Finished winding first pickup set

[scottosan]

Clips to come in the morning. The homework paid of. I put alot of preparation into getting the the target turns per layer and right tension. It took me a long time, get used to soldering the hair thin plain enamel, but the second pickup went much faster. No issues and the measurements were pretty close. I did slightly offset coils with the neck facing coils being the ones overwound. This set came in @ 7.52k neck and @7.56k bridge with ALNICO 3 mags.

I averaged out the specs of notes I’ve been taking from auctions and other forums of the Greco Dry Z pickup, which is one of the most sought after “newer” PAF types (from the early eighties) @ over $1200-1500 a set. It’s also not too far off from the Gibson custom bucker spec wise, although those are all over the place but those who have multiples tend to like the lower output ones.


I got the play the neck pickup at volume and it was really nice but had to play at lower volumes for the bridge because it got too late. Will try to get some clips tomorrow

 

[tpruitt]

How do you like sitting still for 20-30 minutes
On the edge of your seat hoping the damn wire doesn’t brake. ?

I got into winding about ten years ago.
I don’t wind much just here and there.
Yours looks very nice and neat,
I usually scatter wind mine lol.

A few tips
Use sand paper to take the enamel off to solder or even check resistance during a wind.
Then use nail polish to recover the wire.
And if it does brake while winding you CAN
Solder it back together but really cover it good with nail polish.

I’m interested in the waxing process so if you get that down and there super quiet please let me know how you did it.

 

[scottosan]

How do you like sitting still for 20-30 minutes
On the edge of your seat hoping the damn wire doesn’t brake. ?

I got into winding about ten years ago.
I don’t wind much just here and there.
Yours looks very nice and neat,
I usually scatter wind mine lol.

A few tips
Use sand paper to take the enamel off to solder or even check resistance during a wind.
Then use nail polish to recover the wire.
And if it does brake while winding you CAN
Solder it back together but really cover it good with nail polish.

I’m interested in the waxing process so if you get that down and there super quiet please let me know how you did it.

What was the challenge wax potting? Was it the heat and butyrate bobbins? I was going to get a variac to use with a crockpot to fine tune the low heat setting. To keep the temperature low enough as to not warp the bobbin

 

[tpruitt]

I just used a glass jar with wax in a pot with water lol. It worked. Turn the heat down after the wax melted and dipped the pickup in till all the bubbles stopped. Let it dry and wipe it off good.
It worked and never had an issue with warping or anything. Well sometimes the bobbin tap would start to come undone then I started to use a drop of super glue at the end of the tape and that held it together.

My issue was a very slight feedback from the pickup. Very slight but there at high gain high volume.
I wanted to try a different wax or even a mix of waxes but never got around to it.

I suppose my issue may have been either not let them soak long enough or I had a too thick of wax for the job.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Pickup looks pro to me! ( Though that might not be saying much as I am going in what I see and I know nothing really )

I was just going to say, I bet builders snap the wire all the time, stop it, solder it , start backup. We'd never really know would we ?

 

[scottosan]

I just used a glass jar with wax in a pot with water lol. It worked. Turn the heat down after the wax melted and dipped the pickup in till all the bubbles stopped. Let it dry and wipe it off good.
It worked and never had an issue with warping or anything. Well sometimes the bobbin tap would start to come undone then I started to use a drop of super glue at the end of the tape and that held it together.

My issue was a very slight feedback from the pickup. Very slight but there at high gain high volume.
I wanted to try a different wax or even a mix of waxes but never got around to it.

I suppose my issue may have been either not let them soak long enough or I had a too thick of wax for the job.

To me that’s all part of the PAF magic is that they weren’t wax potted and there’s a nuance about them that doesn’t the differences well, but can certainly feel it while playing. Although they can be slightly microphone and high gain and higher volume, it’s worth the trade of. I may pick up a simple noise gate for higher gain stuff, but right now they’re behaving pretty well not being potted.

