Advice On Wiring Newly Constructed Pickup

[larryguitar]

I'm a hobbyist winder, and I'm just wondering if anyone has any pointers (YT videos, detailed descriptions) of how the pro's wire the coils to the lead wires. I'm getting the job done, but it's nowhere near as neat as it could be, and I'm sure there's a better/better looking way to do it, but this seems like one area that info videos don't cover particularly well.

Also, what the heck do hobbyist winders do with ALL these pickups? I know you have to experiment a lot (and that's what I'm really doing this for) but what do you do with the accumulated pickups?

Larry

(Edited to clarify-I can connect the 'lead' to the magnet wire fairly well, need to connect those lead wires to the main wire going through the baseplate and to the pots.)

 

[cooljuk]

Hi Larry -

If you're doing PAF-style humbuckers and using 4 conductor wiring, you're asking to stuff a lot of connections into a place where there really isn't any space to do so. I'm afraid there's no shortcut and you will just have to practice until you find a technique that works for you. Depending on how fat you are winding your coils, and what size hookup wire you are using, you may have some room to stuff a couple connections in between the coils. Otherwise, you're stuffing them under the lower flanges of the bobbins and above the baseplate. With short magnets, you have more room than with long magnets, but you can nudge a long magnet over a little and cheat some extra room, there.

If you're doing braided shields, you need less space. Solder the shield to the baseplate under the screw bobbin, make your connection to ground from the coil anywhere on the baseplate you like and you have only one connection from the coil to the hot to tuck under the bobbins and above the baseplate, near the end of the magnet. The coil finishes (assuming you're winding PAF-style) can connect to each other and tuck in between the two coils, just as Gibson did.

As to what to do with all your pickups... give away the good ones and cut apart the bad ones to rebuild. Don't bother wax potting anything so you can take them apart easier. Rebuilding an assembled pickup is a massive PITA and a hugely valuable skill you will want to have for repairs.

Enjoy!

James

 

[Mr French]

I'm a hobbyist winder, and I'm just wondering if anyone has any pointers (YT videos, detailed descriptions) of how the pro's wire the coils to the lead wires. I'm getting the job done, but it's nowhere near as neat as it could be, and I'm sure there's a better/better looking way to do it, but this seems like one area that info videos don't cover particularly well.

Also, what the heck do hobbyist winders do with ALL these pickups? I know you have to experiment a lot (and that's what I'm really doing this for) but what do you do with the accumulated pickups?

Larry

(Edited to clarify-I can connect the 'lead' to the magnet wire fairly well, need to connect those lead wires to the main wire going through the baseplate and to the pots.)

I love supporting new boutique winders.