Thanks for this video, especially how clear you were in spelling out the parts required and the steps you took to put the winder together. Very useful now that I'm considering building something similar.
I figured out how to make pickups by taking one apart. They're really pretty simple. Consequently, I've been making my own for several years. Just recently designed and built a primitive winder that consists of two furniture leveling feet, a window crank, and two pieces of 1X2 lumber .
I have made my winding "machine" out of a fishing line coil winder. The winder has a 1:8 gear ratio and has a built-in mechanical counter. After I have winded some pickups, I developed a good routine winding them manually. It takes just about 5 minutes of a kind of a Zen work and it's done. Your high tech device is more the luxury version 😁 I really wonder how it will work. Very good video !
Beautiful job on the winder and a kicka$$ piano solo btw. Screws as polepieces and acrylic as flatwork has made me many a rick and fender pu. Love the channel. Fantastic musicianship. 👌
Haha, thank you🎹 I've done some experimental winds and found 1mm polycarbonate to make excellent flatwork, currently cutting pole pieces off a length of 6mm steel rod but that's no fun really, and as you say screws have made excelllent pole pieces for Rickenbacker and Dimarzio for decades. The experiments continue, gotta start filming tonight and show off my progress so far.
This is brilliant - pickups (in particular from companies with the initials: S.D.) cost a fortune nowadays. It would be great to hear and see more about your pickup winding experiments.
Just to give you the measure of my ignorance, I had to Google what winding a pick up means, but in spite of that I just truly enjoy your videos so much! They are zen-like to me and they teach a lot about the satisfaction of building something from scratch, the step by step problem-solving, patience, perseverance, and all the good stuff us mental health counselors 'preach'!😅 And all accompanied by great music. Welcome back and I look forward to the videos to come!
Awesome design! I have one observation/question: How do you ensure the pickup bobbin (the empty plastic shell that gets wound) is centered on your platter? Some designs I've seen, the platter has two alignment holes. The bobbins are 3d printed (that might be something cool to look into for future pickup builds) with corresponding posts on the bottom. The posts on the bottom of the bobbin line up with the holes on the platter. Double sided 3m tape keeps it affixed. When it's done winding they just clip/sand off the alignment pin on the bottom of the pickup. With regards to actually winding the pickups, there's a little bit of math involved, if I'm not mistaken. When winding pickups you want to hit a certain resistance. The thickness of the pickup wire, measurements of the bobbin, and how your winding (scatter vs tight, hand vs machine, etc) determines how many windings it takes to hit that resistance you need. The typical resistance range of a guitar pickup is 6k- 20k ohms. There are online calculators you can use, where you input the size of the bobbin, the thickness of the wire, your desired resistance, etc and it'll tell you how many windings you need. Some of the more advanced calculators let you pick the pickup type & position your building (ie: p90 vs humbucker vs telecaster vs neck vs bridge) But it basically breaks down like this: (I'll use fictitious numbers & measurements to explain, but the principle behind it still applies) If your target resistance is, lets say 7k ohms, 42awg wire might need 10,000 windings If your target resistance is, lets say 9k ohms, 42awg wire might need 12,000 windings. From the research I've read online, you'd need about a 10% difference in winding count to hear a noticeable change the tone. You can experiment with different wire gauges, different resistance targets, and different windings to dial in a certain tone. Most people dip the wound pickups in paraffin, to seal it off from moisture. I've heard it changes the sound slightly, but I'm too deaf to notice a difference LOL Great work! Looking forward to more videos!
Looks great! I use an old sewing machine from a junk shop, might have to upgrade now. Don't worry about breakages, they will happen but you can solder the broken ends back together if you have good eyes 😂
Initial tests prove that to be true. I've just made a stacked humbucker, 4 breakages, still got a reading of 8.2k at the end. This is actually way less stressful than I thought it was going to be, the next video is going to be hellafun😆
Fantastic job, sir. This is rapidly becoming my favourite bass/guitar-related YT channel out there. Your ingenuity is fantastic, so I'm glad it's warmed up sufficiently in The Shire for you to get back to the projects :)
Your posts always make my day! Fantastic build, I'm excited to see what it's capable of! My only concern (and it may be unfounded) is that the outer polepieces in a pickup will trigger the counter mechanism, effectively double counting each rotation. I hope I'm wrong!
Indeed, I'm also worried about the neo in the disk affecting any alnico pole pieces that come near it. Might wind up with one string a bit louder than the others. We will see I suppose, thanks.
you may have already solved this. but if you buy your alnico pole pieces unmagnetised it’s should be fine. you can then north/south magnetise the pickup with a couple of rare earth magnets once the winding is done 😊
Hey man. You haven't uploaded anything in a while. I hope you are doing well, and just have better things to do than entertaining us :) All the best, we miss you!
