Ah, the comment section... The eternal pit of know-it-all's and 1-uppers, where mere mortals with 0 experience or videos of their perfect builds, come to judge someone who spent 26 minutes of his time showing Everyone a priceless piece of knowledge (for free). A bit of gratitude is in order... Thanks man, I learned a ton from this video 👊😎
Your videos are really great. I have enough guitar related hobbies but that really looks like a lot of fun and I can only imagine the pride one must take the first time they nail a really good tone from a pickup they built themselves. Awesome stuff. Thanks.
I like Poly-Enamel myself. I like a differential of 200 winds between coils which gives me the result that I like. I also use black wire for my start wires and white for my finish wires. The best sounding neck pickup I ever built was 4600/4800 turns on the bobbins with a sand-cast A3 long magnet. The output was surprisingly strong, contrary to popular belief.
Schuyler Dean Pickups Actually, I never considered that. Being a hobbyist, I still have much to learn and experiment with. The pickups still seem to be quiet to me in regard to hum.
CAD is Cellulose acetate butyrate (AKA thermoplastic). When mixed with a solvent (Xylene, squalene, ethylene … ) becomes dope. When mixed with acetone, CAD becomes acrylic. It's used in the manufacture of everything from photographic film, cling wrap, paint, to plastic cutlery. I can see why the used thermoplastic for these bobbins.
Hey man, first time checking out, your channel is stumbled upon it tonight. Hope to catch more newer, recent stuff who knows might even pick up a set of your pick ups. I’ll be checking out some more stuff from you.
Very informative, saved. I'm still a bit confused about the windings. Since they're both wound in the same direction, does one get flipped over when secured to the base-plate? Also curious about the spool of wire, and if you have that mounted to spin with the winding process.
random question…in your much more educated opinion, do you think that the alnico magnet on the back of the pickup is close enough to be degaussed by a magnetic screwdriver? I uhhh…may have accidentally used that to adjust the screw. i don’t have a magnometer so I can’t tell for sure if my pole got ruined or if it’s ok. I’m guessing humbuckers are different than alnico single coils in that the screw itself isn’t the alnico pole? I really don’t understand this stuff too well lmao.
I have wanted to know how the solid tops were put on the pickups ,mine are in really bad shape ,now i know how to fix the problem without replacing the pickups
Hi Dean, first of all "congratulations", I have now seen this nice video of yours and I finally understood how a humbucker is made... I play a nice old Ibanez SG standard (with Bigsby) from 1971 to which I replaced an original "Gibson P.A.F." at the neck in the 1981 and more recently a nice "Gibson '57 classic plus" in the bridge, but this doesn't match the P.A.F. in volume... So I'd be interested to know more about your bridge pickup (maybe with a "Crossroads" sound by *Cream*), so I left you my email to find out the cost of the piece and the shipping... Please answer me, thank you and all the best!
When I changed magnet i forgot or lost spacer bar. Does that matter? I noticed neck pickup one of the bobbins slightly caves inwards. Annnoying to look at. No idea if that changes tone? Thoughts?
Thanks for a very professional video. Can you please explain to me why the two bobins of your humbucker are wired clockwise direction? I've always thoght tha they should be wired one clockwise and the other counerclowise to be hum cancelling
It literally *is* a plastic (re: the bobbin material) and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. If it has “butyl” in the name, that’s a prettttty solid indicator, they used it back when too
Watching this again I saw that you solder the start lead wire when the winding is finished. Does this have any special reason? Most winders attach the start wire to the pickup wire before winding already. I have to say that I like your method way more though, the bobbin looks a lot cleaner this way.
Schuyler I'd like to offer some technical input. Not on anything regarding pickup assembly, but on videography so as to enhance your channel and give your subscibers assistance. When informing of activity and items/tools needed or used, it is best done with near or close up of items described. Remember, you are familiar and skilled at what you do, however those watching which may become subscrbers, are greatly assisted when close ups and walk throughs(when needed) are done and allowed time(silent count to 5) are given. Rhis will enhance your teaching ability and cause more individuals to Want to subscibe. Just some positive feedback. I really like your channel and you educating us. Thanks and keep it up.
What gauge and type of wire do you use for the "pigtail" leads on the bobbins? Great video by the way...Ive recently made a couple identical style pickups..using 42 gage plain enamel coil wire I'm having trouble getting more than 7.5k with 5090 wraps on coil and 5050 on the other coil..any suggestions for a amateur beginner?
5000 winds is pretty good for 42 gauge. You can stretch it a little but not much more. You can use 43 gauge for higher resistance, but your tone will change a lot. It's also worth experimenting with different magnets. For me, alnico II with about 5000 winds is the sweet spot for that classic sound.
