Pickup winder / Thickness sander

Building a pickup winding machine

My new Parker style guitar need some pickups, but my hobby is becoming very expensive
so I deceded to jump into the the process of winding my own pickups.

Plus, for an unknow reason, the Hipshot tremolo of this guitar have a very narrow strings spacing (2.080 inchs) the regular Strat tremolo have 2-7/32 or 2.218 inchs, so I needed some custom made pickups for a perfect match with the pickups polepieces to strings.

I started the project using a bench grinder as the winding machine. I removed the grinding weel on the right handside and I replaced it with baltic birch plywood sandwich, after assembly I turn the wood to balance that pickup holder and for concentricity using the drill press with a long end mill using the milling sliding table.

I will add a pully on the left side to drive the bench grinder (winder) to reduce the speed, this grinder is running at 3450 RPM (way to much) and it will be driven by an other motor with speed control.

The square piece of "wood" will become a holder for the revolution counter and the microswitch. This is an experiment, I don't know yet if the microswitch can handle something like 400 to 500 RPM ?

Cool, the microswitch seem to be able to count the number of revolutions at 400 RPM. I just made a flat spot on the bigger diameter weel for the microswitch to turn off.

Total cost for the winder is $13.82 + tax ($8.75 for the counter, $3.57 for the microswitch and $1.50 for the 3/8 bolt use as a shaft. I had all other parts in stock, small V belt, two ball bearings, I made the two pullys with scrap wood, and the 12 volts dc adapter.

The drill (variable speed motor / with reverse) run at a maximum of 1200 RPM and I have a ratio of 3:1 so the winder will run at 400 RPM (Maximum). For example, a 8,000 turns pickup it will take 20 minutes to wind.

Pickup ready to wind ... Note the layer of paper around the magnets, there a coat (or two) of shellac that glue the paper to the magnets as a isolator to prevent corrosion, the main reason for a pickup failure that age.

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Just bought a Mini Lathe, so the grinder is back a grinder.

I just add a new electro mechanical counter (top left corner) and this one have a zero reset button;-) I made a face plate to hold the bobin and there you have a super nice guitar pickup winder. The lathe is design with a DC motor with a variable speed controler, digital RPM indicator and reverse switch. Not much more expensive than a Schatten pickup winder, but you got a lathe as a bonus :-))

I made an alluminium disk, about 2 1/4 inch diameter by 1/8 thick, then using a belt sander I grind a flat that switch ON & OFF the counter at each revolution of the spindle. The cork wine bottle cap is there to prevent the metal chips running throw the sindle bore preventing the chip from falling onto the gears.

Here a wooden Tele pickup I winded. Alnico V magnets, no metal cover, made of Indian Rosewood, cover with cotton rope (to protect the extra fine magnet wire (about .0025" in diameter) in fact smaller than a human hair (about .005"). Shellac coat over the rope give that amber tone color, then it wass dip for 30 minutes for a complete saturation in a mixture of 80% parraphine and 20% bee wax melted by heat.

Here is a source for magnet wire :

: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160367102598&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123

Copper Magnet Wire AWG 42, 100,000 Ft Red Solderable (two pounds) for $54.75 This is ESSEX brand.

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and low cost magnets ( $ 0.20 each ) but Wire transfer payment from bank to bank is expensive, but still ... !

Marilyn Lee
Magnet Sales

Hangzhou Sens Magnetics LLC
Xiaoshan,Hangzhou,China
Ph: 86 571-82759-003
Fx: 86 571-82759-005
info@sensmag.com
www.sensmag.com

More to come later.

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Experience

Esquire or Telecaster hidden pickup

I've been thinking to build pickups using Neodymium, the strongest type of permanent magnet, but after reading a lot about the Neo magnets on different musical Forums, I came to the conclusion that a too strong magnet is killing the vibration of the strings that want to stick to the magnets reducing the sustain of the instrument. So I left the idea in the drawer for a while. Then a light came on, what about a hidden pickup under the pickguard of a Esquire or a third pickup on a Telecaster that would be further away from the strings ? Lets try the idea.

So I ordered some .125 inch (1/8") Diameter rod by .625 inch (5/8") long Neodymium magnets. In a attempt to obtain a fatter tone than the standard Tele pickups, I builded the bobbin 0.375 inch (3/8") tall just in between of a typical Strat pickup at about 0.500 inch (1/2") tall and a P-90 at 0.250 inch (1/4") tall, hoping to fattening the tone a bit.

I made the bobbin using curly maple a bit wider (less hight = more wight for the same number of turns) and again, to be in between a Fender single coil and a Gibson P-90, I tryed 9250 turns. String spacing 2 inchs for a middle Tele pickup.

Here it is with 9267 turns of 42 gauge magnet wire giving a resistance 6.91K Ohms.

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Thickness sander section

About two years ago, I bought a Stew Mac Robo-Sander, the 3" X 3" one, to thickness my guitar parts, but the Abrasive Sleeves louse their flatness rapidly, probably cause by the heat of the sanding action, and the drum is made of rubber that is flexible. So I build this little thickness sander using two 4" X 24" sanding belts design for portable sander.

The sliding table can go from 0" to about 6 inchs down, command by the wooden handle, throug the gears, that run two leadscrews synchronise together by a timing belt. I cover the table slide guide with a layer of thin plexiglass sheat to make it slipery and I select fine threads for the leadscrews (1/2" - 20) for precise move, the table move 0.050 inch per revolution of the handle. I used and old motor laying around, 1/2 horsepower at 1750 RPM. Both pullys are 5 inchs in diameter so the belts are also running at 1750 RPM. The top shaft support is secure at the rear by two door hinges and are spring loaded for an ajustable tension on the belts.