Ahh, yes. I've actually been trying to film a pickup making video, had 3 attempts not work out and I've realised there's a lot more to say than I can fit in one video and still have it be under an hour. So, a lot of wasted wire and a lot of time but I'm learning heaps and I've got some time off work for the holidays so expect a few videos over the next few weeks. Thanks😁
@@fanbladeinstruments glad to hear. I've been winding my own pickups on a cordless drill :) it's a lot of fun, and it's very satisfying when it works as you expected :)
10:51 whats that piece? I cant find it, i can find everything else i just dont know to wire the counter and the moter to the same power supply Nvm, terminal lead strip solder, typed in Google you can find it, then you soldered copper wire across the bottom and cut the middle part out to separate them, so a 12v power supply can run 2 things from it and still gives enough power to both?
I'm not sure what the rating on the motor is but the gearbox is bringing it down to 800, having wound a few coils now I feel it could probably be faster without snapping the wire but then you get less control of the wind as it's happening. Thanks.
Starting tomorrow, I m going to start using this as an insult: "Why don't you go suck the airbubbles out of a pickup?" The vagueness of the reference will be my delightful secret. 😊
That's magnificent😆 I can confirm the vacuum chamber does indeed pull a vacuum, it did some interesting things to a piece of bubblewrap but I've not had a pickup in there yet, all good things to come, cheers.
Ever had a half wound coil fly off the machine? Not me. Enjoy spending ages peeling off old tape residue? Not me either. Two problems solved, that's why the clamp.
@@fanbladeinstruments Your idea doesn't look too secure to me. And I've wound many pickups and never had one fall off using double stick tape. And the tape I use never leaves residue. Hope your clamp works over the long haul but I just don't see that happening.
It took me several attempts to get some viable pickups but here I am making a set, although you'll also need to check the last video in the series to hear it. Sorry but that's just how things worked out. ruclips.net/video/2Xt9aRh0D1k/видео.html
Amazing! Well done. Now you mentioned having to learn about pickups - well I came across this youtube video you may have already seen. He explains everything it seems. Way above my head. ruclips.net/video/5JMsRX6SGlw/видео.html. Now why is this of interest to me? Well, I have an Ibanez copy of the Gibson EB0 and the pickups no longer work and I need them rewound but I cannot find someone in Aus to do it. (Hint -Hint) Cheers from across the ditch.
![Hunxho - Ball Forever [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nki9ZTF9Uls/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks for this video, especially how clear you were in spelling out the parts required and the steps you took to put the winder together. Very useful now that I'm considering building something similar.
Great to hear your voice again. I was looking up doing this so I'm truly excited for this series.
Welcome back! Enjoyed this, looking forward to the series.
I figured out how to make pickups by taking one apart. They're really pretty simple.
Consequently, I've been making my own for several years.
Just recently designed and built a primitive winder that consists of two furniture leveling feet, a window crank, and two pieces of 1X2 lumber .
I have made my winding "machine" out of a fishing line coil winder. The winder has a 1:8 gear ratio and has a built-in mechanical counter. After I have winded some pickups, I developed a good routine winding them manually. It takes just about 5 minutes of a kind of a Zen work and it's done. Your high tech device is more the luxury version 😁
I really wonder how it will work.
Very good video !
Fantastic! Can't wait to look at some more of your videos!
Beautiful job on the winder and a kicka$$ piano solo btw.
Screws as polepieces and acrylic as flatwork has made me many a rick and fender pu.
Love the channel. Fantastic musicianship. 👌
Haha, thank you🎹 I've done some experimental winds and found 1mm polycarbonate to make excellent flatwork, currently cutting pole pieces off a length of 6mm steel rod but that's no fun really, and as you say screws have made excelllent pole pieces for Rickenbacker and Dimarzio for decades. The experiments continue, gotta start filming tonight and show off my progress so far.
Glad to see you back, I love your videos! This was a fun project and I'm looking forwards to see the pickups. Also I loved the new music!
That winder went together nicely. I look forward to seeing it in action.
I'm very impressed with your build on this! Going to look for your other videos showing it in action!
Well, I didn't find any. 😞
ruclips.net/video/2Xt9aRh0D1k/видео.html
That's pretty cool. I've thought about winding pickups, but there's so much to learn.
This is brilliant - pickups (in particular from companies with the initials: S.D.) cost a fortune nowadays. It would be great to hear and see more about your pickup winding experiments.
Great Idea using a guitar knob to hold the disc on 👍👍
Just to give you the measure of my ignorance, I had to Google what winding a pick up means, but in spite of that I just truly enjoy your videos so much! They are zen-like to me and they teach a lot about the satisfaction of building something from scratch, the step by step problem-solving, patience, perseverance, and all the good stuff us mental health counselors 'preach'!😅 And all accompanied by great music. Welcome back and I look forward to the videos to come!
Awesome little machine!
Awesome design! I have one observation/question: How do you ensure the pickup bobbin (the empty plastic shell that gets wound) is centered on your platter?
Some designs I've seen, the platter has two alignment holes. The bobbins are 3d printed (that might be something cool to look into for future pickup builds) with corresponding posts on the bottom. The posts on the bottom of the bobbin line up with the holes on the platter. Double sided 3m tape keeps it affixed. When it's done winding they just clip/sand off the alignment pin on the bottom of the pickup.
With regards to actually winding the pickups, there's a little bit of math involved, if I'm not mistaken. When winding pickups you want to hit a certain resistance.