Stability I guess. The pigtails are reinforced with being taped to the coil, and then the 4-pin cable is connected. Imagine if you are cabling your cavity and then pull a bit stronger on the cable to sort out the cable into place. That might break the cooper of the coil
I have watched this and the video about making a strat pickup, both of them were compelling viewing. I have a much better understanding of how pickups are made. In this one I didn't see how and where you used the maple spacer. My understanding of PAF pickups is that they tend to have an DC resistance somewhere between 7.0k and 8.0k, would I be correct in assuming that the lower the wind, the lower the DC resistance and possibly greater clarity from the pickup?
awesome video! I've made a couple of bridge pickups and am now onto a neck pickup. When making a neck pickup, do you make it the same as the bridge, Just flip the orientation?
Sorry I should have been more clear: "The two coils are connected out-of-phase, but inverting the magnets in one puts the signal from the vibrating strings back in phase and cancels out induced noise." www.soundonsound.com/techniques/guitar-technology
All single magnet Humbucking pickups have their coils 'out of phase' electrically. Combined with the reverse magnetic polarity, they function 'in phase', and indeed are hum cancelling.
@@SchuylerDeanPickups Ah okay - I didn't realize they were considered to be out of phase prior to the magnet being added to the equation. Then sure that makes sense. Carry on ;-)
@@SchuylerDeanPickups interesting - so what's "left over" from winding the coils slightly unevenly is, in effect, out of phase? There's your explaination - by winding them differently, you're reducing low end by cancelling common lower order frequencies very slightly. It's the lower order, not the higher order, harmonics which cancel out when two coils are out of phase - mostly, below double the distance between the coils as wavelength. It's attenuating some of the other factors which make a humbucker pickup darker sounding than a Fender single coil - including the ferrous but non magnetic pole pieces, and the higher number of turns of wire in total. The out of phase design will not rob the pickup of high end, quite the opposite - only the low end. But by unbalancing the coils, you effectively have a small bit on top which is being combined out of phase, and disproportionately cancelling lower end harmonics!
@@dankatz5224 yes I totally agree. I like brighter sounding humbuckers anyway. Any opportunity to bring in more highs (scatterwinding, unbalancing the coils...) just makes them sound better to me.
Hey! How are you feeding the wire to the winder? *from the factory spool - - - Post script: instead of wax potting the pickups, can you coat them in lacquer?
I believe the lacquer potting is just to hold the poles in the bobbin. I don't think it does anything for microphonics like wax does because it's not thick enough to fill in all the voids in the coils.
Robert Ferri First, you most likely won’t be able to get that many winds on a bobbin. Not enough room. Especially with the 42 gauge Wire he’s using here. Second, it would be muddy as hell. As a rule, the more winds you put on a pickup, the higher the DC resistance. The higher the resistance goes, the more high frequencies get removed. With pickup construction, it’s a balancing act between all the components of it’s construction.
The slug coil is always north? The slug coil or the Screw Coil is like a single coil with pole pieces? The Screw side coil gets grounded and the screw coil is reversed wound which is used as a dummy coil?
wayne Gram humbucker coils are both wound counter-clockwise. If you remove the screw poles it becomes a dummy coil of sorts. Sounds pretty cool actually.
when you remove the screw poles it makes the guitar sound different?I thought the slug coil was "forward wound" and the screw coil was "reverse wound" . Why are you winding them both counter clockwise?
So does the winding on the bobbin actually make contact with the polepieces? That's always confused me about humbuckers because I know the polepieces thread into the plastic bobbin, so the wire is wound on the plastic, unlike a single coil where the wire is wrapped directly onto the slugs.
Can anyone answer this question? Why are some humbucking pickups noisier than others? My house sits very close to some power lines running upwards of 14,000 Volts AC. I have many guitars with humbucking pickups and find some more sensitive to the noise than others. Are there parameters in the design of the standard humbucker sized pickup that can be adjusted to minimize this sensitivity to hum?
Covered vs uncovered and the thickness of the cover if covered. Oh, and what metal they are made from. I am seeing plastic covers now which is mind-boggling stupid to use.
How well screened are the noisy guitars? There won't be any adjustment you can make to the pickups. Nordstrand Big Singles somehow seem to be as humless their Big Splits, even though the former are J bass and the latter are split J.
Hello Schuyler Dean, PLEASE, could'nt you do a p100 Pickup ??? I' need to see it be done.....Thank ya - and best regards from northern Germany, -- ..............
