Cracks in the bobbins?

Re: Cracks in the bobbins?

lots of my duncan buckers are cracked liked that. cream or black doesnt seem to matter
 
Re: Cracks in the bobbins?

Attached are photos we took of our raw white bobbins and a SH1 and SH2 built with white bobbins. You can not see the knit lines (spider lines) in these.

The knit lines form at the point where the plastic flows into the mold and comes together around each pole piece insert. Envision molten plastic coming in from each side of the bobbin and meeting in the middle. As mentioned previously, it appears that through humidity or some sort of wear the photo you have Mincer has actual cracks. If you want to send those in, I'll give you a replacement and we can examine those, if not that's fine too.

All the same bobbins are used for custom and production. Antiquities, SH-1s, and Seth Lovers use a butyrate material, which is same material used in the 50s.

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Re: Cracks in the bobbins?

none of my new duncans have come with the cracks, they happen down the road. i dont pay attention enough to know if they happen suddenly or start tiny and grow
 
Re: Cracks in the bobbins?

Here is the picture from my other post.
It might be due to final assembly.
Noticed some small cracks in the slug bobbin.
Looked like the ones other members posted last year.
Right out of the box.
Removed the bobbin to take a closer look.
This is what I found.

Most of my 40-50 duncans are vintage with CAB bobbins.
This is a 2011 bobbin.


2vjprmr.jpg
 
Re: Cracks in the bobbins?

I have a red bobbin that's has fractured badly and is only held together with superglue. The red bobbin is from the 2000's and the black bobbin is from the early 90's. The black bobbin doesn't have any cracks and the red one is falling apart. I might need to put a cover on it just to keep things together.
 

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Re: Cracks in the bobbins?

Attached are photos we took of our raw white bobbins and a SH1 and SH2 built with white bobbins. You can not see the knit lines (spider lines) in these.

The knit lines form at the point where the plastic flows into the mold and comes together around each pole piece insert. Envision molten plastic coming in from each side of the bobbin and meeting in the middle. As mentioned previously, it appears that through humidity or some sort of wear the photo you have Mincer has actual cracks. If you want to send those in, I'll give you a replacement and we can examine those, if not that's fine too.
]

Might take a week or so, but I can send em in.
 
Re: Cracks in the bobbins?

Attached are photos we took of our raw white bobbins and a SH1 and SH2 built with white bobbins. You can not see the knit lines (spider lines) in these.

The knit lines form at the point where the plastic flows into the mold and comes together around each pole piece insert. Envision molten plastic coming in from each side of the bobbin and meeting in the middle. As mentioned previously, it appears that through humidity or some sort of wear the photo you have Mincer has actual cracks. If you want to send those in, I'll give you a replacement and we can examine those, if not that's fine too.

All the same bobbins are used for custom and production. Antiquities, SH-1s, and Seth Lovers use a butyrate material, which is same material used in the 50s.

View attachment 58291
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View attachment 58292

Its been explained that they're all wound on the same machine, I never heard about the bobbin material being the same. Is butyrate less prone to these cracks?

To my knowledge SH-1's haven't been butyrate since the early years when all Seymour Duncan HB's were butyrate. Please confirm.

I too am curious about this. I'm no expert but the material appears to be the same. Is there a visible difference between butyrate and the newer bobbin material?
 
Re: Cracks in the bobbins?

I too am curious about this. I'm no expert but the material appears to be the same. Is there a visible difference between butyrate and the newer bobbin material?

Its not so easy visually but butyrate smells kinda like those old permanent markers that used to be around. Unless the pickup is 30 years old then it smells like finger funk and sweat
 
Re: Cracks in the bobbins?

Its not so easy visually but butyrate smells kinda like those old permanent markers that used to be around. Unless the pickup is 30 years old then it smells like finger funk and sweat
That's pretty funny.

I guess I'll be smelling my sh1 tonight
 
Here is what I have. Bought the SDJB for bridge, SD staggered strat SC for middle pos. and dimarzio PAF Joe all new last year for my cheap Harley Benton Fusion guitar I've bought for modding. About 3 months ago the JB developed cracks on the cream side. As you can see dimarzio is good eventhough white.
 

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Strange...I've never seen this on black bobbins, just cream and white. I still have that guitar (it is still my favorite) and it still has the cracks. It has never been an issue, though.
 
Strange...I've never seen this on black bobbins, just cream and white. I still have that guitar (it is still my favorite) and it still has the cracks. It has never been an issue, though.

The guys at Banjo Mikes used to complain about bobbin cracks. They ordered a lot of floor custom colors ect and for them it was evidently a major issue. For me it's something I have noticed but is trivial IMO. I use a lot of Duncan Pickups because I simply like how they sound so--. For what ever reason there is a issue with bobbin cracks in some Duncan pickup colors and have been for quite some time.
 
The cracks haven't caused any other problems, and at least on my guitar (pictured in the first post), I don't even notice them anymore.
 
I've had a double cream '59 neck for more than ten years with cracks. They bugged me at first, but since they didn't seem to have any impact on the pickup's function I've grown to ignore them.
 
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