The thickness of the pickup wire, measurements of the bobbin, and how your winding (scatter vs tight, hand vs machine, etc) determines how many windings it takes to hit that resistance you need. The typical resistance range of a guitar pickup is 6k- 20k ohms. There are online calculators you can use, where you input the size of the bobbin, the thickness of the wire, your desired resistance, etc and it'll tell you how many windings you need. Some of the more advanced calculators let you pick the pickup type & position your building (ie: p90 vs humbucker vs telecaster vs neck vs bridge)
But it basically breaks down like this:
(I'll use fictitious numbers & measurements to explain, but the principle behind it still applies)
If your target resistance is, lets say 7k ohms, 42awg wire might need 10,000 windings
If your target resistance is, lets say 9k ohms, 42awg wire might need 12,000 windings.
From the research I've read online, you'd need about a 10% difference in winding count to hear a noticeable change the tone.
You can experiment with different wire gauges, different resistance targets, and different windings to dial in a certain tone.
Most people dip the wound pickups in paraffin, to seal it off from moisture. I've heard it changes the sound slightly, but I'm too deaf to notice a difference LOL
Great work! Looking forward to more videos!
Looks great! I use an old sewing machine from a junk shop, might have to upgrade now. Don't worry about breakages, they will happen but you can solder the broken ends back together if you have good eyes 😂
Initial tests prove that to be true. I've just made a stacked humbucker, 4 breakages, still got a reading of 8.2k at the end. This is actually way less stressful than I thought it was going to be, the next video is going to be hellafun😆
@@fanbladeinstruments great stuff! I found the hardest part was getting the right tension on the wire between my fingers.
Fantastic job, sir. This is rapidly becoming my favourite bass/guitar-related YT channel out there. Your ingenuity is fantastic, so I'm glad it's warmed up sufficiently in The Shire for you to get back to the projects :)
Your posts always make my day! Fantastic build, I'm excited to see what it's capable of! My only concern (and it may be unfounded) is that the outer polepieces in a pickup will trigger the counter mechanism, effectively double counting each rotation. I hope I'm wrong!
Indeed, I'm also worried about the neo in the disk affecting any alnico pole pieces that come near it. Might wind up with one string a bit louder than the others. We will see I suppose, thanks.
you may have already solved this. but if you buy your alnico pole pieces unmagnetised it’s should be fine. you can then north/south magnetise the pickup with a couple of rare earth magnets once the winding is done 😊
Any updates on how the winding experiment is going?
Great video! Can you please share the list of the parts? Thank you in advance!
Hey man. You haven't uploaded anything in a while. I hope you are doing well, and just have better things to do than entertaining us :) All the best, we miss you!
Ahh, yes. I've actually been trying to film a pickup making video, had 3 attempts not work out and I've realised there's a lot more to say than I can fit in one video and still have it be under an hour. So, a lot of wasted wire and a lot of time but I'm learning heaps and I've got some time off work for the holidays so expect a few videos over the next few weeks. Thanks😁
@@fanbladeinstruments glad to hear. I've been winding my own pickups on a cordless drill :) it's a lot of fun, and it's very satisfying when it works as you expected :)
10:51 whats that piece? I cant find it, i can find everything else i just dont know to wire the counter and the moter to the same power supply
Nvm, terminal lead strip solder, typed in Google you can find it, then you soldered copper wire across the bottom and cut the middle part out to separate them, so a 12v power supply can run 2 things from it and still gives enough power to both?
What RPM is the motor rated at???
Good Video!!!!
B
I'm not sure what the rating on the motor is but the gearbox is bringing it down to 800, having wound a few coils now I feel it could probably be faster without snapping the wire but then you get less control of the wind as it's happening. Thanks.
Starting tomorrow, I m going to start using this as an insult:
"Why don't you go suck the airbubbles out of a pickup?"
The vagueness of the reference will be my delightful secret. 😊
That's magnificent😆 I can confirm the vacuum chamber does indeed pull a vacuum, it did some interesting things to a piece of bubblewrap but I've not had a pickup in there yet, all good things to come, cheers.
You don't need to vacuum the air out when wax potting.
I don't get the clamp. Why not just used double stick tape like everyone else?
Ever had a half wound coil fly off the machine? Not me. Enjoy spending ages peeling off old tape residue? Not me either. Two problems solved, that's why the clamp.
@@fanbladeinstruments Your idea doesn't look too secure to me. And I've wound many pickups and never had one fall off using double stick tape. And the tape I use never leaves residue. Hope your clamp works over the long haul but I just don't see that happening.
but where is the demo.
It took me several attempts to get some viable pickups but here I am making a set, although you'll also need to check the last video in the series to hear it. Sorry but that's just how things worked out. ruclips.net/video/2Xt9aRh0D1k/видео.html
Amazing! Well done. Now you mentioned having to learn about pickups - well I came across this youtube video you may have already seen. He explains everything it seems. Way above my head. ruclips.net/video/5JMsRX6SGlw/видео.html. Now why is this of interest to me? Well, I have an Ibanez copy of the Gibson EB0 and the pickups no longer work and I need them rewound but I cannot find someone in Aus to do it. (Hint -Hint) Cheers from across the ditch.