SwedishLuthier

Yeah, I don't understand why I keep double-posting all the time... With that type of coil (the strat type pickup) it is of cause not a case of short circuit against the magnets. Then it can be that the insulation is bad and you have section of the wire were it flakes of/wears thin and causes shorts. Then I should discard that spool of wire and get a new fresh one. If it's not a problem with the insulation I really don't understand the low DCR of that pickup. A pickup with two different coils for bass/treble strings can and have been done. I make a hum-free strat pickup that does really sound like a traditional Strat pickup (I try to avoid the "vintage" word...): There is also some makers that manage to fit them in a straight line (I have seen both Strat and J-bass pickups that fit in traditional covers) and I think that with careful planning it should also be possible to fit them into a HB shape. The only issue I can think about is that if you place the coils in a straight line and bend a string so that it ends up exactly between the two outer poles of each coil the signal will be 100% out of phase and canselled. Thats why I have my coils offset so that doesn't happen as the two coils will sense different parts of the string. Making one coil with a lower part and a higher part (if I understand you right) with a slanting upper flange is simpler in that you just need two custom made coils and not four and you avoid the problem with string cansellation. On the other hand it is extremely hard to wind a coil like that on a machine without a CNC controlled traverse or you will need to do it completely by hand. Anyway, it's do-able and and I would love to se it made.

Most winders refer to it as "turn count" and turns and that’s what I call it, no problem using any other term that you feel comfortable with. OK, I think I get it. Then it is the first one, the SC measuring 478 ohms with 6000+ turns that I don't understand. The others numbers make more sense and are in the ballpark. My suspicion is that the first one was a traditional SC with bare rod magnets as part of the bobbin. Is that right? If so you might have a short were the wire has rubbed against the rough surface of the magnets and worn through the insulation. That might explain the low DCR reading of that pickup. Many winders lacquer the assembled bobbin to prevent that or (my method) use masking tape to protect the wire. Generally regarding thick vs. thin wire: Heavy wire will give you a physically bigger coil (wider) as the wire is thicker compared to winding the same amount (number of turns) on the same coil. That will affect the sound in that a wider coil ”senses" a wider part of the string (generally considered to give a fuller/warmer sound). At the same time a coil made from the same number of turns of a thicker wire will have a lower DCR. Now DCR isn't the main factor to focus on. There is a well known equation that gives the direct correlation between turn count and general output of a pickup (well at least indirect) but I cannot dig it out right now (I've posted it before so it is possible to search). However a lower DCR with the same turn count will also affect the sound in that the DCR is part of the filter system that the complete guitar electronics make up (And I'm way out of my comfort zone here, talking about filters in analogue electronics). Probably the most obvious thing that heavier wire does is that it prevents you from getting a full coil. Regarding the P90, the standard value is 10 000 turns of (AWG42) wire and even though a P90 with anything from 5-6000 turns and up will produce a signal loud enough it will not produce a traditional P90 sound (but maybe something that suits the player much better). Anyway it is perfectly fine to use different type of wires and there is no such thing as "the one and only way" to make stuff. I think more people should go off the beaten path and try new stuff. If possible it would be very interesting to hear your pickups as I haven't used as thick wire as AWG37 and I'm really curious about the end result.

I'm a bit confused here. I'm not sure we are talking about the same pickup(s): If you say that you got 6000 turns of AWG37 on a P90 style bobbin (and I’m not sure I follow you here…) and it measured 478 ohms something are wrong. The resistance per meter for AWG 37 is 1,72: http://www.daycounte...ators/AWG.phtml That means with 478 ohms you got 278 meters or 912 feet of wire there. On a "normal" pickup bobbin you get roughly 10 cm or .1 meter of wire for each turn (very rough here, I agree). So 278 meter will yield in the area of 2500 to 3000 turns and not even close to 6000 turns of wire??? However if you say that this is a traditional Single Coil (as mentioned, I cannot really follow what pickup has what mesurements…): It makes a bit more sense. ~1 kohm is 550-600 meters of wire and that will for sure end up in the 5000 turns range. However in the end there is only one thing that counts: if the pickup sounds good then everything is fine. The thing concerning me is that some day in the future you might want to replicate those pickups and then you need to have those things figured out. Repeatability is one of the hardest things in pickup winding. I’m still struggling a bit with that…

