I thought I was the only one who does this. I love making my own pickups. I have a set of single coils made on solid bubinga bobbins that are machined. Pain in the ass, but beautiful., and the tone is amazing. I rigged up a cordless drill for winding. The most fun you can have without a girl.
Thanks Brad! Thats very cool, you used to work with David Schecter, awesome! Building winding machines, you are a piece of music history! Very cool stuff. Did you make some legendary pickups? Many thanks!
+iiJohanii Thank you! yes I feel music is a bit distracting and I certainly like machine sounds. My own voice is terrible so I'm very glad you like the silent one, thanks agian!!
How it was silent kinda made it feel like a HowToBasic video, haha. Yeah, it's certainly better than some generic background track and having the guy trying to explain when he could simply put the steps to follow there.
A good tradesman has a passion for what they do. It's not about the money or the time it takes, the payoff comes from the final finish product and being 90+% happy with what you have accomplished(being 100% happy with a finish product is a rarity for any good tradesman/craftsman). Beautiful work mate, can't wait to hear them in action.
Thanks Rek! Really appreciate it. There is a video with how this guitar sounds along with another guitar I made. The vid is on my channel, may even be on the playlist, i just cant remember. Thanks again, have a good one!!
wow, great video.........i loved that there was no music or talking......just silence as you worked........made it feel like we were there with you enjoying the building process.....very gratifying
I appreciate that you've made your own pickups, but also that you've taken the time to do a detailed video of the process. And you didn't cuss even once! Thanks for sharing! Btw, they sound great on your accompanying link.
Nice video. Although I build guitars for a living since over 20 years, I never made my own pickups. Maybe I should just try it one day. Thanks for your detailed video, would love te hear them in reality.
This is some high level craftsmanship done with very specialized equipment that makes building your own pickups not money wise. Now if you have all this stuff because you build stuff all the time then the makes since. It is obvious that God blessed you with the ability to build pickups and I have a feeling you build a lot of your own stuff. I enjoyed watching but I would be still be trying to get the piece of wood unglued from my finger.
Please dont get me wrong this is so f ing awesome that you did something like this , but man it looks like a ton of work, very meticulous, methodical, plus you have to have alot of patience, absolutely amazing . I hope you get years of good use out of these pick ups.
I new pickups were really just magnets and wore but I never realized the configuration was so simple. Very informative video. Hope you enjoyed using the pickups.
Holy CRAP that is labor intensive! No wonder custom pickkups are so much more expensive than mass produced..they don't necessarily sound any better, but to recoup the severe time investment in making them! lol
All his labour went into making the wooden flatwork and the template for it. You could just buy precut fiberboard flatworks for a couple dollars. Their only purpose it to hold everything together (they’re essentially just a box)and likely going to be concealed by a pickup cover anyway. I'm pretty sure most custom pickup builders buy precut ones. Even if they do make their own they only have to make a template once and with fiberboard just stamp it out. There’s no reason to toil over making individual flatworks. You don’t think they forge their own alloy pole piece too? The "custom" part comes in with the winding process.
@@mickavoidant4780 That's nice. In the long run for mass production the laser cutter is probably more efficient and consistent, but it hardly justifies any markups in terms of "quality". That's like saying an amp builder uses diamond tipped saw blades to cut the MDF for their speaker cabinets.
@@gregtoolson1606 I wasn't talking about quality at all. He leaves the automated cutter to run itself. It makes loads of flatwork from one sheet. The labour is in putting everything together, which would still happen if he bought the flatwork. Nords might be dearer than others, but I don't let that make me hate him.
this video is freaking great. and u can't tell what it would sound like. every make would be slightly diff. maybe a tiny less wire or more. different wood. purity of metals. other chemicals and glues. honestly been wanting to make a drumset and guitar from scratch for years I'm gonna do it thankyou this video was seriously perfect.
Thanks so much Anthony!! Indeed, little changes in material here and there make a big difference and just give the set-up a nice unique feel. Every time I make a guitar/pickup/amp they all have unique character and that is quite a cool thing. Really appreciate your kind words and wish you all the best for your builds! Have a great day!!
Hey thanks Karim. yeah I like carbon pickguards alot, they really do have a nice tone. Much more so than the plastic ones. I have both and its really amazing how much tone comes from under the pickguard as it is such a large cavity.
I expect somebody's said this before 'cos I haven't read all the comments, but the idea of adapting an old multiplier reel to wind the pick-ups is brilliant, and counting the turns is easy if you know the gear ratio of the fishing reel! Great video. Thanks for posting!
