensive and difficult to find. The friction drive was my solution.

I've been trying to look at many different winders on Youtube to get an idea of a build that's not expensive but sturdy and simple.

Ha! I built that first one like a military truck. Keep it simple, and you'll be fine. If you think that someday you would like an automatic traverse, try to accommodate for it. If you give it consideration now, it could make a future conversion much easier.

[Jason Rodgers]

So many ways to go about this. I like the low profile design of your machine, John.

I posted my winder on the MIMF last spring. You can see a shot of the complete unit (as of last weekend) on the mojo tensioner thread, but there is some good progress documentation here...
MIMF ? View topic - Jason's Pickup Winder

[Slobrain]

Jason, Your winder looks great. What brand and model sewing machine did you gut from? I had an old early 70s Singer heavy duty sewing machine I could have gutted but not knowing I would need it I threw it away a year or so ago...

Using the cam shaft and the motor with the foot control is perfect.

How many pups have you wound now that you have it all running? any problems you have run into?

Thanks

Slo

[Jason Rodgers]

Hmm, let's see... it was a fairly generic sewing machine brand, like something you could get at JoAnn Fabric. Not at all heavy-duty. My wife's mom got it for her in about 2001-2002. It developed some issues that would have cost more in repairs than a new unit. I sat down with it one evening in the living room with the TV on and took my time gutting it. Anything that looked remotely useful went into the shoe box. Everything else got tossed or recycled.

Just wound two blade bobbins last night, but I wound five in the first project (two 'buckers, as seen in http://music-electronics-forum.com/t37557/), but the very first attempt got buggered up and shorted). I'm really enjoying winding, and this thing works well, as far as I can tell. I set everything up to wind with the platen at about at eye level with a lamp overhead. The black background square really helps with the contrast and seeing the contour of the wire build. The new mounted tensioner works really well, and it makes the task of guiding the wire your only task. Actually, now I'm thinking of making some sort of traverse guide, even if it's a manual sort of affair. Now I just need to build more guitars to put these puppies in!

[Slobrain]

Hmm, let's see... it was a fairly generic sewing machine brand, like something you could get at JoAnn Fabric. Not at all heavy-duty. My wife's mom got it for her in about 2001-2002. It developed some issues that would have cost more in repairs than a new unit. I sat down with it one evening in the living room with the TV on and took my time gutting it. Anything that looked remotely useful went into the shoe box. Everything else got tossed or recycled.

Just wound two blade bobbins last night, but I wound five in the first project (two 'buckers, as seen in http://music-electronics-forum.com/t37557/), but the very first attempt got buggered up and shorted). I'm really enjoying winding, and this thing works well, as far as I can tell. I set everything up to wind with the platen at about at eye level with a lamp overhead. The black background square really helps with the contrast and seeing the contour of the wire build. The new mounted tensioner works really well, and it makes the task of guiding the wire your only task. Actually, now I'm thinking of making some sort of traverse guide, even if it's a manual sort of affair. Now I just need to build more guitars to put these puppies in!

Thanks for the good info Jason. I've built many guitars over the years and also I was one of the folks back on the old Ampage back in the 90s that used to do lots of mods on amps and I've built lots of amps over the years too. When the (Ampage forum pre MEF) had the Soldano SLO 100 schematic going around I used the schem to build a SLO 50 into a Fender bassman head around 98 or 99. Then built the full fledge SLO 100 when Weber first started making the SLO chassis back in 2000 or 2001 if I remember correctly. I did a bunch of other amps too. I have to turn my attention to something new to try.

I still do guitar work and have gotten bad pups in the past, this will give me a chance to fix them instead of tossing them in the garbage... Ive gotten a few bad pups off ebay not knowing they had problems so this will give me a chance to save those when that happens. I'm looking forward to trying to do this build and see if I can build something like the SD JB. That will be my goal just for a start since that's one of my favorite pups.

Cheers

Slo

[Slobrain]

Walked into Goodwill today and found this for $25.00 looks like I got a new bag of parts to work with now.....yeehaw.....

[Jason Rodgers]

Right on! Keep anything that looks useful. I made very good use of various shafts and collars. Some day I might even add a built-in light to my winder, using the light bulb leads coming off the control plate (capped and taped right now). If you have the space, just take everything apart and keep it in a box. Sometimes it's fun turning pieces over in your hands and imagining it's future purpose.

[Slobrain]

Hey Jason,

The kicker is that this machine works and it came with a table too, all for $25.00. I was surprised to see that machine sitting there and no one snagged it... Now I have the table to build it on as well. That machine is a 1971 so its built sturdy. Funny how I was looking on Ebay for one and the prices on sewing machines there are not too cheap.

Me and the wife had the awesome old 70s Singer super duty school training sewing machine I picked up for her in 1989 and kept it until last year. She wanted a new machine so I tossed the old one out not thinking clearly. What was I thinking...

The shafts look heavy duty and I think I can get almost complete build out of this. I wouldn't mind getting a fabricator to do the spindle the bobbins ride on but that might be too much. Glad you pointed out the light, I'll use that idea. Thanks

Slo