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Author Topic: anyone ever wound a pickup  (Read 6835 times)

monkeywalker

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anyone ever wound a pickup
« on: March 06, 2006, 07:28:52 PM »
i don't think there are any posts on this already.

anyway i was wondering if anyone,apart from the guys at BKP, has ever wound or rewound their own pick up? if so how did it go?

would anyone ever try it who hasn't done before?

Elliot

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anyone ever wound a pickup
« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2006, 08:02:56 PM »
Jason Lollar has a book on how to do it - Myself, I would rather trust the experts - i.e. BKP  :D
BKPS: Milks, P90s, Apaches, Mississippi Queens, Mules, PG Blues, BG FP 50s, e.60s strat custom set

hobleguitars

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anyone ever wound a pickup
« Reply #2 on: March 06, 2006, 09:46:23 PM »
I've done it. They're right - it is very satisfying to play your own pickup. However, it took me six hours to actually hand wound it (no machine at all), so I haven't tried since.
Hoble Guitars. Mule + MM so far.

dave_mc

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anyone ever wound a pickup
« Reply #3 on: March 06, 2006, 11:03:32 PM »
i'm sure i've hit my pickup by accident while strumming, but I don't think I've ever hurt it...

:twisted:

indysmith

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anyone ever wound a pickup
« Reply #4 on: March 06, 2006, 11:14:43 PM »
Quote from: dave_mc
i'm sure i've hit my pickup by accident while strumming, but I don't think I've ever hurt it...

:twisted:

I don't get it.
I'd really like to wind pickups, actually i emailed Tim asking if i could go hang with him for work experience once, but he said no; the big meanie
LOVING the Mules!

dave_mc

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anyone ever wound a pickup
« Reply #5 on: March 06, 2006, 11:36:16 PM »
Quote from: indysmith
Quote from: dave_mc
i'm sure i've hit my pickup by accident while strumming, but I don't think I've ever hurt it...

:twisted:

I don't get it.
I'd really like to wind pickups, actually i emailed Tim asking if i could go hang with him for work experience once, but he said no; the big meanie


pronounce "wound" like "woond" and you'll get it.

It's that messed up language english getting the better of us again, indy :D

DAVE_MC will now refrain from owning indy any more, since it's too easy :lol:

sambo

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anyone ever wound a pickup
« Reply #6 on: March 06, 2006, 11:39:09 PM »
OH I GET IT!!! no that i didnt get it before of course...  :roll:  cause... i mean....

its only indy thats stupid and cant do his own language... EVERYBODY knows that...right...?!

indysmith

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anyone ever wound a pickup
« Reply #7 on: March 06, 2006, 11:44:06 PM »
lol - terrible joke - "anyone ever woond a pickup?" doesnt even make sense - no wander noone got it, guh Dave - ur trying but failing
LOVING the Mules!

_tom_

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anyone ever wound a pickup
« Reply #8 on: March 06, 2006, 11:59:18 PM »
I get it, its just not very funny  :P I'd like to try winding my own pickup but im guessing it'll be hard to make one worthwhile.

Brow

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anyone ever wound a pickup
« Reply #9 on: March 07, 2006, 10:57:59 AM »
There's a guy on here that's wound a few, and from what I gather they sound ok.

I can't think of his name, oh yeah, his name's TIM  :lol:  8)
Selling lots of gear, enquire within!......

dave_mc

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anyone ever wound a pickup
« Reply #10 on: March 07, 2006, 05:04:59 PM »
Quote from: indysmith
lol - terrible joke - "anyone ever woond a pickup?" doesnt even make sense - no wander noone got it, guh Dave - ur trying but failing


it does make sense, wound is the third person singular of the verb "to wound" (i.e. i've just been shot, i'm wounded!), so it makes sense.

It was a hell of a lot funnier before i had to dumb it down for all you guys...

But yeah, it was pretty weak.

monkeywalker

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anyone ever wound a pickup
« Reply #11 on: March 08, 2006, 01:53:41 PM »
eeee i don't know.

anyway back to the subject, i've wound two pickups myself, the first one sounds alright, it's very bright, it's a humbucker and it's just a gotoh japan bridge pup that i rewound myself. i've put it in my epeiphone, i didn't wind it very hot because i wanted quite conservative sound, it's not a patch on my abraxas BKP obviously but non the less i'm happy with the way it sounds.

the second one i haven't reinstalled yet, i was winding it all last night and snapped the wire when i suddenly sneezed, bugger!

so it's not wound as hot as i wanted,i'll let you know how it sounds when i've sorted it all.

Kilby

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anyone ever wound a pickup
« Reply #12 on: March 08, 2006, 02:06:59 PM »
Personally I'd love to have a go at winding a pickup.

I have a lawsuit Ibanez SG which isn't really worth spending the money of putting a decent pickup into (but it has a huge sentimental value).

As my father and myself resurrected it from the dead when I first got it in 83 it would be nice to wind a pickup for it.

Hmm a maple neck / fingerboard SH with what I think is an Ash  body, if that's not crying out for a mutant pickup then I simply don't know what does.

Rob...
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_tom_

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anyone ever wound a pickup
« Reply #13 on: March 08, 2006, 02:22:38 PM »
How do you actually do it?

monkeywalker

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anyone ever wound a pickup
« Reply #14 on: March 09, 2006, 11:12:18 AM »
well i don't know where to get hold of new pick up wire so i just rewound mine usin the old stuf, you have to be really careful it doesn't break though, it's very fragile and if you use too much tension the wire snaps.

when you open up the pickup they usually have ribbon or tape around them, under the first layer there are the start and finish of the coil soldered to a wire each.

on the screw coil for example the start is wired to the live wire that then goes to volume or switch etc. the finish is wired to the start of the slug coil start.

under the wires connecting the pup to external sources there are more layers of tape/ribbon, under here is the pickup wire,once you have unsoldered the connecting wires you can start to unwind the coils.

if you have new wire to put on then you can just pull the old stuff off no problem.

however if you are reusing the old wire, which i don't advise, you have to very carefully remove it with out snapping it, which is difficult as the waxpotting binds the wire together. once you get to the start you can begin to rewind.


the problem i have is getting the wind nice and tight to fit all the wire back on the coil, i find it balloons out in the middle.

no doubt this is because i'm inexperienced and generally not very good at it.

it takes massive amounts of time because it's all by hand, as you can imagine i don't have a machine that allows me to just wind the pup in a few hours,it's not something you see everyday......well not that i know of any way.

each coil takes me about ten hours to unwind and rewind, but obviously it depends on how many turns there are in the first place.