Beginner - looking for books

[Trepan]

Are there any books at all on pickup design?

I haven't done any yet, and I understand the basics involved. I think I would learn best by having some designs/specs of various pickups and recreating those. I'm not so interested in the 'classic' pickups as I am in going for a more modern sound, like DiMarzio, Seymour Duncan, etc.

I've tried to find the Lollar book, and I'm not willing to pay several hundred for it unfortunately.

I've seen another book - Pickups, Windings and Magnets by Mario Milan. Is this what I'd be looking for?

Thanks!

[Possum]

design...

If you're talking inventing new ideas (my forte) there is a book called Animal Magnetism, I forget the author riight now. Oh wait here it is:
http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Magneti.../dp/9090018581

Its not about HOW to design pickups but gives you some ideas. The "how" part of it really only comes from making alot of pickups, using an LCR meter and other gear to understand what coils are doing, and learning how to make everything from scratch which the Lollar book helps with...

[David Schwab]

If you're talking inventing new ideas (my forte) there is a book called Animal Magnetism, I forget the author riight now. Oh wait here it is:
http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Magneti.../dp/9090018581

You beat me to it!

Erno Zwaan is also the guy who makes Q-Tuner pickups.

It's a cool book. As Dave said, it doesn't tell you how to wind a pickup, but he does show you several examples where he makes the entire magnet assembly and coil forms, tells you how much wire he wound, shows how to make rubber molds to cast the pickup in, and shows a graph of the frequency response of the finished pickup.

I haven't read a copy of "Pickups, Windings and Magnets" yet, but someone I know said he had mixed feelings about the book.

[NightWinder]

You beat me to it!

Erno Zwaan is also the guy who makes Q-Tuner pickups.

It's a cool book. As Dave said, it doesn't tell you how to wind a pickup, but he does show you several examples where he makes the entire magnet assembly and coil forms, tells you how much wire he wound, shows how to make rubber molds to cast the pickup in, and shows a graph of the frequency response of the finished pickup.

I haven't read a copy of "Pickups, Windings and Magnets" yet, but someone I know said he had mixed feelings about the book.

That may be because it is fairly new.....and not having the notoriety Jason does as well, but from what I'm told its not a waste of money....I remember MArio around here befor he was going to have the StewMac crew pick up on publishing.....Swell Guy that Mario. Go for it and buy the book

[Possum]

book...

Yeah the pickup book is the most comprehensive work to date on the history etc. I'm sure it has some holes in it and the translation isn't that great but its in MY library, I bought one immediately when I heard about it. You should probably snag one, it will go out of print probably pretty soon...

[PoorMan]

Brosnac's book "Guitar Electronics for Musicians" (although not specific to pickups) has some decent info in it.

Lollar's book is more about pickup and winding machine construction. This information can be found from various other books and sources on the web. Although it's a good book, I say don't bother with it.

StewMac's website has basic component and construction information.

[Possum]

Lollar.....

Lollar's book does cover HOW to make a pickup from scratch which other books don't. You really should know how to make your own flatwork from scratch instead of buying it from StewMac or wherever. You learn that you can make anything you want.

[Spence]

I've yet to see a copy of Jason's book but I know someone who bought it. It was out there on it's own for a long time and considered to be something of a bible when there was nothing else available. The fact that there is a section dedicated to making a winder is a good thing because some people just wouldn't know where to start.
I would imagine there are a few people on this forum who have benefitted from his book and countless follow-up phone calls.

[David Schwab]

This could be an opportunity for someone to write a step by step book on pickup making...

[Ruel]

This could be an opportunity for someone to write a step by step book on pickup making...

Anybody with a lot of time in his hands can write a good book on pickup winding just by digesting information contained in this forum. Even a novice could sound like an expert just by quoting you guys... like Spence, Possum, Steve, Nightwinder , Ben...etc.

[jason lollar]

the erno zwaan book was around when I was initially laying out my book and it is listed as a resource. Its an interesting take on how you can use inventive construction in pickups- not for making your standard vintage desings as covered in my book.

