Post Type Archives: SWD

Winding with too much tension on the magnet wire can cause extreme side pressure on the magnets as they are wound. This can cause the magnet to crack. When the rod magnets are assembled into the flatwork to make a bobbin, the arbor or force used to press the magnets into the fixture could crack…

The majority of pickups that don’t work can usually be repaired and restored if you take the time and find a qualified repairman. Many times there are cold solder joints that can be carefully heated, broken magnet wire can be spliced if the outer coil is broken. You don’t always need your pickups rewound –…

There are many things that can cause a pickup to be inoperative. Pickups don’t always have to be used and abused for them to fail. Here are some things to check. Broken magnet wire from the beginning eyelet or pigtail*: On Fender style pickups the beginning magnet wire is connected to one of the eyelets….

1. Damaged coil. Broken magnet wire Damage to a single turn of magnet wire will result in failure in the pickup working. You may get a thin faint signal to the amplifier but if you turn the tone control down for the particular pickup and you have no sound, that is usually a sure sign…

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…