I got these magnets from some broken Texas special pups. I usually get my wire from BAE wire in the states and magnets and things from Addiction fx, both found on Ebay US. Cheers
VERY VERY COOL! I'm a GIT/AIM Graduate and have been playing since 10! 39 years. I build my own guitars from parts. I actually made (my version) of a JEM (Floral Pattern) but with an Aqua paisley pattern. I even matched the abalone inlays in the JEM's Vine of Life with the exact color & type abalone capped knurled volume & tone knobs. It turned out beautifully, if I do say so! LOL But I've never seen a pickup made! Of course I have a million questions! Like if your wire kept breaking couldn't you use a slightly thicker wire! I've heard of dipping them in candle wax. Can you "steer" the tone to different genres? I imagine so since the big PUP COs advertise this aspect in thier own line of pups. On my favorite axe I have an older "Satch" pup called the Fred Pro. Advertised as having a "spike" in the mid to upper mids which IMHO works as advertised, gives it an open vowel sound. And toss in my Budda Budwah pedal and work the sweet spot ....wham ,Satch is in the house! LOL. I'm now working on a patented guitar with just a bridge pup. But with some mods and other patented technology I've created a real monster for hard rock & heavy metal players . Not sure of your taste of age but I've tracked close to 40 songs with Rod Morganstein from Dixie Dregs/or Dregs fame. 6 time winner of "Modern Drummer magazine's drummer of the year!! And my name is Rod too! LOL. Well I could write a novel if I don't reel myself in! Take care and thanks for a cool vid!
I really enjoyed watching this, the process was really interesting to me but you also showed it visualy in an appealing way. good job on shooting and cutting.
I'm not sure how I ended up here 8 years later. However I must say that this was mesmerizing. Very well done. I'm going to search for the video where I can hear them in action.
Is there a way to measure the gain as you're winding so if you want to make some beefy sounding humbuckers? Rather than just winding til you run out of wire. Just how much wire did you use on each pickup? I'm looking at 3,050 ft of AWG 42 enameled copper wire on eBay to play with - will that be enough?
That should be enough I think, is it about a 1/2 pound spool or more? I take note of how many winds and exactly what that resistance gives me each time I make a coil. If you want to get more copper on the bobbin you can use 43 AWG.. I use 43 for humbuckers mainly. I use 42 guage for a more warm single coil or neck humbucker. From memory I think around 5000 turns of 42 guage gave me about 3.5k/humbucker bobbin. If I filled up a humbucker bobbin with 43 guage I can get that up to 8k each and more. You can even have a combination of both on a single bobbin if you like.. There are endless recipes you can think of. Thanks for message and good luck Gregg!!
I found an interview with Seth Lover who patented the Gibson humbuckers and he said at the time (in the 50's and 60's) there wasn't any formula they followed, they'd just wind the coils until it looked enough! haha! So they all had roughly the same number of windings, but none had the exact same number. Have you tried winding until the coils are bulging out from the bobbins? And have you tried winding figure 8's around the poles? I suppose in and out around the bottom 3 then the same around the top 3 then try wiring them in series andin parallel - I have to get some wire! I have 100 rare earth magnets to use. And thanks for the reply! Not many people reply...
GreggPitts Hey Gregg.. Nice one on the research and lateral thinking. I have thought of many ways but i haven't thought about the figure of eight idea.. thats really outside the square and very cool. I have thought about winding each magnet pole on its own giving you much more copper on the bobbin and the ability to tap each pole, but yet to experiment with it. Wow rare earth magnets will be real powerful, that will be great. No worries on the reply, glad I'm not the only one trying new things.. its great.. Keep me posted on your builds, thanks Gregg!
I found these humbuckers in China which are good at least for the housing and bobbins! Just rip their wire off and rewind with your own wire... www.dx.com/p/zea-dz103-humbucking-pickup-humbucker-set-for-electric-guitar-white-black-multi-color-1-pair-292993#.U6nraLH2bVQ
If you are talking about measuring the impedance you can sand away some of the wire coating and check with a multimeter when you think you're getting close. That's what I do.
They're built more by volume. With microscopic variations in the wire thickness, there's no magic number for the length or passes, but rather a good amount of fill which can be seen by eye. A certain distance from the edge of the wood, for example. It looks to be about 1 ~ 2mm away from the edge at the center where it's bulged the most.
Hand operated winders are great. It's a lot closer to hand winding than sitting in front of the same winders used in factories at home. It's a thing with me when I see videos claiming to be hand wound. It's like going to Denny's for some homemade food. The pickups look great and they really are made at home from scratch.
Right, Brohammer. This guy put all that work into the flatwork/bobbins which are just to hold things together. The important part of the pickup is the metal bits: poles and wires.
Cheers Ezy. Indeed music not the way to go. My early vids had music as I was inexperienced but I learnt my lesson. Much better to hear nice audio of tool work, much more peaceful. Thanks again!
