A Nice Pair (of humbuggies for the CAR Thinline)

Verne Bunsen

Hero Member
Messages
2,472
At long last the time has come to start on the Double Bound Dual Humbucker Candy Apple Red Thinline Tele (abbreviated DBDHCARTLT) that was originally mentioned here back in March:

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=27781.0

Does not seem like a half a year has passed since then.......

First task is to wind a pair of humbuckers for her. She'll be wired with a 5-way switch which will handle splitting. Both pickups will split to the screw coil. My recipe for the pickups (all the specs will be at the end of this post) is based on the following goals:

  • "Moderate" output. Not "low output" necessarily but not blowtorches either; just hot enough to make things cook
  • Access to splitting
  • Bridge pickup to be roughly 10% hotter than the neck
  • For each pickup, screw coil to be roughly 7.5% hotter than slug
  • Screw coils to be hum-cancelling when combined (ie both pickups split)

Some prep work first. The bobbins need a hole for the coil-start to exit, the screw bobbin holes need tapped, and all of the surfaces need sanded nice and smooth because it doesn't take much of a snag to break the wire while winding.
1.jpeg

(I still don't have a 5-40 tap, so I'm using a sacrificial pole piece to cut the threads...)

"Start" (white in this case) and "Finish" wires for each coil and 2-conductor pickup leads. Since the only trick I will ask of these pickups is splitting, 4-conductor leads are unnecessary. 2-conductor with a bare wire will work just fine. The screw coil start (ground) and the chassis ground will share the bare wire, the slug coil start (hot) will use one conductor, and both coil finishes (the "series link") will share the other conductor for splitting.
2.jpeg

Ultimately I wished I made the coil start/finish pigtails longer. Live and learn...

My wire strippers don't go down to 42AWG, so the insulation must be sanded off before joining the coil wire to the pigtail. If you look close, you can see where the insulation has been removed:
3.jpeg

Incidentally, looks like my hands could use moisturizing...

Joining the coil wire to the start pigtail.
4.jpeg

Nerve-wracking because there there is little room for error. If it's a bad connection, you won't know till the coil is wound, which is a major bummer. On the other hand, overheat it and the wire will break.

This lead feeds through the hole we made in the bobbin a few steps back and is secured and insulated with coil tape.
5.jpeg


No pictures of actually winding the coil, seems like a bit of an oversight at this point....

After winding, the coil finish is joined to another wire.
6.jpeg


This one is tricky because you've got to set it up so that, when you wind that last bit of wire back on, the pigtail ends up where you want it. Invariably it ends up anywhere BUT there. Ultimately, this is what you want to end up with:
7.jpeg

The coil is wrapped in coil tape, the pigtail wrapped into position and the coil tape wrapped over it.

Moment of truth....
8.jpeg

It's good!

Repeat for the other coil, then on to assembly.

I start by flowing a pool of solder onto the frame where the coil ground lead will be attached.
9.jpeg


Then the bare wire from the pickup lead and the screw coil start wire are attached.
10.jpeg

Not my prettiest joint ever, but, well, it's tricky. Whatchagonnado?

Next the pole piece keeper bar.
11.jpeg


Then the screw coil is positioned and secured from below with screws.
12.jpeg


Slugs are loaded in the slug coil. They press in easily with finger pressure.
13.jpeg


The black (finish) leads from both coils are joined, along with a conductor from the pickup lead.
14.jpeg

The joint will be insulated with coil tape.

I know how I want the coils polarized, and to get it right I've got to know where North is on my bar magnet. There it is!
15.jpeg


In with the magnet and the slug coil spacer.
16.jpeg

You can't see it in the picture, but the slugs extend below the coil and fit snugly between the magnet and spacer.