I noticed you don't wrap the start wire inside of the coil and wind the wire over it! Is there any reason for this that is beneficial to the sound or is this just easier for you as the winder??? Thanks!
Schuyler Dean Pickups, I'm confused about the Counter clockwise coils means that the motor is spinning counter clockwise? so its winding the pickup wire counter clockwise?
So are you saying that if the direction of the winder motor is going clockwise, The direction the windings are going on the bobbin is "opposite" going counter-clockwise?
oh ok I had no idea that the winders motor direction was going counter-clockwise to wind guitar pickup coils clockwise. I just thought the winders motor was going clockwise so the pickup coil would come out clockwise also, but its the opposite reverse.
If you do the same directional wind you have to reverse the start/finish as he mentions. I’ve also built with the coils going opposite wind directions and it still works. It’s just about the direction the electricity flows
Schuyler Dean Pickups Ok , with nothing mentioned it just gave the idea that you didn’t pot the pickup , also , using bar magnet kits to build the pup isn’t really vintage , you should really use proper alinco poles showing how to magnetise them and maybe heavy formvar wire( but I’m sure you know this already ) good video 👍
Schuyler Dean Pickups very very odd , I’ve worked on guitar pickups for almost 40 years , never seen a vintage humbucker with bar magnets , they have always had poles ( on Gibson’s anyway ) can’t speak for cheaper end stuff , it’s like bar magnets in single coils, they are always cheap end Chinese pickups , anything quality has pole magnets, but I’m going to do some digging anyway on the topic , to satisfy my own curiosity .
@@ShawnCharles All vintage humbuckers since the 50s have alnico or ceramic bar magnets under the coils and steel poles on the North side and adjustable poles on the South side. I would bet my career on it.
@@rebelrog he didn’t answer on time, but yeah it has to be soldered to the plate. I bought that wire and is tricky to get it right in the corner without interfering with the bobbin spacer, so I think I’ll use a regular wire next time.
Hey. I'm turning a sewing machine into a winding machine. The thing turns in the opposite direction. What difference does it make? The simple solution would be to tape the bobbins upside down (I guess).
Hi I am curious as to the coil lead wire awg and sizing as I cannot find any specs and do not want to use regular hookup wire as it is way too thick what size do you recommend? Also I am loving these how to videos as I am preparing to do some winding so Thanks!
Hey I was really hoping for some help. I'm doing one of those DIY kits humbucker kits (comes with no instructions yay...). It came with a pickup cable that has red, white, black, green, and bare. on the output end, Red and White are soldered together. Black and Shield are soldered together. On the pickup end where do they go? I put the shield to the baseplate. I put the input to the screwside bobbin on the baseplate. Where do red, white, black, and green go? I'm not going for any splitting or anything right now.
Potting can help reduce microphonics and feedback at higher volumes. It does also make the pickup sound less lively and open. Old humbuckers were not potted. You may want a little vibration and the biggest cause of squeal is an empty spot between the cover and tops of the coils. A little piece of double stick tape there can often be enough for modern stage volumes and leave some life in the tone.
have you ever come across in your builds something you made was just different from the rest? I am kind of referring to something I heard about a "Ghost Sound" whats the deal
@@SchuylerDeanPickups Your video was well done and I'm sure you make an excellent product. To call what you do as "building from scratch" is a stretch, at best. There are guys in the FB builder's and winders page who actually do make pickups from scratch. It's the terminology I have a problem with. Good Luck. No offense intended other than your unfortunate choice of descriptive words.
@@johnsieff2921 Yeah, there are some people out there making really cool stuff with 3D printers and other technology. I used these parts because the manufacturers researched original PAFs extensively and produced some really accurate parts, better than I could have done.
John, i think you need to get a grip. If I'm building a guitar "from scratch", I'm not putting seeds in the earth,watering, and cutting the tree down to build the guitar. Neither is gibson or fender, and they are building "from scratch" So, john, why don't you go "scratch"
So you expected to see him injection-mold the bobbins and fabricate the cover plate and magnets? Then extrude the wire? Like what did you expect, of course it's from parts. He didn't disassemble one, he bought unused parts.
[FELLOW RU-vidRS PLEASE READ,] "LIKE" or "DISLIKE" IF YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE: I come here to hang out with you and learn something about guitar pickups.Cool vid watching and listening and then got to a part you switched to a Fast-Time Speed i.e. The scene" screwing in screws" Did you feel we would lose interest? Two things happened as a result. One is you disrupted the cool vibe of just hang'n out and secondly, you shortened the visit, it took time away , we could be hanging out..