Broken Humbucker Diagnosis + Rewind

Inquiries: [e-mail]
Chapters:
00:08: DCR Test
01:35: Continuity Test
02:11: LCR Meter Test
03:22: Tap Test
04:15: Disassembly
05:08: Online Research
05:21: Planning the Rewind
06:25: Tear Down and Rewind
08:01: Pigtails, or...Pigs in a Blanket?
09:08: Polepiece Pressing Block
09:42: Wax Bath
10:00: Cleanup and Labeling
10:16: Final Wiring and Assembly
11:25: Final Specs (DCR, pF, L, Resonant Peak)
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[@theNextProject]

GREAT video! Really like the way you show the steps and process to determine the wire, turn counts... basically how to recreate the pickup from scratch. Great tip about the cloth tape and super-gluing the pickup wire down. Well done - again!

[@guitar_md]

Thank you so much! Very happy you enjoyed this video and I appreciate the feedback. Been hard at work and have a lot of new videos on the way, and a lot in progress (slowly). I never realize how complicated any of this is until I go to make a video about it...similar to how Steve K. thought he could teach me everything he knew about guitar repair in a couple weeks. It's 18 years later now and I'm still learning!

[@DrPepperZZZ]

Thanks again for rebuilding my pickup! That's awesome you documented it here to let me and anyone else interested see the process. To anyone needing work on a pickup, Guitar MD did an excellent job for me and had my pickup shipped back to me very quickly. 100% recommended.

[@guitar_md]

Thanks so much for the feedback and the testimonial! I really appreciate it. I had a lot of fun doing this one, and I'm thrilled you're enjoying it and that it came out good. I really lucked out finding those specs online too. Absolute monster of a humbucker, and I'd bet that now you probably have the strongest one on the market. Happy to be of service!

[@These_go_to_eleven_1959]

Does it sound like it originally did? or was it already damaged before you were able to hear it?

[@Halenrocks5150]

You are a really smart dude!

[@guywhoisaguy67676]

I got it open, the way you said worked, took about 20 min though. When I looked at it, you were right, the wire that touches the plate was off. it separated from the other bare wire because it got soldered on top of the other solder. I stripped the wires off and soldered it next to the other and used super glue like you did, to keep it from moving. All the wiring looks original, old, dry, never moved. It used to buzz and stop sporadically but now it is quiet and sounds like the other one pretty close. Only reason I think the plate got changed is the holes on the ears were probably stripped out or broken and they want the same face screws installed. They probably disconnected that wire while removing the old plate but you can't simply solder it back to the old solder without flux, he should have simply made new ends with bare wire to solder on the new plate. The single coil I stuffed the leads into the coil, I didn't even try because I know I broke a dozen points on that coil. Thank you so much, I learned a lot from you and now understand a lot better. You cover every detail and now I'm ready to make my own pick ups after I gather the supplies. I'm sending anyone that asks me to your videos and Il let you know what your teaching got me when I finish my first attempt.

[@Giovy-Perez]

amazing master classsssssssss !!!!!!!

[@These_go_to_eleven_1959]

This was very informative! I always had thought the J90C used AWG44 like the Duncan JB and was modeled after it but it turns out it was with AWG43 like the Seymour Duncan Custom. I now kind of view this J90C as a Duncan Custom plus type of p'u. Both have the ceramic and use the AWG43 but the J90C is wound hotter at 16K whereas the Duncan Custom is at 14.5K

[@irfannafiz]

Amazing video. Hope you get more recognition?

[@guitar_md]

Thank you so much for the support!

[@guywhoisaguy67676]

Oh, the other one doesn't have vent holes drilled on the bottom plate and I can't see in it at all. But has an F stamped in it.

[@TheGuitologist]

Great video. I'm sending you an email.

[@guywhoisaguy67676]

What have I got ? A double coil brass covered six. I can't remove the cover plate from the back plate, (welded) no screws.. only one green wire comes out with a bare ground wrapped around a white hot wire inside it. Only marking on the entire thing I can find is the letter R stamped into the back plate. Is there a way to open it ? From the bottom, through the ventholes I see the bob and it has two side holes and one in the middle with a little square hole to see the coil on the edge. I don't know what it is. It's humming now and I am thinking I can fill the gap in the center with candle wax because that worked before on my friends pickups that I could take apart. I have no clue.