Very nice, Even though I know that you are doing a demonstration, I can see that you have great visions and are motivated. Thank you for this video, one small piece that has been missing in my brain about pickup construction has been so gracefully described to me without a bunch of "hoopla" if I may. Changed my life tonight! Aloha, Paul
Great clip! I recently clipped a 2 wire humbucker jumper. Wanted to coil split. I found out that old usb cables have the right color code and braided shielding. :)
Bloody Brilliant !! Well done on the close ups and great tips. Thanks for all the time and effort you put into making this video and sharing. Really appreciated! Cheers !!!
I've watched this video before, but I saw it suggested and had to watch again. I have some flatwok and brass eyelets, that should be delivered in a day or two. I like how you made the guide to get accurate holes for the pole pieces. I want to give that a try. Thanks for the info!👍😎🎸🎶
I did a set of pickups years ago for a bass I built. I had a problem with breaking the wire as I wrapped it around the mags. I ended up making an apparatus much like the feed of a sewing machine in order to hold constant tension on the wire. Don't remember what the OHM's were but they turned out sweet. By the way these days I do a lot of CNC routing. I can make you or anyone else interested in nicely made blanks to hold the mags. Just let me know. BTW those are really nice looking pickups.
When you mentioned using the magnifying glass while doing the windings, I thought of something that would be even better for this purpose. I attended a Dental convention ( wife was dental assistant ) awhile back where one of the products being promoted there was the type of glasses that dentists wear. They have built in magnification and lighting which are designed to help the dentist see better while doing the delicate precision work they do such as drilling out a cavity! I tried them out and thought they would be great for anyone doing electronics fabrication such as building circuit boards. But they would be perfect for this! The magnification is targeted for hand crafting at the distance of about a foot away, and it's just enough magnification, not too much that would make vision shaky! They are a bit high priced ( $300 - $1000+ ) range.
+sparkimoto That would be an awesome aid, Iv just past 40 years now and my eyes are doing all manner of weird things so that kind of thing would be a godsend, thanks for the good info, have a great day!!
There is a link at the end of the vid which directs you to a sound demo. Also there is a vid on my channel that compares these pickups with the humbuckers of my LP. Many thanks!
If drilling the holes is holding anyone back, just take your pieces to a local machine shop. Really easy for them to get it perfect. Take a new drill bit with you if it's an odd size. They'll probably do it for a box of beer and the holes will not only be perfectly spaced but square. -They could help a lot with some of the other stuff too but time is money, the holes are easy.
Now we know why handmade pickups are expensive. I just installed the Seymour Duncan Classic Fully Loaded Liberator Pickguard. The classic Strat tones without the noise. 3 hundy. It rocks.
Michael Craig I didn't mean to infer the Seymour Duncan's are handmade. They're not but they're really great Strat sounding PU's without the noise. PU's are just magnets with coil windings. The major PU companies have pretty much covered all the copies of the classics plus numerous variations. Hand-mades are more like art and aren't necessarily better than the machine produced PU's. PU's are just one part of the equation. The amp, it's settings, string gauges, tunings, and the player are major factors.
fretkillrlives yeah, I know, there are many variables.. I was just commenting that $300 was not too much, compared to some, that was basically it. I know there are many variables to it. The ones you got, so they still have the strat tone? What I am looking for is some pickups that still have the strat tone, without going all fuzzy and generic, but a much huger tone than a regular strat, same beautiful tone, just a giant way bigger, thicker sound, more of it. Any ideas on pickups? Any ideas in general? I have a Marshall JCM DSL 40 watt combo, made in England. I have some great pedals,like the big muff, Jimi fuzz face, mxr analog delay, chorus, boss digital delay, mxr phase. I think I got the amp and pedal part covered for now, at least. so, do the pickups you just got, do what I am sort of describing?
+fretkillrlives Indeed you are very correct, pickups certainly aint rocket science, the biggest tonal difference that one can achieve while playing guitar IMO is the speaker or combination thereof. Thanks Fret!!!
Thanks, this is 50x better than the "that other video" where dude talks all the time about what he won't show you and how complicated everything is and implies how great he is. Just windem up and play dat funky music!
There should be a screen link at the end of the vid. My mate demos them in a separate video which should also be there as a link. Hes much better than me at playing ha ha. I'm a far better maker than I am player indeed. Cheers!
elams1894 you’re a really brilliant luthier! After watching this video I’ve been watching all of this series and a lot of the LP series as well. Dig a little deeper into the comments on all of the vids and found the demo. Very inspirational content. You’ve inspired me to try my hand at making a telecaster. I suppose it probably won’t go as well as your build but watching this makes me want to take a crack at it. Thanks for the awesome content!
I love to do any type of precision work and this has inspired me to give this a try. I've been planning to build my own custom baritone guitar which will have an extended scale length and 8 or more strings. Yet I wondered how I'd ever find the right pickup to match my custom design. Never thought of building my own pickup and didn't know how to do it until now!
