Vintage Premium P.A.F. Soundclips

I have added new soundclips to my site done by Dom Polito of Classic Albums Live. The pickups in the clips are V-59 Premium Vintage using butyrate bobbins, PAF correct alloy screws, other specific alloys and magnets gaussed to vintage specs. I will offer all my vintage winds as Premium Vintage.


You can get to the soundclips by clicking on the link for my site to the left or by clicking here.

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Plain enamel wire

I recently lucked in to a nice supply of old formula plain enamel magnet wire. It's a beautiful dark purple, almost black, and smells like magic marker. I've wound a few sets with it now and it really goes on nice. Looks the part as well, much better than the newer plain enamel formulas.

Melody Maker P-90 Mod

Here is an interesting little project I just completed. A customer sent me two Melody Maker single coils pickups for a re-wind and a P-90 mod. I can't take credit for the original idea as he provided me with a link to the site where he had seen it. The magnet in the coil is replaced with a steel bar and two magnets are used on the bottom.



You can see from this photo that the whole package still fits nicely in the original cover.



For the re-wind I used 43 gauge plain enamel wire and put 9800 winds on the bridge and 8800 winds on the neck. The inductance readings for both are right on with what I usually get from a P-90 so this set should really smoke.

Magnets

I got my hands on some rough cast Alnico magnets. Rough like they used in the 50's. I like the look of them as opposed to the polished. I am using them as an option on my humbuckers and P-90's but I only have Alnico 2 and 3 at the moment. I'll get A4 and 5 when they are back in stock at my supplier.

A little history

is sometimes a good thing. I finished a book on the history of pickups that I found very informative. A good look into the major players in the 40's and 50's. There was also some information on technical considerations when designing and winding a pickup. It made me re-think my approach to magnet and winding combinations. Went into some detail about magnetic field shape and it's effect on tone. I felt it was an excellent book that can only have a positive impact on my pickups.

I have also started the auctions again now that I am caught up with some orders that I have had since August.

It's not on my site but I have started making 7-string pickups. I've made 3 or 4 sets so far with great results.

Pickup parts

I have started my summer gig this week so I have 3 days a week that I can wind. Such as life. At least I get a steady paycheque.

I received my rod magnets the other day. I can't believe how little space they take up. I had to make some budget decisions so I decided on Alnico 2 and 5. I figure I can cove more bases that way. I'll get some A3 later on in the summer.

Just sent some sample pickups to a music store in Marseille. I'm interested in what the gentleman has to say about my pickups. I have been considering getting into some of the local stores but have held off, although I am looking forward to having this store stock mine.

I have a first for me this week. A rewind of a mini humbucker. 10k with 4 conductor is the final spec. It is going into a telecaster with a 50's style bridge pickup so it needs to match the output. It will be 5k in single coil mode to match the bridge and will be one kickass mini at full throttle.

Tele pickups

Here are my first tele pickups:


Like the strat style all the work is in the preparation. 8800 winds on the bridge and 8000 winds on the neck. I'll do a little math with these figures to get a stock wind amount.

I like the string that protects the windings on the bridge pickup. Neat little idea. The string gets very hard after potting. I am pleased with the way these went together. I have to get a technique down with them as I feel there is a little too much distortion with the fiber board. I'll have to make a small jig to get the bobbin to press down neatly onto the magnets.

Tele pickups

I just received my tele stock parts. Now I have to make faceplates to mount them on the machine. Shouldn't be too hard and I am looking forward to this. I have a couple of orders to catch up on and then some spare time.

I am slowly building up my stock of parts. I have A2 and A5 rod magnets on the way and 4 different colours of covers. I figure that should cover all the bases, no pun intended.

Single coil set

My first set of singles:


I ended up re-working the original faceplate design. Originally I had two and figured I would just swap them to do the RWRP middle but they were a little too out of whack. I made a tailstock plate that adjusts for centering. Much, much better. The middle and neck pickup on this set are a little close to the bridge output for my taste but they will work well together. Un-like the humbuckers all the work on these is in the set-up rather than the finish.

Mini Humbuckers

These were fun to wind. They have fairly small bobbins but I managed to get them into the mid 6k's. They're really tight to put together. Basically the only thing holding them together is the solder and the wax. I used the A5 short magnet that I ordered along with the parts but I can fit a long magnet in there. I have an order for an A2 9k bridge pickup which should be interesting.

I am really impressed you don't see my grinning mug reflected in the cover.

My first single coil

And here it is:


Up until now I have only been doing Gibson style pickups but with the new winder I am expanding.

The most difficult part of this pickup is the assembly. Getting everything the correct distance apart and square. I have a couple of pieces of hardwood that space the top and bottom pieces. I used my ever handy drill press to push the magnet rods through the flatwork. It took me about 1 hour and 15 minutes to get everything together for three coils. They're a lot quicker in the finishing though. Once they're wound the leads are soldered on and that's it.

Polepiece screws

Finally got my hands on some screws with larger heads. They are larger than the ones I have been using but not as large as the Gibson ones. Screw used for polepieces have to be manufactured, you just can't pick them off the shelf. Fortunately this supplier makes them for another manufacturer and has some stock.

