waltschwarzkopf
New member
Hello guys,
Long time since my last post here. I finally ventured to wind my own pickup to get an idea of how it's like, so most of the procedures are not optimal or "custom shop" worthy; so please bear with me.
Turns out I have an instrument with two humbuckers in quite a bad shape (although they still sound) and in order to keep everything original I wanted to make a new case and move the pickups. Long story short, I will remake everything from scratch.
I've never wound a pickup before, so I wanted to experiment with whatever I had laying around to get an idea of the process and also test if they work. I made my own bobbins and used Allen screws as pole pieces (4mm as opposed to the 3.5mm originals), I also have two ceramic magnets (one for each) that will be used and are larger than the originals. For now, let's leave scatter and tension aside and have a look at wire gauge only.
Locally, I cannot get any gauge I desire, but only AWG 32, 38 and 44. The original bobbins seem quite empty to me and they read out about 4kOhm each (ca. 8kOhm per humbucker), so I'm guessing the wire is pretty thin. Another issue is that the wire sold comes in small quantities, so it limits the amount I can use per coil. AWG38 comes in 450m which give a max of 1kOhm per coil, and AWG44 comes in 1500m, giving max 13kOhm per coil. Yet another problem is the lack of a winder, so I used a power drill and hand wound old style until the bobbins were full. This alone limits the DCR even further, as my full bobbin with AWG44 would need 3600m of wire, which means that I'm done at 1500m with 13kOhm; AWG38 would require 900m, meaning also finishing at 450m @ 1kOhm; but AWG32 would fill up with 220m @ 0.12kOhm. Of course, asumming the impossible 100% PERFECT wound, which, given my conditions, was extremely unlikely.
Since I didn't know if to buy AWG 38 or 44, I used the AWG32 available for free at work, as I knew that the first attemp was not gonna be the final. I would all four bobbins until full, (broke the wire only once...) an they all measure around 50Ohm (0.05kOhm). Meaning that my winding was quite repetitive, but also that I had a HUGE amount of scatter (being either good or bad).
I will try to mount them and wire them, install the magnets and see if they sound; which is my first goal. The question is: How to proceed? Would you recommend using AWG 38 or 44?
The problem with winding with AWG38 if that a full roll would go to each bobbing and they would have a max DCR of 1kOhm, so about 2kOhm in total per humbucker. Any issues with having a pickup so weak?
If I use AWG44 I see two options:
What do you think? I guess thinner wire would give a more compressed sound, and the higher DCR (and maye impedance) would give a higher output. Right?
I hope I was able to explain myself and didn't just confuse all of you by throwing numbers in there.
Cheers,
Walter
Long time since my last post here. I finally ventured to wind my own pickup to get an idea of how it's like, so most of the procedures are not optimal or "custom shop" worthy; so please bear with me.
Turns out I have an instrument with two humbuckers in quite a bad shape (although they still sound) and in order to keep everything original I wanted to make a new case and move the pickups. Long story short, I will remake everything from scratch.
I've never wound a pickup before, so I wanted to experiment with whatever I had laying around to get an idea of the process and also test if they work. I made my own bobbins and used Allen screws as pole pieces (4mm as opposed to the 3.5mm originals), I also have two ceramic magnets (one for each) that will be used and are larger than the originals. For now, let's leave scatter and tension aside and have a look at wire gauge only.
Locally, I cannot get any gauge I desire, but only AWG 32, 38 and 44. The original bobbins seem quite empty to me and they read out about 4kOhm each (ca. 8kOhm per humbucker), so I'm guessing the wire is pretty thin. Another issue is that the wire sold comes in small quantities, so it limits the amount I can use per coil. AWG38 comes in 450m which give a max of 1kOhm per coil, and AWG44 comes in 1500m, giving max 13kOhm per coil. Yet another problem is the lack of a winder, so I used a power drill and hand wound old style until the bobbins were full. This alone limits the DCR even further, as my full bobbin with AWG44 would need 3600m of wire, which means that I'm done at 1500m with 13kOhm; AWG38 would require 900m, meaning also finishing at 450m @ 1kOhm; but AWG32 would fill up with 220m @ 0.12kOhm. Of course, asumming the impossible 100% PERFECT wound, which, given my conditions, was extremely unlikely.
Since I didn't know if to buy AWG 38 or 44, I used the AWG32 available for free at work, as I knew that the first attemp was not gonna be the final. I would all four bobbins until full, (broke the wire only once...) an they all measure around 50Ohm (0.05kOhm). Meaning that my winding was quite repetitive, but also that I had a HUGE amount of scatter (being either good or bad).
I will try to mount them and wire them, install the magnets and see if they sound; which is my first goal. The question is: How to proceed? Would you recommend using AWG 38 or 44?
The problem with winding with AWG38 if that a full roll would go to each bobbing and they would have a max DCR of 1kOhm, so about 2kOhm in total per humbucker. Any issues with having a pickup so weak?
If I use AWG44 I see two options:
- Using a whole roll per bobbin. This should give the most consistent DCR and impedance, but would mean that each humbucker would have a DCR of 26kOhm, which is huge! I know the Steve Morse neck pickup (DP205) has 21kOhm of DCR, but I don't know any more details...
- Partially winding. This would give some variation as I would have no precise indicator of the number of turns, but each humbucker would have a DCR of about 7kOhm, which is very close to the original specs.
What do you think? I guess thinner wire would give a more compressed sound, and the higher DCR (and maye impedance) would give a higher output. Right?
I hope I was able to explain myself and didn't just confuse all of you by throwing numbers in there.
Cheers,
Walter