+sparkimoto Thats Awesome!! Glad you enjoyed the video and glad it was useful. Its not too difficult to achieve a nice tight coil and once you have done it a few times you'll be getting good at it. I stumbled across an old sewing machine with a nice foot pedal speed controller. Iv rigged it up into a cool pickup winder with a little counter. Certainly those dental glasses would be a great help. All the best for your project and thanks again!
Thanks for this mate! It's absolutely inspired me to not try make em and just buy em. That's hard work lol!!!
Glad I could help ;)
Grant Codron hahahahaha
lol
And thats probably good inspiration
Grant Codron Took the words right outta my keyboard. : P
would have loved to see them in the guitar with a demo of how they sound
+Soapy Joe you can see them in action, follow the link near the end of the video, cheers
Can't see any annotations at that time. Could you give link in description, please?
Great video, btw
Done! Link in description bar. Many thanks dkey!
ON the guitar!
Next. Fixing burnt out lightbulbs.
Just kidding
Love the work.
really nice video. good cutting, no stupid music, just machine sounds. thanks.
Kind of asmr when the epoxy mixing started
I usually get bored by these long how to videos but I have to say this one was very well shot and edited.
Sandarpan Thanks so much! Have a great day!
9 minutes is a "long" how to video?? lol. Attention span of a mouse.
216trixie I see this as more of a build log than a how to video
It's true though: many nine minute vids are boring. This one isn't.
The bandaged finger adds a nice touch and makes this how to video complete.
+VEHICROS Thanks heaps, really appreciate that, yeah I really minced it during that project!
I thought I was the only one who does this. I love making my own pickups. I have a set of single coils made on solid bubinga bobbins that are machined. Pain in the ass, but beautiful., and the tone is amazing. I rigged up a cordless drill for winding. The most fun you can have without a girl.
Can you make your own ceramic pickups?
adam co
Do you know what "ceramic" refers to in pickups?
Takes me back, I used to manage pickup manufacturing at Schecter Guitar Research in 1978-1979. I built coil winding machines with David Schecter.
Thanks Brad! Thats very cool, you used to work with David Schecter, awesome! Building winding machines, you are a piece of music history! Very cool stuff. Did you make some legendary pickups? Many thanks!
That's sick dude, they're one of my favorite guitar brands
That's pretty cool.
The best sounding fender single coils of the 60's early 70's you need to shoot for around 8.7-8.9, just like you have. Great video
I love how you made the video silent lol the sounds are sooo soothing
+iiJohanii Thank you! yes I feel music is a bit distracting and I certainly like machine sounds. My own voice is terrible so I'm very glad you like the silent one, thanks agian!!
+elams1894
I was hoping for a riff at the end lol
Try ASMR videos then!
How it was silent kinda made it feel like a HowToBasic video, haha. Yeah, it's certainly better than some generic background track and having the guy trying to explain when he could simply put the steps to follow there.
Agreed!
A good tradesman has a passion for what they do. It's not about the money or the time it takes, the payoff comes from the final finish product and being 90+% happy with what you have accomplished(being 100% happy with a finish product is a rarity for any good tradesman/craftsman). Beautiful work mate, can't wait to hear them in action.
Thanks Rek! Really appreciate it. There is a video with how this guitar sounds along with another guitar I made. The vid is on my channel, may even be on the playlist, i just cant remember. Thanks again, have a good one!!
Silence is not golden when it comes to these types of instructional videos the human voice is essential. The human touch is very important.
So fantastic to watch that! Thanks for sharing your craft.
Shawn Stack Thanks Shawn, really appreciate your kind words, glad you liked it!
wow, great video.........i loved that there was no music or talking......just silence as you worked........made it feel like we were there with you enjoying the building process.....very gratifying
I appreciate that you've made your own pickups, but also that you've taken the time to do a detailed video of the process. And you didn't cuss even once! Thanks for sharing! Btw, they sound great on your accompanying link.
Baal-Zephon Thanks so much Baal!! Really appreciate the kind words and you taking the time to comment. Thank you!
I absolutely love the way you filmed this. Simple and easy to follow. No bullshit. Thanks
+beastmandrum Thanks so much beastmandrum, really appreciate it!
Nice video. Although I build guitars for a living since over 20 years, I never made my own pickups. Maybe I should just try it one day. Thanks for your detailed video, would love te hear them in reality.
This is some high level craftsmanship done with very specialized equipment that makes building your own pickups not money wise. Now if you have all this stuff because you build stuff all the time then the makes since. It is obvious that God blessed you with the ability to build pickups and I have a feeling you build a lot of your own stuff. I enjoyed watching but I would be still be trying to get the piece of wood unglued from my finger.
