Books or Primers re: Making Pickups

[frets]

Guys,
I may have asked this a long time ago. I dunno, don’t remember; but, I’ve been strongly considering adding pickups to the things I do. And I want to get my hands on a book that describes the process of making single coil pickups. I’ve looked and am not coming up with anything very professional. I plan on buying a high quality winder, etc.; but, I know not where to start. I also need to know where I can buy materials at a reasonable cost, not StewMac prices. A lot to ask, but I figure some souls on here have gone done this road.

[newey]

frets-

Let me preface this by stating that I have never wound a pickup, and what little I do know about it has largely come from the years spent on this Board (and elsewhere). So, no first-hand "this is gospel" stuff.

As for written materials. there is a book by a guy named Milan which is available through Stew-Mac- or should be, it was at one time. The guy behind Lollar pickups (Jason? maybe, don't quote me) wrote a book years ago that is highly regarded but is (I believe) out of print, but maybe you can find a copy.

As for supplies, All Parts has some stuff and probably is somewhat cheaper than StewMac. Also MojoTone, they probably have a more extensive selection than All Parts does. IIRC, they sell plastic HB bobbins for less than a buck apiece, while StewMac wants a couple of bucks for one. Although it's been some time since I looked at either site . . .

As for wire, I'd suggest contacting the manufacturer- MSW- they supply most of the major pickup manufacturers (including your fave, Mr. Duncan ) and while they mostly deal wholesale, I believe they will sell down to a 5-lb roll.

[frets]

Newey😻,
As always, thank you. I will look for the book you mentioned and hope others in the forum will have resource recommendations.

[gckelloch]

AFAIC, nearly all pickup winders misunderstand some basics about how they actually affect the sound. Most still believe things like: handwinding has some advantage i.e. layered/scattered winding somehow improves the sound, AlNiCo loses significant power within a human lifespan, compression occurs inside a pickup, thinner coil wire or wax potting reduces dynamic response, raising pickup height increases treble response, or whatever else is perpetuated through hearsay, confirmation bias or improper testing procedures.

FI, my guess is the late Abigail YBarra did crossover winds every so many turns simply to help keep the coil tight. Whatever is assumed about the tone (contradictions may abound), we do know layering reduces efficiency. That practice along with poor results from excess tension settings on the first CBS era winding machines led to the superiority of hand-winding myth. Now the myth is used to inflate prices. Many winders don’t know about the effect of alloy Permeability, and most still think the generated signal is from the string vibrations vibrating the entire field emanating from the magnet, just as many guitar players still think guitar resonances actually reinforce string energy as if a guitar were effectively a perpetual motion machine!

Who knows what misunderstandings you’ll find in books by presumed experts. One can wind pickups for decades and still misunderstand the transfer function. For my money, the most useful resources that don’t promote myths or subjectivity are these websites:

buildyourguitar.com/resources/lemme/

www.billlawrence.com/

lawingmusicalproducts.com/dr-lawings-blog

Both Wilde (BL design) and Zexcoil (Dr. Scott Lawing) use special high permeability alloy pole pieces for increased efficiency and to mimic the Q-factor of various AlNiCo grades. If you want to keep it simple, and possibly fill a market niche, you can get AlNiCo IV poles from Alegree in the UK. It has relatively high permeability to produce a warmer note timbre with a Gauss (Tesla) level lower than AlNiCO V, but higher than II. Of course, the vintage stagger doesn’t apply to plain G strings, so consider that when/if ordering.

[ms]

Oct 19, 2021 11:29:42 GMT -5 frets said:

Guys,
I may have asked this a long time ago. I dunno, don’t remember; but, I’ve been strongly considering adding pickups to the things I do. And I want to get my hands on a book that describes the process of making single coil pickups. I’ve looked and am not coming up with anything very professional. I plan on buying a high quality winder, etc.; but, I know not where to start. I also need to know where I can buy materials at a reasonable cost, not StewMac prices. A lot to ask, but I figure some souls on here have gone done this road.

If you want wind pickups with the intent to make things your way, then understanding how they work, as best you can with your background, is very important.  Relevant chapters of Zollner's book (translated; www.gitec-forum-eng.de/the-book/) are fully understandable only with a physics and engineering background, but introductory material and conclusions are accessible.  Some topics might need further explanation, so discussions here can be useful.

[frets]

I just wanted to thank you guys for helping me with discovering pickup winding resource materials.  😻