Post Type Archives: SWD

Starting with a typical Vintage Stratocaster the coil is wound Top Left/ Top Going. If you look at a top view of a stock Fender Stratocaster pickup, eyelet’s at 6:00 O’Clock and the cover removed you will see the beginning coil wire starting on the lower left eyelet and the coil winds clock wise around…

Jeff Beck was the first player in the 60’s I saw that removed the cover from his Late 50’s Les Paul. He told me he removed them because of uncontrollable feedback using high powered amplification and speaker systems. I started removing covers from my Humbuckers thinking I would sound like Jeff and looking to see…

There are many models of pickups made – the basic ones are listed in the chart below. Here is an easy way you can measure the distance between poles and string spacing. Use a good pair of calipers (dial calipers work best for me) and measure (center to center) the 1st pole to the 6th…

At the time of writing, Scotch Brand Electrical Tapes by 3M have discontinued manufacturing the #4 Flatback insulation tape. Gibson has been using the #4 Flatback Scotch insulation tape on just about every pickup model made from early pickup production to present. This has been my favorite tape because of it’s mechanical properties and use…

removed –

There are a few things you can do if you’re winding or making a pickup from scratch. Wind a single coil (like a Stratocaster bobbin) using two different gauges of magnet wire and wind them both together. Try using a 43 and 44 gauge magnet wire. You would need to put an extra eyelet in…

When I wind coils using a machine with variable “pitch”, I can vary the number of turns depending on the diameter of the magnet wire. When hand winding or “scatter” winding as I call it you will have a coil with a varied number of turns per layer. To keep coils in a production run…

I find that winding by hand allows me to control the shape of the coil, avoids snags on the edge of the bobbins and gives the coil a desired tension. I enjoy layering the magnet wire onto the bobbin to make winding an art like a fly fisherman casting his line. I like winding with…

All three have slight variations in the magnetic field and pole construction. Deluxe Firebird Johnny Smith Cover 6 adjustable poles no adjustable poles 6 adjustable (short poles) Magnet large bar magnet 2 magnets in bobbins 1 magnet in non-adjust bobbin Bottom plate nickel silver steel shim steel plate The Deluxe humbucker has a steel blade…

Pickups can many factors that make them sound different even though they may look identical. There are many variables and some are listed below: 1. The number of turns on each bobbin The number to turns per layer (pitch) The number of layers per total turns Tension in grams when winding The winding speed of…