Totally mind boggling.. never even thought about the possibility before seeing this. Great and inspirational video! 👍
i had respect for the people that did this... now its plain admiration... BRAVO! the patience and dedication... BRAVO!
i am so relaxed right now
me too
Please dont get me wrong this is so f ing awesome that you did something like this , but man it looks like a ton of work, very meticulous, methodical, plus you have to have alot of patience, absolutely amazing . I hope you get years of good use out of these pick ups.
Thanks edlaw! Much appreciated.
I new pickups were really just magnets and wore but I never realized the configuration was so simple. Very informative video. Hope you enjoyed using the pickups.
oh wow this video is not only informative but incredibly relaxing to watch. Thank you!
Holy CRAP that is labor intensive! No wonder custom pickkups are so much more expensive than mass produced..they don't necessarily sound any better, but to recoup the severe time investment in making them! lol
All his labour went into making the wooden flatwork and the template for it. You could just buy precut fiberboard flatworks for a couple dollars. Their only purpose it to hold everything together (they’re essentially just a box)and likely going to be concealed by a pickup cover anyway. I'm pretty sure most custom pickup builders buy precut ones. Even if they do make their own they only have to make a template once and with fiberboard just stamp it out. There’s no reason to toil over making individual flatworks. You don’t think they forge their own alloy pole piece too? The "custom" part comes in with the winding process.
@@gregtoolson1606 Nordstrand laser-cut their flatwork
@@mickavoidant4780 That's nice. In the long run for mass production the laser cutter is probably more efficient and consistent, but it hardly justifies any markups in terms of "quality". That's like saying an amp builder uses diamond tipped saw blades to cut the MDF for their speaker cabinets.
@@gregtoolson1606 I wasn't talking about quality at all. He leaves the automated cutter to run itself. It makes loads of flatwork from one sheet. The labour is in putting everything together, which would still happen if he bought the flatwork. Nords might be dearer than others, but I don't let that make me hate him.
this video is freaking great. and u can't tell what it would sound like. every make would be slightly diff. maybe a tiny less wire or more. different wood. purity of metals. other chemicals and glues. honestly been wanting to make a drumset and guitar from scratch for years I'm gonna do it thankyou this video was seriously perfect.
Thanks so much Anthony!! Indeed, little changes in material here and there make a big difference and just give the set-up a nice unique feel. Every time I make a guitar/pickup/amp they all have unique character and that is quite a cool thing. Really appreciate your kind words and wish you all the best for your builds! Have a great day!!
Hey thanks Karim. yeah I like carbon pickguards alot, they really do have a nice tone. Much more so than the plastic ones. I have both and its really amazing how much tone comes from under the pickguard as it is such a large cavity.
I have no intention of ever doing this, but this video is great because it showed me how pickups work!
Ah man, I really wanted to hear the pickups! any chance you can give us a demo excellent video by the way! Well done!
I expect somebody's said this before 'cos I haven't read all the comments, but the idea of adapting an old multiplier reel to wind the pick-ups is brilliant, and counting the turns is easy if you know the gear ratio of the fishing reel! Great video. Thanks for posting!
+chenks54 Thanks so much Chenks!!!
I got these magnets from some broken Texas special pups. I usually get my wire from BAE wire in the states and magnets and things from Addiction fx, both found on Ebay US. Cheers
That tension that the background noise incites.
That is soooo cool.... And they look great too...
+mitch mclean Thanks Mitch!
Those are beautiful! People like you are rare and special.
Thanks Ted!
VERY VERY COOL! I'm a GIT/AIM Graduate and have been playing since 10! 39 years. I build my own guitars from parts. I actually made (my version) of a JEM (Floral Pattern) but with an Aqua paisley pattern. I even matched the abalone inlays in the JEM's Vine of Life with the exact color & type abalone capped knurled volume & tone knobs. It turned out beautifully, if I do say so! LOL
But I've never seen a pickup made!
Of course I have a million questions! Like if your wire kept breaking couldn't you use a slightly thicker wire!
I've heard of dipping them in candle wax.
Can you "steer" the tone to different genres?
I imagine so since the big PUP COs advertise this aspect in thier own line of pups. On my favorite axe I have an older "Satch" pup called the Fred Pro. Advertised as having a "spike" in the mid to upper mids which IMHO works as advertised, gives it an open vowel sound. And toss in my Budda Budwah pedal and work the sweet spot ....wham ,Satch is in the house! LOL. I'm now working on a patented guitar with just a bridge pup. But with some mods and other patented technology I've created a real monster for hard rock & heavy metal players . Not sure of your taste of age but I've tracked close to 40 songs with Rod Morganstein from Dixie Dregs/or Dregs fame. 6 time winner of "Modern Drummer magazine's drummer of the year!! And my name is Rod too! LOL.
Well I could write a novel if I don't reel myself in! Take care and thanks for a cool vid!
I would like to thank you for taking the time to film, edit, and explain your process, that's a lot of effort to help some strangers on the internet.
Thanks for kind words, much appreciated!!