 

[scottosan]

Pickup looks pro to me! ( Though that might not be saying much as I am going in what I see and I know nothing really )

I was just going to say, I bet builders snap the wire all the time, stop it, solder it , start backup. We'd never really know would we ?

The more common use case would preventing waste. You might get low on the spool and you have a dilemma to waste wire and start a new spool or spice. Although if you aren’t paying attention you could loos track of winds because your counters going and no wire left. I plan on getting an accurate digital scale and keep track of the weight going on each of my bobbins by weighing the spools after each wind and then k ow what the empty plastic spool weighs. Then I can plan out the winds and a lower or higher wind according

 

[tpruitt]

Idk if you found this but there’s good info here.


http://music-electronics-forum.com/f11/

 

[psychodave]

What was the challenge wax potting? Was it the heat and butyrate bobbins? I was going to get a variac to use with a crockpot to fine tune the low heat setting. To keep the temperature low enough as to not warp the bobbin

I mix carnuba and bees wax together. Around 50/50. I want the wax soft so it flows, but firm enough so it doesn’t sag air wipe away. I d always wonders what Suhr uses. It’s pretty hard and has little flex.

My friend made us a “pipe bomb” that we would place the freshly potted pickup into, seal the end, then use a hand vacuum to suck out the air and, hopefully, suck the wax into all of the nooks and crannies. The pipe bomb literally was threaded pipe and pipe ends with a small chuck to hook the vacuum tube to.

li’ve often wondered what would happen if you put a heat gun/hair dryer on the single wire going onto the bobbin to warm the varnish coating on it to soften it just enough that the windings will stick to each other won’t ever move and prevent microphonics. Now you wouldn’t have to introduce wax and thus changing the sound.

 

[SpiderWars]

i’ve often wondered what would happen if you put a heat gun/hair dryer on the single wire going onto the bobbin to warm the varnish coating on it to soften it just enough that the windings will stick to each other won’t ever move and prevent microphonics. Now you wouldn’t have to introduce wax and thus changing the sound.

That's a great idea.

My friend made us a “pipe bomb” that we would place the freshly potted pickup into, seal the end, then use a hand vacuum to suck out the air and, hopefully, suck the wax into all of the nooks and crannies. The pipe bomb literally was threaded pipe and pipe ends with a small chuck to hook the vacuum tube to.

What would be cool is if you could somehow pull a vacuum on the pickup before the hot wax is introduced to really 'suck it in'.

 

[scottosan]

Quick crappy clip for reference, LoL

 

[thegame]

I've always found it fascinating that as few components there are in a pickup, that various pickups (of the same type eg. humbucker vs humbucker) sound as different as they do. It seems to boil down to the qualities of the raw materials and winding pattern.

 

[firejack]

That sounds really nice! Very sweet with a pissed off grind going on there.

 

[scottosan]

That sounds really nice! Very sweet with a pissed off grind going on there.

I put these in my lighter Greco EG-1000D. They sound even better!

 

[firejack]

I put these in my lighter Greco EG-1000D. They sound even better!

Awesome. Clip please?
And what guitar was the above clip? LP?

 

[scottosan]

Awesome. Clip please?
And what guitar was the above clip? LP?

The above clip was an 86 Greco EGC Les Paul

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

They sound notched in the mids, is that the amp imparting the tone or are your pups doing that ? Hard to really tell with an in the room mic though

 

[panhead]

Sounds good unpotted pickups are my go to. Night and day

 

[scottosan]

They sound notched in the mids, is that the amp imparting the tone or are your pups doing that ? Hard to really tell with an in the room mic though

They’re actually neutral sounding to my ears, so it may be the room or how I have the amp dialed in for hotter pickups. I just got back from testing them out with a 65 vibrolux and a Deluxe reverb reissue, and they sounded as I’d expect.

 

[firejack]

The above clip was an 86 Greco EGC Les Paul

Badass guitars!