Building a Humbucker Guitar Pickup from Scratch

[@HighlineGuitars]

I like how you used the copper foil. Assembly is much cleaner that way.

[@alexlermontov87]

I've never seen how the pickup is being made, now I feel like completely educated! This is a good one, thanks!

[@jsmallsawe]

Great vid! I never thought of using copper tape for terminating the starts and ends of the coil! What a great idea! I may have to give that a try.

[@litemetal]

Amazing work ! Thank you 🙏

[@yoeltal3089]

Wow a good one!

[@dalerothgordt8329]

I am new to pick up winding. I really like the copper tape idea I'm definitely going to start using that. 😊

[@dragonshead8527]

Thanks for sharing the gauge I am looking into making pickups of my own

[@jamescopeland5358]

Good video

[@RTHBC001]

It's quite surprising how easily these could be made. You don't have to be an expert electronics engineer for this, though it helps.

[@brayancoimbra776]

Hail my brother, I'm from Brazil, and your work is incredible, but I'm a beginner in this area and I wanted to understand the functionality of the magnet, because in the jazz bases video you made the magnet in the pickup itself and in this one you put a magnet, could you explain to me the functionality of the magnet in the pickup?

[@OnTheFritz602]

Great video, but I am confused about one thing, maybe I missed something. If you connect the red and white wires together to use the whole pickup as a humbucker, how do the two coils connect in series?

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

Hi, we connect the green and red together. White and red are the start and end of the coil

[@Mikeylovesmetal]

Sounds great you obviously have quite a talent for making pickups as well as playing guitar itself.... playing the guitar is definitely the reason I am on this planet ...but iam more of an extreme metal enthusiast and am curious how your pickups sound and react to high gain distortion thru a double rectifier boutique or tube amp and to modern deathcore techniques like wild artificial harmonics and harmonic pick scraping ECT... Also I have some ideas to add to the pickup formula to push the envelope of that in your face metal tone

[@MrStevie777]

Hi, thaanks for the video. Quick question. Are both coils wound in the some direction?

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

Yes, they are wound in the same direction and wired oppositely.

[@Tacholoco]

​@@coilsboutiquepickups does it matter which one you wire in which way? or not a long as they are wired opposite?

[@Tacholoco]

hi. where did you get your casings from? the black and white ones but also the big one and the magenets

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

Hi, all is available online. Search "guitar pickup parts" and you'll get many links.

[@ivanemeny8634]

Thank you. This is a superb video and so generous with your knowledge.

[@Tacholoco]

Hi, How did you build your wireing machine?

[@paulcatanio4925]

You could make one from a bench grinder that has variable speed. Just don't use the grinder attachments. You'll have to create some sort of mounting plate, but you could make one fairly cheap by buying everything you'd need from harbor freight.

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

My father designed it, and we built it together. The motor is a sawing machine's motor.

[@NoHandle-s1h]

Is there a reason you have a blend of wax or is that just what you happen to get?

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

We use a blend because we realized that it creates better proporties. A blend is more stable to changes in temperature, sounds great, won't crack, or "dry" over time.

[@robinleebraun7739]

I guess “from scratch” means different things to different people. Pickups I have made from scratch were ones that I designed and fabricated the entire pickup including making the spools, winding, and assembly. If you just buy all the parts, you are really just winding and assembling them. After doing this a few times I decided that I really had nothing to offer that I couldn’t buy for a relatively small amount of money and that it was more trouble than it’s worth.

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

Yeah, I can understand what you're saying

[@Dad-Gad]

He still built the pickup , it's not assembled , thus built .

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

@Dad-Gad, I guess people build houses using pre-made bricks

[@benjaminlee2004]

You don’t have to Mill your own wheat or raise your own chickens to make a cake from scratch though. That’s my thoughts

[@platinum5168]

@@Dad-Gad still not from "scratch" though

[@pass_the_flask]

I broke a pickup awhile ago changing the magnet and this looks like the answer to the problem I was having - using copper tape to attach the 4 conductor wire to the bobbin wire. Although I also have another problem - my bobbin is covered in tape goop covering the wiring, is there a way to remove old goop from the coil windings?

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

Maybe a piece of cloth dipped in some naphtha will do the trick..

[@jefferyking483]

Amazed watching you create. Any chance the dude playing is named Mike Z.?

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

Thank you. The dude is called Gon Zadok

[@joeylizotte7537]

Hey. I'm really interested in "the Black", but can it be modified, like with double screw bobbins? Also, do you make custom pickups?