Good luck to anyone trying to do this themselves.
I really enjoyed watching this, the process was really interesting to me but you also showed it visualy in an appealing way. good job on shooting and cutting.
DrewNZ Thanks so much Drew!! Really appreciate your kind words and sorry for the delay in reply.
Why does this video reminds me so much of HowToBasic?!?!?!?
It shouldn't 0.0
Thinking the same thing... must be all the hard cuts.
Because it's quiet, and you have the same style of tutorial, except this one is real, and How To Basic is joking.
Royce Khau I totally feel the same vibe. :))
Royce Khau because the audio is strange
You are an artist, Sir. Thank you for sharing your hard work and patience. Simply amazing work.
theoreticall you could use those rare earth magnets to recharge very old pickups?
Absolutely. Take a visit at WillsEasyGuitar 's channel, he's a great instructor. It's suprisingly easy.
cool, thanks!
I'm not sure how I ended up here 8 years later. However I must say that this was mesmerizing. Very well done. I'm going to search for the video where I can hear them in action.
And it only takes 9 minutes!
tneu64 Sweet!
😀😀😀😀😀
And interesting and well filmed guide...which I plan to follow with a few...modifications. Thank you for the clarity...very thoughtful. M.
Thanks Mark, all the best with your build, cheers
Is there a way to measure the gain as you're winding so if you want to make some beefy sounding humbuckers? Rather than just winding til you run out of wire. Just how much wire did you use on each pickup? I'm looking at 3,050 ft of AWG 42 enameled copper wire on eBay to play with - will that be enough?
That should be enough I think, is it about a 1/2 pound spool or more? I take note of how many winds and exactly what that resistance gives me each time I make a coil. If you want to get more copper on the bobbin you can use 43 AWG.. I use 43 for humbuckers mainly. I use 42 guage for a more warm single coil or neck humbucker. From memory I think around 5000 turns of 42 guage gave me about 3.5k/humbucker bobbin. If I filled up a humbucker bobbin with 43 guage I can get that up to 8k each and more. You can even have a combination of both on a single bobbin if you like.. There are endless recipes you can think of. Thanks for message and good luck Gregg!!
I found an interview with Seth Lover who patented the Gibson humbuckers and he said at the time (in the 50's and 60's) there wasn't any formula they followed, they'd just wind the coils until it looked enough! haha! So they all had roughly the same number of windings, but none had the exact same number. Have you tried winding until the coils are bulging out from the bobbins? And have you tried winding figure 8's around the poles? I suppose in and out around the bottom 3 then the same around the top 3 then try wiring them in series andin parallel - I have to get some wire! I have 100 rare earth magnets to use. And thanks for the reply! Not many people reply...
GreggPitts Hey Gregg.. Nice one on the research and lateral thinking. I have thought of many ways but i haven't thought about the figure of eight idea.. thats really outside the square and very cool. I have thought about winding each magnet pole on its own giving you much more copper on the bobbin and the ability to tap each pole, but yet to experiment with it. Wow rare earth magnets will be real powerful, that will be great. No worries on the reply, glad I'm not the only one trying new things.. its great.. Keep me posted on your builds, thanks Gregg!
I found these humbuckers in China which are good at least for the housing and bobbins! Just rip their wire off and rewind with your own wire... www.dx.com/p/zea-dz103-humbucking-pickup-humbucker-set-for-electric-guitar-white-black-multi-color-1-pair-292993#.U6nraLH2bVQ
If you are talking about measuring the impedance you can sand away some of the wire coating and check with a multimeter when you think you're getting close. That's what I do.
Thanks for being the only example of quality work when making pickups.
Thank you! Really appreciate that, Cheers
How do you keep track of the number of windings?
Keeping track of inductance is all that matters.
This has the best camerawork I’ve seen on an instructional video. I’ve watched many and this is honestly the best.
Well done.
Hire did you count your passes on the coils?
They're built more by volume. With microscopic variations in the wire thickness, there's no magic number for the length or passes, but rather a good amount of fill which can be seen by eye. A certain distance from the edge of the wood, for example. It looks to be about 1 ~ 2mm away from the edge at the center where it's bulged the most.
666 turns = METAL
Hand operated winders are great. It's a lot closer to hand winding than sitting in front of the same winders used in factories at home. It's a thing with me when I see videos claiming to be hand wound. It's like going to Denny's for some homemade food. The pickups look great and they really are made at home from scratch.
far too complicated for my small brain
all you need to know for the pickup really is 6 metal bits, 6 magnets, and a lot of copper wire
Right, Brohammer. This guy put all that work into the flatwork/bobbins which are just to hold things together. The important part of the pickup is the metal bits: poles and wires.
A-MA-ZING. What patience is required! Thanks for posting such an informative and well-edited video.
