slowburnaz
Commercial User
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Magnets & Copper Wire: A Pickup Building Thread
- Thread starter Freekmagnet
- Start date
Cool! My wife also has one of those big shot machines. Hmmm...
Ah yes, Steel Rule Dies. I haven't messed with them myself, but I'm somewhat familiar with the process. So, what kind of backer plate do you use under the brass screen, for the Rules to press into? Hard rubber? Aluminum?
slowburnaz
Commercial User
I'm just using what came with the machine my wife had, which are these pieces of hard clear plastic or acrylic.
You kinda make a sandwich... one of those dies goes onto the tray of the machine, then you put the material you're cutting on that, and finally top that off with the hard plastic. Then you turn the crank on the machine to feed that whole assembly through.
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I got quotes from xometry.com and hubs.com to have 60 of the the Fralin Big Single bobbin for 5-string produced. Xometry was ~$175 and Hubs was $90.60 ($1.51 each). Both use HP MJF Nylon 12 (black), so Hubs will be getting the work. This is exciting!
slowburnaz
Commercial User
Nice!
Please post some pics when you get them!
Also, what types of finish options does Hubs offer?
I usually stick with plain gray for my bobbins, as I was noticing that the dye was leeching out a bit when potting and polluting the paraffin. But my bobbins aren't visible.
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Absolutely, will do! I haven't placed the order, yet, so it looks like I'll go with the untinted grey...
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While cleaning up I found this pickup winding machine I put together as a starving student back in the Lower Cretaceous Period. This might be pushing the limit for the cheapest workable winder.
The counter and roller switch were probably under ten bucks from a surplus place. Wooden cam to activate the switch once per rev. The pickup gets sandwiched between the two discs of pick guard material to keep the wire from snagging on the corners of the flatwork, and the sandwich is held together with a row of rare earth magnets in each disc. The bearings are just plain holes in the particle board, lubricated with paraffin or candle wax.
I remember my thumb would get pretty tired from holding down the trigger of the drill, but other than that it actually worked alright.
(Edit: particle board, not MDF)
The counter and roller switch were probably under ten bucks from a surplus place. Wooden cam to activate the switch once per rev. The pickup gets sandwiched between the two discs of pick guard material to keep the wire from snagging on the corners of the flatwork, and the sandwich is held together with a row of rare earth magnets in each disc. The bearings are just plain holes in the particle board, lubricated with paraffin or candle wax.
I remember my thumb would get pretty tired from holding down the trigger of the drill, but other than that it actually worked alright.
(Edit: particle board, not MDF)
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Friend of mine did a comparison video of three of my Jazz pickup designs. I'm sharing it here because I think it does a really good job of comparing subtle differences due to different formats of pickup. He did a good job recording the samples, I am pretty out of touch in terms of recording and don't have the knowledge or skills to get clean accurate recordings like this myself.
These are all split coil Jazz pickups, all are 43 awg and very close to the same turn counts. The main differences are the magnet structures. The first pickup is traditional Fender style Alnico 5 slugs in fiberboard. The second pickup is a steel blade with two small ceramic bars on the bottom. The third pickup is a ceramic magnet blade.
These are all split coil Jazz pickups, all are 43 awg and very close to the same turn counts. The main differences are the magnet structures. The first pickup is traditional Fender style Alnico 5 slugs in fiberboard. The second pickup is a steel blade with two small ceramic bars on the bottom. The third pickup is a ceramic magnet blade.
I like the Jazz blades best as well for that bass. They seem to strike a balance between the two other pickups. The Fender style probably sounds the best on the lower notes to my ears, but the Jazz blades sound sweeter on the upper notes. The ceramic sounds like it would be best suited on a fretted bass. It has a little more punch and treble. Your friend did a great job on the video and the pickups all sound pretty different.
I watched it on FB this am with headphones and my preference far and away is the split coils. Good job on that vid. 
I have had all three in fretted basses and I think you're right regarding the steel vs ceramic blades. The ceramics give a nice modern aggressive tone in a fretted bass. It's bright but not annoyingly bright. Probably my favorite for fretted basses since it has all of the advantages of the steel blade over the classic style but none of the losses. For fretless, I think it really just depends on the character you're looking for. I think steel blades are definitely best for what he was looking for, which is more of a compressed gentler tone. But if I were trying to do a bright, modern fretless - say, something with a coated fingerboard - the ceramics would definitely help emphasize that.
I watched it on FB this am with headphones and my preference far and away is the split coils. Good job on that vid.
Funny - I only make that version with alnico slugs if/when people ask me to. I don't really think it's anything special. Lots of people make what is essentially the exact same thing!
My first winder was a small wood turning lathe when I wasn't turning pickups I was studying material science
@dwizum Nice work and great video!
On the fabrication front, the base plates and blades are a success, thanks to my buddy Dan on CAD and the fine folks at Send Cut Send. I made the bends in the base plates manually using an Irwin 8R Vise Grip sheet metal crimper. I should have the bobbins from HUBS on Friday.
On the fabrication front, the base plates and blades are a success, thanks to my buddy Dan on CAD and the fine folks at Send Cut Send. I made the bends in the base plates manually using an Irwin 8R Vise Grip sheet metal crimper. I should have the bobbins from HUBS on Friday.
slowburnaz
Commercial User
