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There could be several things wrong and first are you sure that the magnet wire is 42 gauge? Sometimes if you buy surplus magnet wire the label might be wrong and that’s why it’s surplus! If the wire is old the insulation might be brittle and flake off as you are winding. This can happen…

I would try to find the orientation of the existing magnetic field in the pickup by using a gauss meter or determine alignment and polarity of the magnet or magnets used. I would remagnetize the pickup with an opposite polarity it originally had. This would change the polarity magnetically and make it in phase with…

There can be damage to the coil if you remove the cover carelessly. If the coil gets snagged by the solder joint burr or jabbed with a screwdriver when trying to get the cover off, there can be extreme damage to the coil or coils. Make sure the connecting wires from each bobbin didn’t get…

“Strat-itis” is often caused when the height of the pickup is adjusted close to the strings and dissonant overtones are heard as you play further up the frets. It is really noticeable as you play on the bass strings way up the fingerboard. The overtones are due to each pickup having the same polarity (3…

It is usually an audible howl similar to a microphone near a speaker. The pickup can act similar to a microphone with many parallel components such as coil, magnetic field and moving string and microphone diaphragm. Any loose or vibrating ferrous parts can cause electrical current at high frequencies.

It is a common thing that often happens when experimenting with pickups. Simply remove the magnet from the pickup you were experimenting with and slowly remove the bar magnet, once removed flip over 180° and re-insert into the pickup. Make sure the screws and loose hardware are firmly secured to eliminate vibrations in components that…

Fender single coil pickups: If the beginning magnet wire is still extended from the beginning of the coil you can splice an extension by carefully soldering a new chemically stripped magnet wire to the existing piece. If the beginning magnet wire is not extended from the beginning of the coil, then connecting a new beginning…

On earlier Fender pickups the beginning and finish magnet wire from the coil is often wrapped through the evelet several times before soldering the eyelet. At times the hot solder doesn’t heat the insulation enough to make a solid contact with the hookup wires and eyelet. It is often called a cold solder joint and…

It’s really difficult to impossible to repair Fender style pickups when the beginning wire is broken off at the beginning of the coil. You need to have a qualified repairman attempt to do this kind of work and often ends up to having the coil rewound and at times unnecessary. At times the beginning hookup…

Yes, perspiration or sweat can really cause corrosion to pickups and hardware. If I need a guitar to be broken in I have one of my assistants named Brian Birmingham play one of my instruments. After a weekend with Brian the screws and pole pieces are rusted and look 25 years old.