DIY Pickups

[Mark Hammer]

That's precisely why I like the hand drill.  It only goes as fast as I want it to, and stops when I want it to....immediately, without any momentum.  In my case, that is especially important as the large spools (one of them was around 5lbs when I got it) run a high risk of wire getting snagged at the end of the spool, now that I've worked my way through a lot of it.  Since I am pinching the wire between my fingers, I can immediately sense when there is a bit of higher-than average tension coming up, and can slow down so as to avoid sudden tugs and the inevitable torn coil that results from that.

Keep in mind that mechanized systems are only as useful in this endeavour as the wire feed is.  If you have a fresh spool that weighs 150 grams, and sits atop a bearing-mounted swivel system, you can tug away all you want and the spool will happily turn around and feed the coil.  If there is any shortcoming in the feed spool, though, or if the spool is so large that it won't turn around of its own accord and needs to be securely/mechanically moved around, you can't just turn on a motor like a turntable and have it wind, because of the risk of tension changes and snaps.  In my case, I've gotten my wire by haphazard method over the years (now that I think of it, a roll of #43 is from an old high school buddy who is now the head of psychiatry at a major research/teaching hospital; that spool is at least 35 years old!).  So my winding method is an adaptation to a set of circumstances.

[The Tone God]

That's precisely why I like the hand drill.  It only goes as fast as I want it to, and stops when I want it to....immediately, without any momentum.  In my case, that is especially important as the large spools (one of them was around 5lbs when I got it) run a high risk of wire getting snagged at the end of the spool, now that I've worked my way through a lot of it.  Since I am pinching the wire between my fingers, I can immediately sense when there is a bit of higher-than average tension coming up, and can slow down so as to avoid sudden tugs and the inevitable torn coil that results from that.

When I built that winder in the article I made the hand unit with speed control and kill switches to ease these issues. The winder can actually faster then the reed switch can response to and sometimes I do wind my coils that fast. I will be getting rid the reed switch soon and make use of an rotary optical decoder.

I too know the pain snagged wire. In the article I made a point of how I hold the coil vertically. I also smoothen down the lip of the spool to be free of any burs that the wire can catch on.

Another issue is making sure the coil is centred and balanced on the winder. If it is off one side can become more loosely wound and the jumping between lose and tight tensions can pull on the wire too much as to cause it to break.

Andrew

[Plectrum]

Lol...
I made my first strat pickup by making a handle from a coathanger held in a wood block, wound it till it looked right. It was a bit hot, so I unwound it till it was about 6k DC resistance. The mags were from a broken late 60's fender pup that a mate was throwing out, stuck em in a bobbin from a cheap eastern ceramic mag/iron pole unit.
Took me a good few hours, but it worked.

Grant.