The slug coil is mounted and the start wire joined to the remaining conductor of the pickup lead. The joint will be insulated with coil tape, then the whole mess is stuffed where ever you can cram it tucked away neatly and both coils wrapped with coil tape.
17.jpeg


The coils are secured by these four screws.
18.jpeg

You can see in this picture that the holes in the bottom of the frame are not lining up with the holes in the screw coil keeper bar. I held off on installing the pole pieces because in the past I've encountered difficulty installing the cover with them already in place. In this case, I had to loosen the mounting screws and wiggle stuff into alignment as I installed the pole pieces.

Cover and pole pieces are installed. The cover is soldered to the frame to provide both mechanical and electrical (ground) connection. You want to turn your soldering iron to 11 for this one...
19.jpeg


One humbucker!
20.jpeg


And two days later, the other humbucker!
21.jpeg


The last step here is wax potting. It is my personal belief that some microphonics add a bit of life to a pickup, and that for clean to moderate gain tones you can pot the life right out of them. So I am pretty conservative with it. That said, uncontrollable squealing is no fun at all and the coils themselves could always do with some structural reinforcement, so it's into the wax bath with them. Just a quick dip.

I use a Stew Mac hide glue pot because it makes it so very easy. The wax mixture is about 80% paraffin and 20% bees wax.
22.jpeg


I gave each pickup about 60 seconds in the wax, just long enough to get all of the big bubbles out. The bubbles you see in the surface here are the result of wax displacing the air in the pickup.
23.jpeg


That's it really, two pickups ready to roll! Here are the specs in all of their detailed glory. Bear in mind that since the neck pickup was wound with 42AWG and the bridge pickup with 43AWG, the DCR values are not really comparable between the two.

Neck pickup
AlNiCo V magnet
42AWG Plain Enamel wire
Wound TR/TG (Top Right/Top Going, meaning the bobbin was mounted with the top facing right and the winder rotated with the top of the bobbin traveling away.)
Slug Coil South, 5000 turns, 3.96k DCR, 1.94H inductance
Screw Coil North, 5375 turns, 4.32k DCR, 2.22H inductance
Both coils in series 8.30k DCR, 4.79H inductance

Bridge pickup
AlNiCo II magnet
43AWG Plain Enamel wire
Wound TR/TC (Top Right/Top Coming)
Slug Coil North, 5475 turns, 5.80k DCR, 2.44H inductance
Screw Coil South, 5950 turns, 6.34k DCR, 2.83H inductance
Both coils in series 12.15k DCR, 6.11H inductance

In conclusion, a picture of the pickups in their natural habitat!
24.jpeg


Continued in the "Work In Progress" thread:
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=28703.0
edit 11/22/2017: the build thread now has audio samples of these pickups as well.
 
Lookin' good. I find the art of winding pickups fascinating. Thanks for the progress photos and explanations.
 
Thanks! It's a lot of fun, for sure. It gives me a lot of respect for the guys who do it on commercial level, it is a really time consuming process with endless opportunities to screw up royally, haha!
 
Those look fantastic!

What little experience I have with pickup winding has taught me to seek out those with masochistic tendencies and saintly patience to handle that for me :laughing7:
 
Cagey said:
Those look fantastic!

What little experience I have with pickup winding has taught me to seek out those with masochistic tendencies and saintly patience to handle that for me :laughing7:

D'accord  :glasses9:
 
Extremely impressive. Bravo!
I wouldn't mind trying it myself, but like others have said, it's probably better done by those with more patience.
 
Thanks fellers! It's true, I never pass up an opportunity to inflict some good old fashioned self-punishment....  :laughing7: 
 
Sound samples of these pickups have been posted to the build thread:
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=28703.60
 
Some great sounding pickups there, I just modded my Velocity to not split the neck my coil spit just works with the bridge now. I just want to tell you having a single in the bridge and humbucker neck is a great sound. I describe it as girth with sparkles.
 
Thanks! I've got an old 90s MIM "Telecaster Special" with a Tele bridge pickup and a humbucker in the neck, I know exactly what you mean by "girth with sparkles". It's a cool sound. I didn't try it on this one, the split bridge with the full neck, might have to think about that the next time the soldering iron is warmed up....
 
Back
Top