I love your choice to use no music. That really makes your video tranquil and avoid from this cheap feeling of someone just showing off.
Cheers Ezy. Indeed music not the way to go. My early vids had music as I was inexperienced but I learnt my lesson. Much better to hear nice audio of tool work, much more peaceful. Thanks again!
Great work my friend. A pleasure to watch you work in all of your videos.
Thanks GHF! Very glad you enjoyed the vids, have a great day!
Very nice,
Even though I know that you are doing a demonstration, I can see that you have great visions and are motivated. Thank you for this video, one small piece that has been missing in my brain about pickup construction has been so gracefully described to me without a bunch of "hoopla" if I may. Changed my life tonight!
Aloha, Paul
Just imagine how simple 3D printing would make this. Great video, thanks for taking the time to post this 👍🏼
Great clip!
I recently clipped a 2 wire humbucker jumper. Wanted to coil split. I found out that old usb cables have the right color code and braided shielding. :)
Yes, they are real handy those cables, done the same thing myself once. Cheers!
I thought it was a video how to basics when I started the video . Intact it is the opposite . And great job man . You saved money , built quality.😃
One of those types of videos I wish I could "like it" more than once.
Bloody Brilliant !! Well done on the close ups and great tips. Thanks for all the time and effort you put into making this video and sharing. Really appreciated! Cheers !!!
Thanks so much Jim!! Have a good one!
I've watched this video before, but I saw it suggested and had to watch again. I have some flatwok and brass eyelets, that should be delivered in a day or two. I like how you made the guide to get accurate holes for the pole pieces. I want to give that a try. Thanks for the info!👍😎🎸🎶
This might be the best edited tutorial video I've ever seen. Very nice job. Also, very clever tips and tricks. Keep creating.
+Joshua Bentley Thanks so much Joshua!!
That video is just perfectly cut. Every bit is not too long, not too short. Perfect. :D
Wow. Nicely done. I’ll never complain about the cost of pickups again.
They sure sound awesome. Everything is made with passion has outstanding quality. Cheers and well done friend!
I've never liked wooden pickup covers, but thanks for the video, very helpful!
I surely doesn't wanna try this. But it thought me how pickups work. Great Video.
Thank you!
your meticulous work is amazing
Cool idea about the hole spacing, simple but well effective..nice work😎
+Palfray Guitars Thanks Palfray, really appreciate the kind words!
maaan. this is great! detailed instructions with no distractions! thanks for the video!!!
This video hooked my my man. Subbed and clicked the bell. I'm a tinkerer and I want to make my own bass pickups. You inspired me...
Thanks so much, really appreciate it, all the best for you tinkering, cheers
Great work, I just finished listening to the finished product on the other video. Impressive.
I did a set of pickups years ago for a bass I built. I had a problem with breaking the wire as I wrapped it around the mags. I ended up making an apparatus much like the feed of a sewing machine in order to hold constant tension on the wire. Don't remember what the OHM's were but they turned out sweet. By the way these days I do a lot of CNC routing. I can make you or anyone else interested in nicely made blanks to hold the mags. Just let me know. BTW those are really nice looking pickups.
Amazing skill. Some things I will not do myself... this is one. Thanks for sharing.
Basically pole magnets pickups has a better tone than bar magnet pickups. Good job.
never ever seen a how to video as awesome and smooth like this!
Thanks so much ZEN! Really appreciate it!
hats off world needs more people like you. unfortunately I'll be buying them too.. maybe one day i can dream
Thanks Future!!
When you mentioned using the magnifying glass while doing the windings, I thought of something that would be even better for this purpose. I attended a Dental convention ( wife was dental assistant ) awhile back where one of the products being promoted there was the type of glasses that dentists wear. They have built in magnification and lighting which are designed to help the dentist see better while doing the delicate precision work they do such as drilling out a cavity! I tried them out and thought they would be great for anyone doing electronics fabrication such as building circuit boards. But they would be perfect for this! The magnification is targeted for hand crafting at the distance of about a foot away, and it's just enough magnification, not too much that would make vision shaky! They are a bit high priced ( $300 - $1000+ ) range.
+sparkimoto That would be an awesome aid, Iv just past 40 years now and my eyes are doing all manner of weird things so that kind of thing would be a godsend, thanks for the good info, have a great day!!
I really appreciate the " sounds " of the process! Thanks
+dreadlock1977 Thanks dreadlock! Really glad you enjoyed it! Sorry for delay, how time fly's by! Regards!
Brings back old memories when I was 5 years old and my uncle gave me some lessons on how to wind a motor and a tv power transformer..
+Alfred Meneses Awesome!! Cheers Alfred!!
Very nice. You have a lot more patients than I do.
great work as always thanks again for sharing. btw that carbon fiber pickup guard looks absolutely delicious.
no sound demonstration? that's what I was hoping for, the ultimate result. very cool process though. great work
There is a link at the end of the vid which directs you to a sound demo. Also there is a vid on my channel that compares these pickups with the humbuckers of my LP. Many thanks!
