How to build a single coil pickup from scratch

[@timmotel5804]

Not too long at all. Very interesting and educational. Thank you very much.

[@palatinepickups]

Thank you !

[@JohnDoe-u3b]

Why do the polepieces have different length?

[@michaelkiese7794]

The guitar fretboard itself is curved, so guitar strings are set up to be parallel to the curved fretboard for player comfort. Therefore the magnets are in a similar curved arc to approximate the curve of the fretboard. In this way, distances from each string to each magnet can be somewhat uniform. This is all an attempt to make the volume output of each string the same. A guitar would be very cumbersome to play music with if certain strings were much louder than others, and there is nothing that could be done about it by the player.

[@palatinepickups]

I totally missed that comment, sorry for that, but @michaelkiese7794 already answered that to a certain extent. I suggest using the "vintage staggered" pole pieces on guitars with 7,25" or 9,5" fretboards. For modern fretboards, they don't make much sense. Also, modern guitar strings are built more balanced than strings were 60+ years ago. So basically, it is more or less a cosmetic thing. But we as guitar players are very particular about cosmetics ;-)

[@alastairmacdonald6794]

Excellent video ... I enjoyed how you showed this build ... thank you

[@palatinepickups]

Thank you, my pleasure!

[@brackencory]

this man is DANGEROUSLY charismatic

[@palatinepickups]

I come from the south of Germany. We tend not to be overenthusiastic down there ;-)

[@JohnDoe-u3b]

What gauge pick up wire do you use for the three pickups?

[@palatinepickups]

AWG 42 for neck & middle, AWG 43 for the bridge pickup

[@justinpaquette224]

You don't need to scape the insulation off the formvar and plain enamel wire before soldering to eyelet?

[@palatinepickups]

You could, I do it with the plain enaml wire. But with the formvar, if the iron is hot enough, I've hab no problems just soldering it.

[@justinpaquette224]

@@palatinepickups Cool, good to know. I'll try that next time I'm working with formvar.

[@jeanmanuelferreira6980]

hi! very , very good job. could you tel me were do you have buy your tamplate in plastic please?

[@palatinepickups]

Thank you! I posted the link in another comment, I got them from TLC Guitar Goods in the Netherlands.

[@GeekLevelAsian]

While installing a pickup, my fingernail hit the winding wire and put a little indent in it. Is this pickup just screwed?

[@palatinepickups]

If it still produces a sound, it’s all good. Or you could check it with a multimeter if it still has a DCR reading.

[@raybrodeur3886]

What side do you solder the black wire.(in other words which side of the pickup is ground?)

[@palatinepickups]

The side on which I solder the ground wire depends on the winding direction. Usually, the ground wire is soldered to the start of the coil. Leo Fender designed it that way, so the pickup wouldn't short out if corrosion caused the wire to contact the magnets. Today, we prevent this by wrapping the magnets with tape. Therefore, if you want, you could also wire the finish wire to ground, as long as you do it consistently with all the pickups in that guitar, it is not a problem.

[@fabrizioincao]

Hi, One question, where did you buy that spacer that you see at minute 3:07 of the video? I thank you in advance

[@palatinepickups]

I got them from here: tlcguitargoods.com/en/

[@fabrizioincao]

@@palatinepickups You saved my life, thank you my friend!

[@palatinepickups]

You're welcome. Glad I could help.

[@WayneKnight_Rider]

where did you source that jig?

[@palatinepickups]

This one I got from tlcguitargoods.com/en/ If you are in the US, I could recommend lumberjackcomponents.com/products/pickup-assembly-jig

[@WayneKnight_Rider]

@@palatinepickups much appreciated!

[@waynegram8907]

PALATINE, how do you fine tune the resonance peak Q and bandwidth of a guitar pickup? because paul reed smith uses TCI tune capacitance inductance as picking up tuning the resonance peak and bandwidth

[@palatinepickups]

I use a frequency analyzer tool to test my prototypes. That's alle I use in terms of tools. From there on it is basically testing, testing, testing. And you have to trust your ears. I am a small builder and don't have any fancy high-tech tools, but I trust my ears and my experience.

[@iridios6127]

wayne Gram Paul Reed Smith is a liar and a fraud. Just grab the right wire and wind it.

[@waynegram8907]

@@iridios6127 I know he is a liar and a Fraud it would be nice to know his snakeoil

[@iridios6127]

@@waynegram8907 Its oil is squeezed from the same snakes as other pickup manufacturers. (one-eyed snakes) 😁😁 Check this out. kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZmKynX2tjbtmp9k

[@jackmatthews2840]

Beautiful work. Do you sell your jigs?

[@palatinepickups]

Thank you for the kind words. I do not make these jigs, I bought them from here: tlcguitargoods.com/

[@NMranchhand]

Most Interesting. Thank you.

[@palatinepickups]

Thanks!

[@ohvnaq]

thank you for the great video! i enjoyed every bit of it. what is the ratio of paraffin : beeswax do you recommend? and can i use just 100% paraffin from plain candles? how about 100% beeswax? thank you!

[@palatinepickups]

Thank you! I use a ratio of 80/20 paraffin/beeswax. However, as I fill up my wax pot from time to time I don't go for that ratio. Lots of winders use just normal paraffin. I mainly use the beeswax because I like the smell of it. There is some argument about beeswax sounding better than paraffin, but I don't think that you would hear the differences in a blind test.

[@martynharveythepoet5114]

Nice video! I like the Pink Floyd background music - is it you playing and is this the sound of your pickups? Great tone!

[@palatinepickups]

Thank you! Yes, this is me playing some tunes on this pickup set that I wound in this video.

[@ksguitars5310]

Dan.. , thank you very.much for this interesting video! Nice to See how your pickups are made end how kinda was my Hot tele pickup was made by your hands! It ist a really Nice Bridge pickup. The nex i will need are Nice humbuckers but i am not sure of your are into HB? Because i need to exchange in my modern les Paul from epiphone those muddy lifeless f**kers. I really like your work! Wir hören von einander..

[@palatinepickups]

Thank you! And I'm glad that you like your Tele pickup. I also do Humbuckers. I will add 2 new models to my shop soon. One will be a rather classic P*F-Design and the other will be a humbucker that splits quite good and has a little bit more output. Stay tuned or just write me a mail with your ideas ;-)