Now I have two different sizes to tailor the sound. The larger screws are a little thicker tone-wise. Now I just have to work on sourcing some slugs.

Spot the PAF

There is a great thread on the LP forum. One of the members has taken the time to record a set of original PAF's along with 4 from the most talked about winders. I am not one of them. Yet. Also the PAF's in another different guitar as a ringer. He has posted them and is asking everyone to identify the PAF. Great fun. I can't say for certain which is the PAF but I know which ones I prefer. They just had something extra to my ear.

One of the other members made some interesting, and I think valid, observations about the contest. He has had a lot of experience with originals and he has found them to sound different in different guitars. You just can't install a set of PAF's into any guitar and expect to get "that" sound. His main point was that they are un-potted and microphonic and pick up the acoustic properties of the wood as well as the strings. You can actually speak into them and amplify your voice. So you need a guitar that resonates well acoustically for the PAF's to really do their thing.

That is something that I had never considered. I make my own personal pickups un-potted and I do it at the request of the customer. I find them to be a little livelier than potted but I must confess I had not spent a lot of time considering why. The set I have in my Studio are a little too microphonic but sound great, considering the guitar. By too microphonic I mean I have to be careful where I stand, but they slide into harmonic feedback with the greatest of ease. The ones in my Historic are very nice but now I am thinking I might try a set that is wound a little looser.

Update on the winder

It's surprising how quickly I have become accustomed to it. I figured it would take a few coils to learn how to adjust it properly but I had it after one. The 50mm baseplate took a little fine tuning but everything fits now. I may try to find a more durable material for the plates, maybe something like that white plastic whose name escapes me. Not plexiglass, that would be too brittle. A plastic that is slightly softer than the bobbins would be ideal.

The lowest speed on the machine is about 1/3 faster than I could wind before. I found a magnetic reed switch used for alarm systems that has the correct re-set speed. Or enough in the same neighbourhood that I haven't noticed a difference. Before I used a mechanical switch and arm device that was noisy and un-balanced. I had to bolt the machine down to the table or it would walk right out the door.

Today I am going to wind a set of mini humbuckers. I have had the parts so long I almost forgot about them. I have to make a couple of jigs for the single coils so I can get them assembled and then wind a set this weekend.

New winder

Here it is:


It took three days and a lot of fiddling but I finished it. It will take some time to get used to it. This one is a lot different to wind on than my original but it is a lot faster. I found a magnetic switch for the counter which is a lot quieter than the mechanical one I was using. You can see the first two coils I made on it in the picture. Took about 1/3 the time it used to.

There are probably some things that I will modify as time goes on but I am pretty pleased with it.

Single coils

I just received my single coil parts today and they look great. Probably by early next week I should have a set done. I am focused on my new winder right now and the faceplates are finished for the humbuckers. I had to make a different plate for each string spacing with the way I decided to mount them.

I think instead of a reverse switch I will simply mount the coilwork on the machine the other way for RWRP coils. That way the winder will still run clockwise and the bobbins will come up to meet the wire rather than down.

The next challenge is finding a way to mount the counter.

57 Classic re-wind

I bought this pickup off of E-bay used and broken.


So I re-wound it to my V-59 specs. Turned out very nice. Used the original A2 magnet and all the parts. It's actually pretty tough to find broken pickups. I've canvassed the local music stores but they either don't have any or they fix them themselves.

I have found that Butstbucker's scatterwound to their original specs are an incredible pickup. Knock a little gauss off the magnet and it sounds very sweet. They also benefit from a magnet swap to Alnico 4 without re-winding.

Reverse zebra

It's not the best shot but here is the first production VHB-3 with all the "case candy". I do like the set-up of this shot. I think it works well for E-bay.


I like the look of the reverse zebra. Guitars that have a mixed bobbin look always appealed to me as well. Zebra with a double black, double cream with a zebra etc.

This is the one I wound to nail down the production formula. The number of winds, tension, offset and all that.

Looking back

I recently had three pickups that I made about a year ago come back to me through a customer. He purchased them off E-bay and didn't realize they were the wrong spacing for his needs. I agreed to exchange them for another set and a P-90.

It's interesting to see how my technique has evolved, even over so short a period of time. It's in the fine details. I use to tape the coil after potting, now I do it before. The way I hook everything up is a little different now as opposed to then. Tape instead of heat-shrink tubing on the solder joints. It took me exactly one rewind to figure out that tubing is a hassle to remove, tape is far easier.

I've incorporated ideas I've had from re-winding commercial pickups, and some of my own from out of the blue that just made sense. But there's always room for improvement.

I will be putting the finishing touches on my new winder this week. I've ordered single coil parts that should be here in a couple of weeks. I look forward to expanding my product line with those and a couple of custom designs I've been kicking around.

Another nice set

Another nice set of V-59's in my favourite colour. This is the wind I have in my guitar right now, except I opted for Alnico 2 in both. The bridge on this set has an Alnico 4.