[@guitar_md]

The cover is held on with solder, and they can be a pain to get apart. For those, I'll usually use a soldering gun, as they have way higher power than a soldering iron. You need to heat the solder joints and either remove the solder with a solder sucker, or give it a hard shake into a garbage can when it's molten hot. Definitely recommend wearing eye protection if you use that method. The square hole on the edge is standard for humbucker bobbins. I'd try wax potting it if you want to reduce squealing. Though if it's buzzing, it could mean the ground wire to the baseplate is disconnected. A disconnected baseplate wire will cause buzzing. What it sounds like is you have single conductor wire -- an outer insulation (green), with a bare wire and white wire inside. The white is "hot," bare is ground, and the bare *should* be connected directly to the baseplate. If you have a continuity mode on a multimeter like I had in this video, test that ground wire. Touch one probe to the baseplate on the pickup, and one probe to that bare wire. It should beep if there's continuity. If there is none, then there's your problem, and the source of your buzz. Often, that bare ground wire can get twisted and break. Sometimes stripping the wire back a bit, and getting some fresh bare ground wire is enough to fix that. Other times you may need to re-solder the ground wire to the actual baseplate. Definitely be very careful taking it apart, if you choose to do so. Wax potting will help with squealing/microphonics if that's the problem, but not buzzing, which is more likely a grounding issue. I'd also recommend a wax warmer, a small crock pot, or anything of the sort to fully wax pot the pickup -- it'll make the waxing job much easier. You only need to submerge it for a few minutes, enough until the wax goes clear. But definitely test that ground wire first. Continuity between the bare ground wire and the baseplate is essential. If you have continuity, you can rule that out as the problem, but if you have no continuity, you'll need to fix that to solve the buzzing issue. Let me know if you make any progress!

[@jfiery]

What is the benefit to rewinding a pickup versus just replacing it?

[@guitar_md]

Controlling for variables. Particularly wire gauge and turn count -- but also coil/bobbin height and width. Pickup makers and manufacturers very rarely mention turn count and never coil dimensions. So a replacement might not be a good match. They *can* be. Replacing the pickup is perfectly fine. However, an experienced pickup winder can make a more accurate assessment of exactly what wire gauge and turn count to use to match the other pickup on the guitar -- if there is one. Or to just be as close to the original as possible. That, and many times there are unique pickups that don't have replacements. Many times people want a pickup rewound because there isn't an available replacement on the market. Hope this answers your question. Let me know if you need any more clarification!

[@jfiery]

@@guitar_md thank you that was a superb answer. So basically you're going to never be able to exactly replicate the original sound but the goal is to try to make it as close as possible. Versus it being a crapshoot if you just get a different pickup.

[@guitar_md]

@jfiery In a nutshell, yes. For example, the magnet diameter and bobbin dimensions may be different on a replacement. But since these specifications are almost never listed, you don't know what you're getting. If a known commercial pickup dies, like a Seymour Duncan of a particular make and model, a replacement is perfectly appropriate and will likely be identical. If someone's charging more for a rewind than it would cost to get a new pickup, that's a factor to consider. Sometimes this is worth it if it's a vintage pickup or a rare model with no replacement. I've done a fair amount of rewinds of vintage pickups. Nothing special -- but it helps to know around what turn counts were used. For example on an original 51 Nocaster neck pickup I rewound recently, I used 7600 turns of plain enamel wire, 43AWG. 8000 is typical but this varies by a few hundred turns either way. I've found 7600 to work great on Fender neck pickups. Just a touch more high end and clarity. The guy loved it and said it was a perfect match. He won't let anyone else rewind pickups for him. However. I don't think I'm doing anything special. The the turn count is what matters most, and the correct wire gauge. As far as winding pattern goes, I just do my best to make the coil look as neat as possible. I like the middle to be a little fatter not because of tone. But because it looks nice. I don't always do it that way and I haven't seen any evidence that winding pattern affects anything. That doesn't mean it doesn't! But I'd have to see hard evidence. Winding a neat coil does take a lot of skill and experience. But even a crappy looking coil with the same number of turns will probably sound the same. Of course. Nobody wants something that looks amateur. I always joke that I was making good sounding pickups from the beginning but it took me 5 years to make pickups that people would actually want to buy. Looks matter a lot.

[@jfiery]

@@guitar_md thanks for taking the time to give me such great answers. Will enjoy checking out the channel!

[@guitar_md]

@@jfiery You're most welcome. Thanks for the support!