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Thermoformed covers can use a male mold or cavity to make the plastic form to a desired shape. Many older covers used on Guilds and Gibson’s had thermoformed covers as injection molding was quite expensive. Thermoforming can be done with different colored plastics to desired thickness. You can see thermoformed covers on the early Gibson…

Plastic covers are normally injection molded. Molten plastic is forced under pressure into a cavity of desired shape. Various materials can be used for injection molding and certain types are used to obtain consistent specifications.

Metal covers, typically used on Gibson style humbuckers, are normally deep drawn through a series of stages to the desired depth. After deep drawing the cavity is trimmed to the desired height and holes are pierced for the adjustable polepieces if desired. The covers are then polished and plated with the desired finish. Examples of…

The bobbins that are injection molded can be made from many types of plastics and even Bakelite which starts out in powder form and has been used on older Rickenbacker bobbins. I like nylons as it is easy to work with and the material will hold it’s tolerances better than polystyrene plastics and have longer…

A bobbin can either be molded or fabricated out of flatwork and is used to wind the coil for a desired number of turns. A bobbin can be molded or fabricated from a number of materials such as nylon, PVC, ABS plastics or various types of phenolic, vulcanized fibre or even wood and paper products.

Flatwork is normally a material that’s punched or routed out of a desired material to be used to make a coil form or bobbin. On a Fender Stratocaster or Telecaster pickup the flatwork is held together by rod magnets. The flatwork also keeps the magnet wire or coil to a desired shape.

A bobbin can be made in various shapes depending on the desired number of strings to be used. Bobbins can be tall and have narrow coils like Fender Stratocasters or have short and wide coils like a Fender Jazzmaster. Fender Strat bobbins have a .434″ traverse and a Jazzmaster is close to .125″ traverse. Gibson…

The covers are used to protect the coil and bobbin from damage due to picking, string snag and other elements that could break the coil. Under the covers are the bobbin assembly which consists of: 6 Alnico magnets sand cast and ground to desired diameter and cut to length. Top flatwork- made of Vulcanized Fibre…

All the early Fender single coil pickups were hand wound and used a rubber-band from the motor to the counter that also turned the bobbin. The counter was used as a guide for the desired number of turns. As the rubber-band got old or worn the counter numbers could vary. The rubber-bands could slip and…

All the vintage pickups I’ve seen, wound and repaired, all have the same winding direction. If the top of the pickup is facing right, the pickup would be wound “Top Right-Top Coming.” If you look at the top of an old Strat bobbin, the magnet wire starts at the bottom left eyelet and wraps clock-wise…