Love the look of the handmade pickup very cool
Thanks DJ!
Man, very cool just the patient woodworking is amazing
Thanks Funky dude!
Thanks for your kind comments, all the best for your bass build project!
Thank you... great info... you've sparked the DIY in me.
Keep on making vids.
If drilling the holes is holding anyone back, just take your pieces to a local machine shop. Really easy for them to get it perfect.
Take a new drill bit with you if it's an odd size.
They'll probably do it for a box of beer and the holes will not only be perfectly spaced but square. -They could help a lot with some of the other stuff too but time is money, the holes are easy.
Thanks for the input tensioner!!
Absolutely a labour of love! Fantastic stuff.
Now we know why handmade pickups are expensive. I just installed the Seymour Duncan Classic Fully Loaded Liberator Pickguard. The classic Strat tones without the noise. 3 hundy. It rocks.
that is cheap! try some of the hand made pickups, by expert vintage and jazz pickup makers.... $600 a set for some...
Michael Craig I didn't mean to infer the Seymour Duncan's are handmade. They're not but they're really great Strat sounding PU's without the noise. PU's are just magnets with coil windings. The major PU companies have pretty much covered all the copies of the classics plus numerous variations. Hand-mades are more like art and aren't necessarily better than the machine produced PU's. PU's are just one part of the equation. The amp, it's settings, string gauges, tunings, and the player are major factors.
fretkillrlives yeah, I know, there are many variables.. I was just commenting that $300 was not too much, compared to some, that was basically it. I know there are many variables to it. The ones you got, so they still have the strat tone? What I am looking for is some pickups that still have the strat tone, without going all fuzzy and generic, but a much huger tone than a regular strat, same beautiful tone, just a giant way bigger, thicker sound, more of it. Any ideas on pickups? Any ideas in general? I have a Marshall JCM DSL 40 watt combo, made in England. I have some great pedals,like the big muff, Jimi fuzz face, mxr analog delay, chorus, boss digital delay, mxr phase. I think I got the amp and pedal part covered for now, at least. so, do the pickups you just got, do what I am sort of describing?
+fretkillrlives Indeed you are very correct, pickups certainly aint rocket science, the biggest tonal difference that one can achieve while playing guitar IMO is the speaker or combination thereof. Thanks Fret!!!
My cat eats that same can of epoxy too! 😂😂😂 I love the tutorial! I want to try this so bad!
very cool,, Love the winder,, fish on !
I guess this video might work for ASMR sounds, too. Thanks for what you're showing...
Thanks so much. I'm just filming a new amp build and will post a version in ASMR.
@@elams1894 I can't wait to see the amp building video!!!
Really great video! Love the way you shot it - very "intimate"! Great sound, too. I watched the other vids. Bravo!
Thanks Joe!! Have a great day!
wow, bad ass work! I'll definitely check out how they sound!
+Jommo Nokes Thanks Jommo!!!
Man, that is really amazing, you got to have lots of passion to do this.
+Javier Loya Thanks Javier! Have a great day!
+Javier Loya Thanks Javier! Have a great day!
Thanks, this is 50x better than the "that other video" where dude talks all the time about what he won't show you and how complicated everything is and implies how great he is. Just windem up and play dat funky music!
Aw man! I wanted to hear em in action! Very cool video man 😄
There should be a screen link at the end of the vid. My mate demos them in a separate video which should also be there as a link. Hes much better than me at playing ha ha. I'm a far better maker than I am player indeed. Cheers!
elams1894 you’re a really brilliant luthier! After watching this video I’ve been watching all of this series and a lot of the LP series as well. Dig a little deeper into the comments on all of the vids and found the demo. Very inspirational content. You’ve inspired me to try my hand at making a telecaster. I suppose it probably won’t go as well as your build but watching this makes me want to take a crack at it. Thanks for the awesome content!
Wow very cool. very impressive awesome craftsmanship 100%!😍
Thank you!
beautifull work SR. inspiring and super cool
amazing.would have loved to hear the sound of that setup.well done
I love to do any type of precision work and this has inspired me to give this a try. I've been planning to build my own custom baritone guitar which will have an extended scale length and 8 or more strings. Yet I wondered how I'd ever find the right pickup to match my custom design. Never thought of building my own pickup and didn't know how to do it until now!
+sparkimoto Thats Awesome!! Glad you enjoyed the video and glad it was useful. Its not too difficult to achieve a nice tight coil and once you have done it a few times you'll be getting good at it. I stumbled across an old sewing machine with a nice foot pedal speed controller. Iv rigged it up into a cool pickup winder with a little counter. Certainly those dental glasses would be a great help. All the best for your project and thanks again!