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Anyone tried making their own pickups?


Damonjames
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Another one?
It's very simple. The trick is doing it well. A steady hand and some basic supplies is all you need. Power drill, handdrill (for winding), multimeter (to test output), magnets (emagnetsuk), wire (.42 guage) and some pcb board (or ready made flatwork and cases). Oh and a bit of imagination and creativity.

Edited by lettsguitars
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Aaages ago there was a really long thread linked to on here where a builder goes through every step of making a jazz bass copy, including pickup winding that was a really interesting and informative read.

..And with a bit of googling, here it is [url="http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/169606-1960-jazzbass-build.html"]http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/169606-1960-jazzbass-build.html[/url]

Pickup build starts around page 4.

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building my own pickup is something that i have though about many times. but theres a couple of reasons why i have never done it. 1- i don't have the money for such a devilishly expensive thing. 2. i don't have the skills or expertise. 3. i don't have the tools. and 4. i have no idea how to make a pickup sound like tim commerfords! (love his sound!)

Edited by MiltyG565
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[quote name='GarethFlatlands' timestamp='1345381397' post='1776838']
Aaages ago there was a really long thread linked to on here where a builder goes through every step of making a jazz bass copy, including pickup winding that was a really interesting and informative read.

..And with a bit of googling, here it is [url="http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/169606-1960-jazzbass-build.html"]http://www.tdpri.com...bass-build.html[/url]

Pickup build starts around page 4.
[/quote]

That is the best build thread I have ever seen :o :o :o :o

AWESOME!!!

Thanks for putting that link up B)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I made some, it was fun and not that hard even though I didn't really know what I was doing. It did take a lot of patience though. It took about 15 minutes at the highest speed my drill would go (fast enough that the bobbin was a blur) to wind one, during which one lapse in concentration can mess it up, in which case its time to start again.

Here was my set up
[url="http://www.idlecreations.com/loz/pup1.jpg"]http://www.idlecreat...om/loz/pup1.jpg[/url]

For counting the winds I had an arduino counting clicks of a little switch which triggered from a bolt taped to the drill. I overwound them both a bit, measured the impedance, and then took some winds off by hand. You could possibly do it without counting, but the taking winds off after measuring process would take a lot longer.

The tape around one end of the bobbin is to try and discourage the wire coming off that end and winding round the screw. When this happened at high speed it was a real pain because in a fraction of a second you have a load of winds on it that you need to unwind very carefully.

The wire is so thin its really really flimsy. I found that the closer the spool of wire was to the winding mechanism the more likely it was that the wire would snap from the changes in tension due to the bobbin shape. As a result the spool of wire is way way out of the picture out the door across the hallway and in another room. I think I had two failed winds where the wire snapped around the 7 minute mark (before
I moved the spool further away).

Oh, I also had a way of securing the drill in the on position. Holding the very springy button in for 15 minutes whilst concentrating on winding proved too difficult for me.

And they eventually came out like this:
[url="http://www.idlecreations.com/loz/pup2.jpg"]http://www.idlecreat...om/loz/pup2.jpg[/url]

After this picture I wound string around the windings and potted them for protection. The surrounds are a bit big because I really had no idea how much space the wire would take up.

The only things I bought were the wire and magnets, so it was pretty cheap.

Edited by Technicality
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