No,Ive done it...I just added a backstrap or a cap...but I think your fix is better Bin there. Done that. Got the headache. I was able to file away the first mm of the bushing thread

Hmmm, 6000 turns and 478 Ohms just don't add upp. As I know that you know how to use a muli meter properly I'm sure the measurement is right. However I can't really understand how that much wire can yield a pickup with that low resistance.

Great to se more people trying out pickup winding! There are a few coil calculation orograms. This one is used for backwards engineering: http://www.salvarsan.org/pickups/Coil_Estimator.html if you know a pickup size, wire and resistance you can calculate the number of turns. So you probably made around 1800 turns according to tis tool. This one: http://pickups.myonlinesite.com/pickup.php Is for calculating a shape of the coil based on bobbin size and shape and the wire used. It would be graeat to hear the results of you work

Fist you need to eliminate other factors. Unsolder the leads from the pickup to the first switch/pot of whatever is in the signal path. Take a picture or make any other type of record of what wire goes were. Then measure the pickup. Lets say that the four wires are white, black, red, grean (most connom combo). Start with white and measure DCR (DC resistance) between the white and the other leads. You should find one that measures somewere in the range of 2-8 Kohms and infinite between the white and the others. Then take the black and repeat. You chould in the end have two "pair" that have this type of measurement. If you get 0Ohm somewere you got a short, if you only get one "pair" (or none) you have an open cuircuit. Starting from that you can search the rest of the pickup for errors. If you get these two "pairs" the problem is in the switches or pots.

Havn't used it but will check it out. Thansk for the tip. Does CA adhere to that tape? If not I think we might have a winner here... A quick serach found that is is availible under the 3M/Scotch brand so it must bge able to track down that way

I don't remember what value I used for the volume for that ukulele, but I *think* it was 500K. But at the same time, if you add a bridge pickup it migh be good to use a 250K to tame the top end a bit. The sound in that uke have a good amount of bite even though the pickup is in the neck position only. I think that a bridge pickup will be quite trebly/harsh. Anyway, I think you should keep things simple and go with a P90 Gibson setup, ie a two single coil pickup config with a simple three way switch for neck/neck + bridge/brigde selection. .

File a flat area on the shaft for the set screw?

Great video as always Chris. I'm thinking there should be some way to have a rough guestimation of the shaping needed for the sanding of the veneer overlap so that there might me a few less attempts in the bag. Have you tried to put them on a carved top unsanded, line them up on the top of the arc, have them overlap at the neck and butt end, mark the overlap and then sand the veneer "sandwich" halfway to the marked line? Or maybee som other way to have a good starting point without making a complete 3D-model in CAD...

I do wish that my first instruments have been this good and I'm really looking forward to see you buidling a full size guitar now. You should enter it in the GOTM competition

Update on the Safe-T-Planer: Today I ordered some parts from Stumac and just to be sure to have spare parts ordered two sets of cutters for the Wagner Safe-T. I go the answer that they only had one set left and that the product are from now on discontinued. So it seems that I got the last set of spare cutters from them. Does anyone know if spare cutters are still available from some other source or if the cutters for the "copy" will fit?

I have bought some great tops from 3D hardwoods (www.3dhardwoods.com) before. Now I look at their web page and it hasn't been updated in almost 8-9 months and they don't relpy to emails. Does anyone know if they are out of business or if I simply need to update my browser bookmark...

