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A
common question posted on
boards on the Internet (and ones I’m
often asked) is, “What’s the deal with handwound
pickups? Aren’t they going to be
inconsistent?” Another frequent question is,
“Why scatterwind pickups?”
The answer to the first question is very
simple, at least in my case.When I started
out, it was easier to make my own handwinding
machine rather than lay out the
money for an automated coil winder. It was
a bit of a no-brainer really, but it allowed me
to adapt and improve both my winder and
techniques as I improved my hand winding
skills. As for inconsistency, sure, no two
handwound pickups will be absolutely identical.
However, it’s certainly possible to
hand-wind pickups to very tight tolerances
and specifications. For example, on a standard
humbucker the constants of the bobbin
around which the wire is wound, as
well as the type of pickup (i.e. twin coils)
won’t vary. That leaves the quality and performance
of the magnet, the integrity of
the components, and finally, getting the
wire onto the bobbin. Setting aside the
magnet and parts for a moment, it’s more
than achievable to ensure the same number
of turns, coil shape and DC resistance
by hand-winding. All it takes is practice and
patience. Oh, and by hand-winding I mean
literally that: guiding the wire from the
spool onto the bobbin by hand through my
fingers so I have complete control over tension,
winding pattern and the speed with
which the bobbin is rotated.
If approached in this manner, it’s possible
to produce a range of handwound pickups
that perform extremely well tonally
within the context of their specs. They’ll
exhibit subtle variations in their individual
character within those specs, but a handwound
humbucker wound to DC8.4K isn’t
going to sound totally different to another
handwound humbucker of the same spec
wound by the same person. To my ears
(and my hands), this subtle character is
what sets handwound pickups apart and
adds to the identity of the person using
them. It’s the end goal, and it’s so important
to me that I’ve stuck with hand-winding
pickups ever since, despite the extra
time involved in making them.
Does this mean that handwound pickups
sound better? I definitely think so, or
I wouldn’t make them. Still, great tone is
a very subjective topic and one you can
place alongside the meaning of life in
terms of subjectivity. So, I always suggest
letting your ears and hands be the
deciding factor!
I’d like to bring in the father of all humbuckers,
the Gibson PAF (Patent Applied For)
humbucker. Though the PAF is considered
by many to be the definitive humbucker, it
certainly wasn’t the first, as others were
also filing designs for patents at the same
time that Gibson’s Seth Lover was. Gibson,
however, did more to establish the role of
the humbucking pickup than any other
company, so it justifiably deserves the
credit. The fact that the basic principals of
the pickup remain largely unchanged after
almost 50 years is testament to how
respected that design actually is.
Considerable myth and conjecture surrounds
the PAF design, but we won’t get
into that here. The bottom line is, they
were extremely variable in output with DC
ranging anywhere from DC7.1K to as
much as DC8.8K. Generally, they sounded
very good.Whilst undoubtedly wound on
a machine (the original of which now
resides with Seymour Duncan), there is a
good argument for suggesting that PAF
coils were also being handwound alongside
to keep up with production. It’s well
known that the number of turns varied
considerably from coil to coil but that the
windings themselves, whilst not deliberately
scatter-wound like Fender coils, were
random enough to indicate hand-winding,
most certainly until the early ‘60s, when
Gibson acquired another machine capable
of auto-shutoff.
Conjecture aside, although not heavily
scattered, this random winding behaves
in a manner similar to a scatterwound
coil. It breaks up the capacitance
between the windings, giving a slightly
higher resonant peak and therefore
extended frequency response when compared
to a tighter and more uniform,
machine-wound coil. Moreover, it’s worth
noting that Gibson started with two slug
bobbins on the early prototype PAF but
eventually opted for an adjustable screw
bobbin and non-adjustable slug bobbin on
the final design. Needless to say, the bobbin
dimensions aren’t quite the same due
to different tooling, with the screw bobbin’s
central island, around which the wire is
wound, being slightly larger than the slug
bobbin and further contributing to the coil
asymmetry. This, combined with offset,
unpotted coil windings (PAF coils I’ve
examined have been at least 150 turns different
to each other and often a lot more)
goes a long way toward producing the
unique PAF tone.
So, coming full circle, why scatter-wind?
As you can see, it’s just one of the many
tools available to pickup makers in the
voicing of their designs. So, it must be
seen as a contributing part of the bigger
picture, albeit a very important part. As
pickup makers we have to go back and
explore the earliest pickups to be able to
learn where their magic lies and incorporate
it into our own designs. At Bare
Knuckle we’ve reproduced our own
butyrate bobbins to the same original
specs, and have done so with the baseplates
and covers, so that we’re building
on this great legacy of the first PAF humbuckers
in our attempts to make the best
pickups possible.
As for the meaning of life, that’s simple --
making music!
Tim Mills is the managing director of Bare Knuckle Pickups,
a pro guitar player all his life, a regular contributor to the
Bare Knuckle forum, and mad about Les Pauls!
www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk
www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum
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