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

Yes, the black can be modified in such a manner, and we do make custom pickups

[@tosicz]

Really Good video. Pity there is no demo sound with distortion.

[@Tianhao-c3m]

Thanks for the video! I’m currently leaning to make the pickup myself. Your video really helps me a lot. However, I’m still little confused on where wire I should solder to the which copper wire. You said in the video that the wire needs to be soldered in to their designated copper wire. But what exactly are those designed places? For example. For the slug coil. Which color of the wire should solder to the starter copper wire and which color of wire should solder to the finishing copper wire? Thanks a lot!

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

Each pickup manufacturer uses different color code for the wires. If you are building your own pickup, just remember which wire goes to which coil start/end and then solder them according to your preferred wire scheme.

[@louissanderson719]

Hope you’re doing good and safe your end buddy!

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

Thank you very much, we're safe and doing well!

[@fernandolopes3545]

Hey, can you give me a little help? I'm trying to recondition an old "mini humbucker" pickup (similar to Seymour Duncan's "Everything Axe"), and I'll follow this tutorial. I'll be using something around 42 AWG copper wire, but my question is: how much wire do I need to use to get at least at 9k ohms? Preferably 10-12k I'm asking that because the wire is sold by every 100m, and I don't know if that will be enough or too much 😅

[@jsmallsawe]

If you're rewinding a mini humbuckrr, thats similar size to the firebird pickups, or traditional mini humbuckers, you'll never get 9-12k with 42ga wire. You'd be lucky to get 5 or 6k. You need to use smaller gauge wire, like 43 or 44ga. 100m is nowhere near enough. Each coil is probably going to have 3500-5000 turns to get those kind of numbers. Also remember, wire diameter affects resistance. 4000 winds with 44ga wire will read higher resistance than 4000 winds with 42ga wire. On a standard humbucker, you'd need around 6000 turns of 42ga wire on each bobbin to get 9k+ total.

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

Perfect answer!

[@jsmallsawe]

@@coilsboutiquepickups happy to!

[@dshredmusic]

Question... Someone told me that changing the 6 screws on a pickup can change the tone... How true is it? Assuming I find pickups with similar lenght?

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

It is true. Screws made from different metals and alloys will change the tone of the pickup.

[@iridios6127]

Non-magnetic screws ruin your sound. Magnetic screws will be sound pretty similar.

[@drew2308]

Do you have to use screws on one side, or could you just use bobbins?

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

I don't think I understand the question.. do you mean is it possible to make a pickup with poles only? If so, yes, it is possible

[@cmdrriotz5283]

How did that wire not literally cut your fingers open during the winding process???

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

The wire is really thin and brittle and will break before it cuts through anything.

[@RGalindoM]

Why not waxing the coils before putting the covers on?

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

In order to prevent cover vibration.

[@RGalindoM]

@@coilsboutiquepickups I think that vibrations could be better avoided with coils immersed in wax previous to be encapsulated or waxed in the capsule and then put the cover on it. Just like the procedure of transformers manufacturing

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

@RGalindoM we sometimes do as you suggest when requested by some customers, and it always creates some form of microphoic effect. It's not a matter of good or bad, just different concepts of performance and need.

[@phatboychef]

How many winds did you do and was this a neck pickup?

[@vegard77]

Do you wind both bobbins in the same direction ? CW/CCW Im unsure it that matters

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

Hi, the bobbins are wound in the same direction but soldered opposite

[@dalerothgordt8329]

What do you mean by soldered opposite?​@@coilsboutiquepickups

[@jsmallsawe]

​@@dalerothgordt8329he means, the start of one coil is soldered to the start of the other coil. Or, both "finish" leads are soldered together. This ensures that the pickup coils are in series

[@adonikam1]

Designated spots for wires need to be explained.

[@litemetal]

It looks like he took 1 color of wire to the beginning of his windings and 1 color of wire to the end of his windings. Soldered them to the little copper tape tabs. The soldering connections make them “electricly continuous.” The tape applied at the end, so they don’t short out is “isolating “them. It’s hard to go into a lot of important details in a few words. I’m wondering-where does he get the bobbins and screws …etc. ?

[@use0fweapons]

how come one bobbin gets screws, and the other gets slugs?

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

That is just one design.. you can make two slugs or two screw sides as you wish

[@simpilot001]

@@coilsboutiquepickups I am really new to the guitar in general, what differences does it make?

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

Screws are adjustable, so you can balance string volume better.

[@hasahchan4775]

Can I modify my pickup slugs convert to screw type?

[@coilsboutiquepickups]

@hasahchan4775 yes, you can