"This could be an opportunity for someone to write a step by step book on pickup making..."
well its been done - for those that like to slam my book, remember its called basic pickup winding and complete guide to making your own pickup winder not how to design the best pickups in the world and become a tone guru

During the time I was writing that I felt pressure that someone would beat me to it- that was over ten years ago and still no one has done something similar.
There has been speculation I quit publishing it because it created too much competition- well my busness has only grown every year. Really I am not a publisher- I dont want to be a publisher.

I think for the new guys you will have a hard time getting established- alot of cut throat stuff going on now in the industry as a whole (not just pickup making) and the marketing bullshit is getting so deep there is going to be a backlash at some point.


Its also really sick- I get guys that write me letters- I am living in my car and am destitute (not funny) - I am hoping you will give me a copy of your book so I can get started on my new carreer.

I have various feelings about that, one of which has something to do with people expecting things handed to them and not being willing to put in the time also unrealistic expectations, typical chasing pie in the sky crap and pulling one over on the public- representing yourself as something you are not.

Moving on it is about time someone uptated the brosnac book- thats been needed for years.

"Anybody with a lot of time in his hands can write a good book on pickup winding just by digesting information contained in this forum"

Thats not really very realistic.

[Rosewood]

I bought Jasons book a few years ago just to build the winder. But, if you're smart enough to the build the winder you won't have any trouble winding pickups with info in the book, great book BTW Jason. When Jason retires he'll write a book on all his pickup formulas.

[Possum]

new book....

You guys have no idea what it takes to write a good how to book. Expect to spend the next year or more putting it together. HOw are you going to do illustrated graphics? Expect to hire someone like me at pricey hourly rates. Expect to hire a photographer to do useable images and not home grown out of focus blurr useless stuff.

A project like that will eat up most of your life until its done. Then how much of a market for the book is there really? Not as much as you think there is.

Judging from the people who've passed through here there are very few who will actually do the work to figure out how to cut their own flat work on a router for instance and make pickups from scratch. When Lollar's book came out you couldn't buy all those parts from StewMac, you had to make them yourself. Judging from my own experience no one should be writing a book unless they've got alot of years experience behind them. I'm coming into my fifth year of doing this and I'm still no expert.

And to be honest a new book would create another bunch of guys selling pickups who would call themselves experts and further dilute the field. Look what those StewMac kits did to the pickup making field, now we got scores of people selling stewmac bucker kit pickups on Ebay who use quotes from my website and the forum, calling themselves experts claiming to have been in business for years and years....yeah right. StewMac doesn't make PAF vintage correct parts but they would have yo believe they do. So that puts alot of small pickup makers in the spot of having to answer the question "how come your price is so high, I can buy a humbucker on ebay hand wound for $35?"

There's plenty of information out there if someone wants to make their own home brew pickups, StewMac has pretty much all the info you need and all the parts.

If I was gonna do a book it would be a home study course and you'd have to prove to me you did the work before I sent you the next lesson, I'd be mean :-)

[Spence]

I did a 4 page article for a guitar mag a while ago on basic pickup winding. I did worry that it would do me more harm than good and for a while that's exactly what it did. people cropped up all over the place claiming to have been making pickups for 20 years etc. The phone only rang when people wanted to pick my brains about making their own pickups. Then a whole load of peole turned up on ebay selling Chinese pickups as handwound etc.
Slowly my customers have returned with a whole load of new ones. They are starting to get pissed off with rip-off pickups and bullshit hype.

even when I was suffering from a loss of business I still refused to drop my prices or to give in to people who wanted to barter or part-ex. I'm glad I stuck to my guns.

The important thing is not to make any tutting sounds when people admit that they made a mistake going elsewhere.

But returning to the theme of this thread; writing a book is a gamble because you may damage your own business if you give away too much but then Dan Erlewine seems only to have increased his profile with his books and videos. So who knows?

[Zhangliqun]

So that puts alot of small pickup makers in the spot of having to answer the question "how come your price is so high, I can buy a humbucker on ebay hand wound for $35?"

That doesn't bother me a bit. Because I know they'll be back after they've TRIED one of those $35 pu's.