Re: A Bit OT - Just Made My First Pickup And It Works

On 15 May, 09:10, "Mr. Green" <cl...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
On 14 May, 21:53, "Tony Done" <tonyd...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:





"Mr. Green" <cl...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:bc90b896-3f2c-42a4-8687-2fa984187ab0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On 13 May, 17:03, Charmed Snark <sn...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Mr. Green expounded in news:0f0d2c42-d9e1-493b-b73a-ada00bd50157
@r13g2000vbr.googlegroups.com:

On 12 May, 17:22, Charmed Snark <sn...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Mr. Green expounded in news:f3f04222-c691-4d39-953e-a3b2dafbda20
@t10g2000vbg.googlegroups.com:
I'm winding onto a strat sized bobbin I made from 2mm tufnol and 4.5
mm dia x 19 mm long alnico V magnets.
The only surprise I got was this. I'd left a bit of extra wire tape to
the back of the pickup. Thought it would give me a couple of chances
to get a good solder joint on the ground end. When I took the bobbin
off the winder to check the dc resistance I couldn't get a reading..
The wire had broke where it passed though the hole in the bobbin.

Murphey's law is always at work.

By the way, when buying enamelled
copper wire you've got to check the enamel will allow you to solder
straight through it. Some melts at too high a temperature so specify
solderable enamelled copper wire.

I've always scraped the enamel off carefully with a knife
or suitable sharp edged tool.
Yep, done that too in the past but,this solderable enamelled wire is
common stuff and makes the job really easy.  I believe the enamel
melts at just above 105 deg C so it still fine to wax pot.

Off to buy some wax this weekend :-)

Green

No candles in the house?

Snark.

Ah, 80% candles 20% bees wax. I'm off to the local hardware / DIY
shop. They sell blocks of bees wax to rub on drawer runners, just the
job.

Green

I would use straight beeswax for the base plate, it is stickier than
paraffin wax, less likely to just crack off. I also use beeswax for sticking
magnets into plastic bobbins for the same reason.

Tony D- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks, sounds like a good idea.

Green- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Well the final pickup is installed in the bridge of my strat. I ended
up trying two in the guitar, one at 7.4K and one at 7K. The 7K had a
lovely clean sound. Clear with enough edge to cut through but not too
much to sound shrill. However, I wanted a slightly fatter bluesy tone
which I hoped would work well but clean and distorted. A 1.2 mm thick
steel baseplate seemed to flatten the tone too much. I tried the 7.4K
pickup, that was much closer to what I wanted, fatter but still
retaining a bright edge. It blends well with my other pickups and has
given me a truely great tone with the neck and bridge in parallel (my
position 4).

My conclusion on making picksups is "go for it". These "homers" sound
as good as any other pickups I've tried. If anything they may even hum
a bit less than my stock jap pickups. If your hand winding IMO potting
is a must. It cuts handling noise right down and really gives them a
professional look.

Interesting observations:
The old Dimarzio FS1 cover I was using to check my bobbin size was,
larger inside than a stock Fender Japan cover, my first pickup was a
bit of a tight fit.
The guitars tone and volume circuit definately reduces the hum from a
single coil pickup.
Hot pickups have a higher resistance. I know this is just simple
physics but quite neat to be able to measure it. 7.4K cold became 8K
when still hot from the potting wax.

Hope you find the above helpful, Green

.

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