OilCity 'Masterwound' Route 66 Strat pickups

OilCityPickups

After months of testing in my own super heavy relic 'The Bastard' strat a new set of pickups is ready to be unveiled. 

I am proud to present the Masterwound Route 66

 

@PVO_Dave contacted me re pickups for his wonderful Monterrey Strat project you have probably drooled over in 'Making and Modding'.

What he wanted was pretty much exactly what I had been working on for the Route  66 Masterwound. So here is the story of making his pickups ... so you can see exactly the labour that goes into making a humble Strat pickup.

Firstly we start with the magnets. In this case alnico 5. For a early/mid sixties vibe they need to be in vintage staggered pattern.

Here are all 36 magnets laid out according to length and position, and all matched for gauss and divided up for polarity. 

The next is hand beveling the magnets ... 

I do this by hand, and by eye ... exactly as it was done in the old Fender factory. By the mid sixties they were phasing out hand beveling, very labour intensive. I still prefer to do it ... sharp magnet edges can really bugger your fingers ... especially on a middle pickup. 

Now to give em a polish ... again by hand to take off any grinding marks.

I've used water and a sponge to clean the brown gunk caused by laser cutting from the proper gray 'Forbon' bottom flatwork. The eyelets are in place, but need setting so they grip the flatwork securely and don't stick up and grab the wire while winding.

The tool I am using is from Stew-Mac in the US and is invaluable.

The flatwork is rough in the magnet holes too ... so they are reamed to be a tight 'interference' fit 

Then the magnets are 'set' using my drill press.

To be continued

OilCityPickups

The top flatwork is added by hand using a small rubber mallet to tap it gently into place while the magnets are held by a former.

A final tapping in place then ...

A fillet of super glue is run around top and bottom of the magnets ... not only to keep them in place ... but to stop sweat and moisture getting to the windings.

capo4th

Wow amazing level of detail and TLC on these price for a set?

OilCityPickups

Around £140 ... and you haven't seen half of it yet lol

OilCityPickups

At over £200 a roll proper US stock PVA plain enamel don't come cheap ... nor is it easy to work with. The coating is thin and delicate and the dark colour of the wire makes it nearly impossible to see while winding ... even with a good back light which I have! Added to this it isn't 'solder-thru' so the ends have to be stripped before soldering to the eyelets .... arggggh

This is the traverse saddle on one of my CNC winding machines ... to the right is the felt lined tensioner/feed used for CNC winding ... to the right the 'guide' I use for hand scatter winding when the machine is in fully manual mode.

About the five hundred turns stage

OilCityPickups

All three pickups wound ... and now the cloth covered hookup wires are added

Here they are after a soak in a wax potting bath .... see the lovely colour the windings have gone?

Fender were very hit and miss about potting in the sixties ... some lacquer dipped, spme wax potted, and some just left with nothing. I like to use a short wax bath ... to keep the tone but stop the screech.

Here you can clearly see the random scatter pattern ... and from the side view the 'pot bellied stove' coil shape I have copied from the very best sixties originals I've re wound

OilCityPickups

Covers and screws fitted

Then each pickup gets a green 'Masterwound' label, signed by me, and with a special serial number.

Then they are packed ... and ready to leave the workshop for their new home

 :-)

Enjoy @PVO_Dave

Richardj

Damn you, damn you, damn you....

I was just thinking that I was happy with my tone etc. and you pull a stunt like this!

I'll have to go and get another Strat now.

PVO_Dave

Ash, these look amazing. Can't wait to get these in the Monterey Pop, although probably a few weeks off yet

ThorpyFX

full of all the mojo!!! awesome

Teetonetal

Really interesting to see those pics and get a little insight into what you do.. very talented!

PVO_Dave

Arrived safe and sound this morning, thanks @TheGuitarWeasel - With any luck I'll have the body by next week and I can start putting this together

ThePrettyDamned

I'm really excited to try my masterwound tele pickups - all the parts have arrived this morning, but I'm away all weekend so I'll not wire it up until next week! And I'm working Monday and Tuesday... BAH!

lamf68

And there was me thinking it was all a piece of piss! I genuinely debated getting myself setup to make pickups, having had a gander at this I'll give it a miss,fuck that for a laugh.

OilCityPickups

lamf68 said:

And there was me thinking it was all a piece of piss! I genuinely debated getting myself setup to make pickups, having had a gander at this I'll give it a miss,fuck that for a laugh.

Anyone can wind pickups ... it's magnets and wire that's all. What makes 'good sounding' is knowing which tiny details make a difference. Give two different winders the same parts and raw materials and you will get two very different sounding pickups. Experience is expensive in wire and patience. The first set of Strat pickups I ever made sounded gorgeous ... then flushed with success I made three more sets ... that all sounded pants. Took me ages to retro engineer back in what I'd done to the first one that was so 'right'. These days I usually get what I'm shooting for first attempt with a new design ... but that was loads of practice ... and lots of rewinding of old fifties and sixties units to see what made them good. I still cock up big style sometimes!

impmann

Beautiful! It's nice to see proper craft in action.

WezV

TheGuitarWeasel said:

lamf68 said:

And there was me thinking it was all a piece of piss! I genuinely debated getting myself setup to make pickups, having had a gander at this I'll give it a miss,fuck that for a laugh.

Anyone can wind pickups ... it's magnets and wire that's all. What makes 'good sounding' is knowing which tiny details make a difference. Give two different winders the same parts and raw materials and you will get two very different sounding pickups. Experience is expensive in wire and patience. The first set of Strat pickups I ever made sounded gorgeous ... then flushed with success I made three more sets ... that all sounded pants. Took me ages to retro engineer back in what I'd done to the first one that was so 'right'. These days I usually get what I'm shooting for first attempt with a new design ... but that was loads of practice ... and lots of rewinding of old fifties and sixties units to see what made them good. I still cock up big style sometimes!

I would agree with that.  I have done a few for the experience, and it is possible to get working pickups that sound good for less money, just needs a bit more ingenuity.

Consistency is a whole different story, thats really what you pay for

 

pickup kits an parts are more eaisly available these days, and wire can be had in smaller spools than the ones Ash would purchase.

 

My first were made on a slowed down drill press, but there are many other DIY winders on the internets which are suitable for mucking about with... less suitable for regular production

relic245

stunning!

they really deserve the masterwound label. I wonder how Fender's mastebuilt quality compares.

Megii

There is clearly a lot of knowledge and skill that goes into these pickups. Can I ask what are the main differences between the Masterwound and standard ranges of Oil City pickups?

OilCityPickups

Megii said:

There is clearly a lot of knowledge and skill that goes into these pickups. Can I ask what are the main differences between the Masterwound and standard ranges of Oil City pickups?

The standard Oil city range of pickups can either be wound by me or my assistant.  With Masterwound every stage is done personally by me. Masterwound use some more exotic components, like rough cast magnets in some of the humbuckers, and very expensive US sourced wire. 

Megii

TheGuitarWeasel said:

Megii said:

There is clearly a lot of knowledge and skill that goes into these pickups. Can I ask what are the main differences between the Masterwound and standard ranges of Oil City pickups?

The standard Oil city range of pickups can either be wound by me or my assistant.  With Masterwound every stage is done personally by me. Masterwound use some more exotic components, like rough cast magnets in some of the humbuckers, and very expensive US sourced wire. 

Cheers, sounds good - appreciate the info, thanks.