I gotta tell ya...

..this past weekend I finally did it.
I made my very first pickup from start to finish.
 
It took two days to:
assemble the bobbin- two plates with magnets (not charged)
 
prep the bobbin for winding- coat with lacquer the wrap the magnets with Kaptan tape- does a few important things....it helps strengthed the bobbin and keep it from warping due to moisture/sweat of whatever...helps keep the magnets from rusting and shorting out the pup.
 
Wind it. - I wound 7360 wraps of 42 AWG which is like a hair. Clockwise.
 
Soldier the coil wires ( this one is start = ground) to lead wires ( the ones connected to pots)
 
Potted- dip coil into hot wax - numerous reasons- major reason is to help prevent harmonics (the bad kind)
 
Charge the magnets and check gauss-  Either N. or S. - this one was S.
 
Wrap the coil with tape. - helps protect coil and looks purty.
 
Check again and it was working!! 001 done. Took a long time to get all those ducks to line up but they
sure did.
 
Very rewarding and I feel if I could...anybody could so I highly recommend it.
Oh....I probably could have done many in the same amount of time but I was focused on just one.
 
 
 

Thanks Daryl!

I felt like that computer guy in Bond that would jump up with hands raised
high proclaiming, "I'm invincible!" and then all that liquid nitrogen froze him...lol...
but without the freeze. Maybe that's to come...I don't know. I was a good distance
from the wax pot for that part!

Thank you John!

It was made for a friend and sent out today. A nice thing is I will get
his respected opinion rather than my own. I'm biased without doubt lol.
I know he'll tell it as he hears it.
You and Grant sure liked those picks...that's great. I'm still with those little Fender mediums...about 40 years now. ( I can't believe it, but truth hurts)

John I have a cheap meter to read the ohm resistance and ordered a digital one because
I had to guess...it was 5.9 because it wasn't 6.  ug. Henries and inductance? Still have
to learn -and why? I don't seem driven to and not smart enough to know why I should..except to be able to answer when asked...I'm sure I'll never be able to answer
questions about magnets but at least I'm with the in crowd on that one LOL. Beyond the
basic alignments.

Frequency responce  I think would be the most valuable to me in dialing in but I don't
think I'll be investing anymore into this right now.
I need a bunch more tools for guitar building to keep learning new things....bending wood,
binding...etc.

It was recommend acquiring the wrapping skill in scatter wound is really the place for a
beginner to focus. I'm going with that advice. From what I'm seeing and knowing how I'm
getting there I think the coils are very good. The numbers for wraps and resistance are
spot on so tension and build is hitting high marks in my self assessment. Also very little
wire breaks. Each one has been for reasons other than me applying to much tension.

I didn't finish but I wound one identical (as possible) and got exact reading- major milestone I'm thinking.
I will be installing it and since both will be installed in bridge positions on Strats the
tonal evaluation may be at the least, interesting.
Of course there may be some differences of importance such as capacitors and pots....
and wood...but geeze even with all of those one should hear if it's worth spit or not....maybe?
I don't know....new to me too. Opinions welcomed. 

I don't know when but there will be a sound evaluation made of it....good or bad.

Herb I'm at work and since it's not mine anymore....
I can and will post of the one that I'm finishing up on that
is identical as best as I could make it.

A little somthings I learned that I'll share....of course it's not proven?

There is a grey bottom flatwork that single coils use to be made with...now offered
so I used them. Guitarist claim they have Mojo...first I heard of it a week or so ago.
The other thing is that 7,360 wraps seems to be a magical number for the tone..
I don't know what magical means anymore than I know about mojo.

I do know that I used both. Why not? I need all the help I can get and not afraid to
use it when it's there. lol.

spacey


..this past weekend I finally did it.
I made my very first pickup from start to finish.
 
It took two days to:
assemble the bobbin- two plates with magnets (not charged)
 
prep the bobbin for winding- coat with lacquer the wrap the magnets with Kaptan tape- does a few important things....it helps strengthed the bobbin and keep it from warping due to moisture/sweat of whatever...helps keep the magnets from rusting and shorting out the pup.
 
Wind it. - I wound 7360 wraps of 42 AWG which is like a hair. Clockwise.
 
Soldier the coil wires ( this one is start = ground) to lead wires ( the ones connected to pots)
 
Potted- dip coil into hot wax - numerous reasons- major reason is to help prevent harmonics (the bad kind)
 
Charge the magnets and check gauss-  Either N. or S. - this one was S.
 
Wrap the coil with tape. - helps protect coil and looks purty.
 
Check again and it was working!! 001 done. Took a long time to get all those ducks to line up but they
sure did.
 
Very rewarding and I feel if I could...anybody could so I highly recommend it.
Oh....I probably could have done many in the same amount of time but I was focused on just one.
 
 
 

Great stuff as usual.  Congrats, Spacey.  

Thank you Jan. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Craig the lengths are predetermined.
One can choose different configurations so your question is a very good one.

I chose to stay with "vintage". - E,A and high E same length (.671)- D, G highest (.710) and B (.650)
A couple of choices may be to configure to closely match fretboard/string radius or flat.
The space between the top and bottom are set ( 11mm for Strat style) by wooden spacers during assembly.

I'll magnetize them and finish cleaning the unwanted wax off- done deal.

Although I don't have the meter to measure the inductance/frequency I'm really pumped that I got
consistant results with resistance (ohms) at 5.9 (best I can tell until digital meter arrives) for the Strat set
at same wraps ( 7360 for each).
Even though they were each wound from the same spool of 42 AWG plain for consistancy there is also the tension
variable. I use my fingers so very excited that I'm getting the results.
Tension and breaking the wire seem to be the two things that mess with people the most. I've had no trouble and
seem to have the touch. I've made it a point to be very precise with every step.
In doing so I have noticed a big difference in the flatwork from Stu-Mac and the flatwork from Mojotone which is where
I got the materials for these pups. I've yet to make a Strat set from the Stu-Mac materials but I have assemble the bobbins
and the accuracy of the magnets inserting straight and aligned is much better. All the Mojotone flatwork seemed to have
the same taper to the pre-cut holes for the magnets. Not much but I notice in thousandths and had to work them...and one
still returned enough that I noticed when winding.
As far as the first runs and looking for issues that was the biggest one I experienced. Not bad. Very pleased with the materials
from both of them.
I don't hammer the flatwork....much like not hammering frets...I prefer to press. Better accuracy and control IMO. I have
done both with the flatwork and with fretting.
In bobbin assembly winders remark about tapering the magnets so it doesn't deform the top-plate....pressing eliminates that issue.
At least my pressing procedure does. I made some maple jigs to assist with assembly that have been very handy.

Sorry...if I were smarter I probably wouldn't need so much wind.

They look great spacey!

Really nice craftsmanship.


best,
mike