Pickup winding ? for Muttley, JCH, or any of you other fools

[beezelbubba]

Originally, the idea was to custom size my pickups to the instruments(cellos) I'm building, which are completely haphazard and arbitrary in dimensions, such as string spacing, string height, etc. It's kind of gone beyond that now, to just wanting to know how it's done.

I should also add that I'm a divorce father of 4, paying more than half of my pay to my lovely ex wife!

 

[beezelbubba]

You're a guitar builder. If I was a guitar builder and selling guitars and also repairing guitars I would see a need to wind pickups. I would invest in the equipment and learn the craft of winding pickups. Not being a guitar builder and more of a guitar assembler or alterer....I would either buy the pickup I want or pay someone experienced who has the knowhow and equipment...like you...to wind my pickups to my specification.

That being said, I like to learn knew things and aquire new skills. From that angle I totally get why someone would go to the trouble when they don't have the tools or the know how.

I also had the thrilling, if utterly misleading experience of building and winding a pickup, even in it's inferior and rudimentary form, and having it work.
If only it hadn't worked, I'd have given up on this pipe dream.

 

[jimistone]

I also had the thrilling, if utterly misleading experience of building and winding a pickup, even in it's inferior and rudimentary form, and having it work.
If only it hadn't worked, I'd have given up on this pipe dream.

I totally understand man. I usually destroy 2 or 3 of what I'm working on before I figure out how to do it right.
lol

 

[JCH]

I originally approached it as a cheap experiment. I built my original winder for about $25, and I still use it now when I'm hand winding. Sophisticated gear isn't needed. I think that making custom pickups for your chellos is quite cool. It's a unique aspect that sets them apart from everything else. More power to you.

I've learned of a new approach to floating pickups that I want to give a try soon. The guy who makes these 'Flatpup' pickups is very generous with his intellectual property, and has shared much of his research with the pickup making community. The cool thing about these is they can be made to any length, and can be as thin as 6mm. I vacuum form my own pickup covers now, so a custom cover for something like this would be easy. Something like this might work for you.

 

[Greg_L]

Lol. That's awesome.