Please be kind, and rewind.

[Double Yoi]

Is anyone set up to rewind/repair pickups?
I have a SD lil 59 tele bridge that's on the fritz?

Thanks!!!

[Deleted]

Dec 7, 2013 14:37:00 GMT -5 Double Yoi said:

Is anyone set up to rewind/repair pickups?
I have a SD lil 59 tele bridge that's on the fritz?

Thanks!!!

I used to have a damaged Carvin H11, never got a chance to repair it properly till i managed to completely destroy it.

[newey]

DY-

We've had a lot of talk about rewinding pickups here, but I don't recall that we've had anyone indicate that they actually did it.

First off, the question is what's wrong with the pickup. Does it truly need rewinding, or is it a bad connection problem? Often a visual inspection will show that one of the connection wires has pulled loose, which can (sometimes) be fixed without major surgery.

If it truly does need rewinding, bear in mind that SD still makes these, and a new one costs about $80 USD. Rewinding is a time-intensive job unless done with automated machinery. I doubt that you'll find someone willing to rewind it for less than the cost of a new one.

And, it probably won't sound the same after it's done anyway. SD puts a lot of money into R & D, and some shade-tree rewinder is unlikely to duplicate what SD did originally. This is a dual-coil pickup, made to the size of a SC, and intended to sound "just like" a '59 HB- there's certainly some SD mojo going on there. And, the individual coils are tiny. It may not even be possible to get the bobbins apart so as to be able to rewind it.

I've read on other forums of guys who made their own pickups, built their own (manual) winding machines, etc. They all said that there was a real learning curve involved, they didn't get good results off the bat. The guys who have built businesses in custom winding of pickups have certainly spent years learning what works- and will charge accordingly.

[Double Yoi]

Thanks fellas,
When I first noticed the problem, I took it out and "bench tested" it. Basically touched the leads to a cable and tapped the coils, no problem and very loud. Re install and it wont work...I will give a look see and make sure its all nice and tightly soldered.

[Deleted]

Measuring its resistance in isolation-mode (not installed) is a good way to know if it is close to the factory specs. Checkout SD's site for specs on this particular pup.