Without knowing what brand the guitar is I must say that badly filed nuts is one of the most common "issues" with brand new guitars, especially mid to low end guitars. A good setup takes time and time = money so many manyfacturers cheep out on that part. On the other hand to shallow string groves are more connon and easier to fix.

The first thing I noticed is that the neck pocket will need to be reworked. The P90s seems to be Fat Cat style pickups (P90 in HB shape),

Exactly. With a good setup, slipery nut, roller bridge or similar and locking tuners there is no reason a bigsby guitar shouldn't stay in tune considering the limited amounth of whammy availible with that trem. My no1 Tele is Bigsby equiped and even before I changed out the sadles on the bridge to graphite it was very stable, now I cannot knock it out of tune at all (whell exept from my lousy playing making it going out of tune, but anyway...). The same goes for almost any good quality whammy; have a look at the nut and the tuners and it stays in tune for most of the normal stuff you can use it for. Dive bombing is another issue though.

Yeah, I have heard about the guy(s) making th safe-T quiting and the only substitute being a"China made" version. I have not seen any reliable reviews of the new ones so if you decide to get one it would be great to hear your opinion Mental note to myself: stack up on original replacement cutters...

I would use a Wagner safe-t-planer. A router on some type of sledge is also a common tool to take a chunk out of a guitar blank, or guitar body.

Sometimes its best to follow the K-I-S-S rule (keep it simple, stupid) I need to remind myself of that every now and then.

Your numbers look just fine. There is a range of sizes that different manufacturers consider "good enough" for every wire gauge. So the DCR will be different if a specific lenght of wire (same gauge) of different brands are compared. Even different shipments from the same maker can differ slightly. Well not really. A OK quality counter can be found for something like 30€ and up (check Distrelec, RS components or Conrad in Europe) and possible even cheeper from some other sources. The proximity switch is in the same range. So the total cost of parts were not that bad for a compact and extremely accurate winder. Check out http://designed2wind.alphalink.com.au/ for some wacky winders.

I'm moving to the Nederlands...

Another possible issue is the micro switch. If you get an programmable counter it is possible that it is too fast, meaning that it will actually count every contact bouns. If you use a really fast oscilloscope you will see that aevery mechanisal swits actually has up to 5-6 contact bounces and then you need to use something like an optical, hall sensor or other type of proximity switch. I'm using an programmable counter and an inductive sensing proximity switch. I can run up to 10 000 rpm without loosing count. Did I hear "overkill"?

I finally found the language button The items you compared was african mahogany (Madinter) and South American MAhogany (MB) so there should be a significant difference. However Madinter are cheeper even when comparing African Mahogany VS African Mahogany. And their prices on Sapele is great (20€ for a body blank). I really apretiate that you shared that resource!

Maderas Barber is very expensive IMO, and never bought anything from stumac due to international taxes... I have another supplier here in Spain much cheaper than MB and SM: www.madinter.com, is worth to give a try... 20€ minimum order and very good service. I thought wood was cheaper there in USA... thanks for comment! Don't know about that... The AAA grade African ebony fretboars from MB are 13.34€ and the ungraded AFrican ebony fretboard from Madinter is 9.25€, AAA Palosanto de Madagaskar (madagaskan rosewood?) fretboards are 10.71 compared to ungraded at 14€ from Madinter, Zebrano was the only wood I could easily compare and a already glued up and planed blank from MB was 66€ compared to what I think is (my spanish is more or less non-existing) half a body blank worth of zebrano from Madinter going for 55€ (even if it a complete blank the differense isnt gigantic) and a plain maple neck blank from Madinter is 12€ compared to one made out of curly maple for 11.23€ from MB. Those are just a few quick, non-sientifical samples I did to check. Can't realy see that MB is so much more expensive. If you find cheeper wood, please share with us as we all strugle to find better sources to buy wood from. On a side note I saw that Madinter offered FSC-aproved Sapele with is a real bonus. Good to know. Thanks for sharing the link to them. @Eddiewarlock: Thats a lot of necks from that maple:lol: