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Are there any other pickup winding books out there beside Jason Lollars? Not that I don't want it, but I'd like to find something for a bit less money if possible. Not having any luck finding anything else, but i dont want to spend the $60 plus for it if I don't end up really using it.
Do many of you wind your own pickups? How did you learn? Did you build your own winder, or buy a commercially available one?

There has to be, because I read them before I ever heard of Jason Lollar.
Unfortunately, I can't remember what they are.
One of them has a big spider on the cover....

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I think the best way to wind is to just get started. I found a ton of information on the web that helped answer many of my questions. As for the winder I ended up building my own. Over the results have been great.



The great thing about winding your own pickups is that if you have trouble or done like the results you can always cut off the wire and rewind.

Keep us posted!

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Brad
Avon, OH

Wow! That's a nice winder! Any chance you started a build thread when you made that? Very nice and professional looking. Most of what I've looked at got DIY winders are plywood, old motors and torn apart calculators!

I guess I'm looking for a beginners course in pickup construction, winding, magnets and theory. It's probably all covered in the lollar book, I suppose. I wish he would offer a PDF file of it on the cheap.

This is the first picture or post of the winder on the thread. I didn't create a build thread because this forum is mostly acoustics. As for getting started there are many ways to build a winder. A simple hand drill will work if you can figure out how to create a simple counter. I did see lots of guys making counters from calculators but I decided to get a digital counter from Ebay which worked out much better for not a ton of money. I think I paid $25. The counter increments using magnet and reed switch every time the motor shaft spins 1 complete lap.

If I were trying to build a simple winder I would first locate a mechanical counter that counts to 9999 and figure how to to get it count with spinning a drill. The rest should be fairly straight forward.

Once your winder is done then winding pickups is fairly easy. I would be glad to talk you through it if you get to that point. There are also some great posts on Youtube that I found helpful.

Good luck and keep us posted.

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Brad
Avon, OH

And www.tdpri.com

I just wound my first set, 5 string jazz. Wound em with a power drill clamped to my bench and a reed switch/computer mouse counter. Mouses are really easy to take apart. I have a sewing machine motor for my next winder, but no pedal and the motor was wired directly to an outlet plug for some reason.

Plan on your first couple sets to not work.

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thanks everyone, I'm skimming through both of those forums right now. I found a nice set of videos on youtube that show how a guy builds his version of the Schatten winder, definitely looks simple, just need to source the parts. the only one I'm not sure of is the counter. He uses a 5-digit digital counter, and it looks to only have two wires coming off of it. I searched for some on Mouser and eBay, but everything looks more complicated that what he used.

Have you considered using a celing fan motor for your winder? It could be controled with a pot to very the speed for winding.

I haven`t thought of that. I`ve got a few options here, just trying to decide which route to go. I may use an old sewing machine, or an old record player »I`ve got kicking around here. I also just took the motor, belt pulleys out of the old wheel balancer at work. I might just use these to make a thickness sander instead though, still not sure

Pickup winding is in reality very, very simple. Problems are figuring out which way to wind it, how to set your bobbins after winding, and attaching jumpers to your leads. Be sure to be a "helping hand" device.
Hand winding can be a ich at times, especially when you overshoot and get the wire outside the bobbin. That's always a pain.
After looking at all of what I have said, it's no longer simple, but doable.
Personally, if I want a hot pickup, I wind both bobbins about 6500-8000 times with 42 AWG wire. Something a little bit more warm and bluesy, about 5500-6500 winds with 43 AWG.
Expirement. I didn't build a winder, I bought mine off ebay for about $175. I applaud all the people who build their own, but it was easier to me to spend the money than to mess with modifying a sewing machine with a calculator.

I found the hassle is getting the components together.
Once I got all the parts in a box and trusted the count it's been
fun.

The counter seems to be the biggest hassle for folks without an electronic
background. I avoided that with a Cub counter and a fast magnetic reed switch.
Accurate counting for the 2500 rpm variable range I geared for.

I did have a video on Youtube but had DP "Speed King" audio LOL...pulled it.

I went with a speed controll like for a router rather than a foot controller -like a sewing machine.
That turned out to be a great choice.
I also ran the shaft out both sides of the box so winding either direction is easy without reverse motor rotation.

I've wound under twenty sets of pups and every one has been most excellent. No doubt, I was very surprised.
Even salvaged some that didn't work for whatever reason.

Potting can be an issue. It's very dangerous so controlling the temperature is serious business.
I opted for a custom made one that has a drain valve for around 60 dollars. Electric and not a problem getting
down to 140-145° F. Easy to find units that will melt the wax but not so easy to find ones that will hold temp. range
I mentioned.
Yep...keeping your hair out of the winder and controlling the wax temp....good things to know.

I'm fairly new to guitar building and am in the early stages of building a guitar pickup winder. So far I have an electronic counter kit from an online supplier (with problems though), a couple of bearings I had kicking around, a new aftermarket sewing machine motor with pedal speed control ($30.00 on eBay), and a bunch of plastic parts that I've made on my 3D printer.

Guitar Parts USA, Allparts, Stewart-MacDonald, and many more sell pickup parts and kits. I got my 42 AWG magnet wire from Amazon but it came from Remington which is a well known magnet wire supplier.

I have a good start at building the winder but other commitments are going to make me hold off for a few weeks until I can put everything together.

Doug M

Keep us updated on the progress of the winder.

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Brad
Avon, OH

There's some videos on YouTube and StewMac has a free PDF you can download on the process. I ended up buying one off of eBay. I'm a real MacGyver when it comes to making my own things, but I was too busy at the time and actually had the dough to just buy one. It works great and I have made a few pups already - it's actually very fun to make them and make the dive - it's amazing the world of tone you will be able to open up when you jump over this wall.... it's not as high as you think.

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