i-Sun Pickup.
Based on P90 but with seperate magnets Not a bar bagnet underneath. Empty bobbin, ready for winding copper wire on to.
6 Alnico magnets, (ebay £4) plastic 3 ply scratchplate top (spare), Aluminium bas (trim from B&Q). The copper wire is 40 awg (should be 42) from Maplins (£8 enough for about 5 pickups).
Cut out on fret saw, filed by sander, then by hand. Epoxy glued magnets in so i am stuck with this unit as this sized |
i-Sun Pickup.
Bobbin with wire wrapped on. 5th attempt wire due to wire breakages.
Reading on meter 0.8k ohms (should be 8k) think the reading is due to the metal plate affecting the reading. All efforts read 0.8 k, when unwinding it went down 0.5, 0.3, 0.2 at various stages.
Tried it in a Tele copy, sounds bright, clear and loud enough. |
Singer Sewing Machine.
Standard web instruction, use a sewing machine first, you can fix pickup to end and you have variable speed with foot control.
Great until you burn out the motor, it was working well till i could not see through the smoke. (think it got a bit damp while it was in storage). |
Power Drill.
Next was a bit of wood taped on to a power drill. This is what worked for the pickup above. Not the nicest looking machine but did the job and i was wanting to get the pickup finished.
Variable speed, but need 4 hands to hold drill, press button, feed wire and tension wire while also going side to side across the bobbin. |
Meccano kit.
Want to make a pickup winding machine. The next idea was a Meccano car kit bought for about £1.50 on a car boot sale. Been looking out for something like this for some time,i rigged it up, everything was fine untill i put an empty bobbin on it, the weight of the bobbin just too much for the little 3 volt motor to turn it round.
No big deal, liked working on the idea of it, just need to upscale the whole thing up to about 240 volts!
May still use parts of it for feeding wire or side ways feed across bobbin if i can slow it right down with a small dc variac. |
Small lathe.
Did think about using this small watch makers lathe. Works well, has a post which buts up against the bobbin. Also has a 'rest' support for your hand to feed the wire onto the bobbin.
Down side is there is no variable speed option, just full on when you switch on. Could let it 'slip' the belt drive with friction on the plate and slowly release it but could run the risk of damaging the motor.
Have access to a large lathe with variable speed but means trying to wind pickups in someone else's house. |
This was made by my dad in his shop in the 70's. Well he made quite few of them and sold them (along with other strange products).
The great thing about this is that it has a variable speed control. (right hand knob) |
Inside you can see the 240 volt motor. I took it all apart and turn the motor the other way round so it is sticking out of the back, then attached a sweet lid to the fan to stick the bobbin on to. |
| Looks very retro! Works in so far as it turns round and has the variable speed. It is very, very quiet. |
This is how it will stand up in operation. If it has enough power. The lid weighs nothing but will not turn when switched on, have to spin it round b hand, not good. |
