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Soldering pigtails 101

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3/7/2006 8:12 PM

Soldering pigtails 101

First, we strip 1/4 inch of pigtail lead.
Then, we tin that 1/4 inch of pigtail lead.

Next, we wrap approximately 10 turns of magnet wire in a spiral fasion, starting at the insulation and working toward the end of the stripped section.

Then, we re-tin the pigtail lead.

When using plain enamel or formvar insulated wire, if it neccesary to strip the coil wire as well. Do this. Wrap only the bare spots of coil wire onto the tinned pigtail lead.
Then tin the wire again.

Cut of any excess wire near the end, but do not cut the connection.

Next, place one inch of tape, sticky side up, on your workbench. Carefully place the tinned section on this tape, with the connection in the center.
Next, cover the connection with approximately 1/4 inch of tape, or slightly longer if nessecary.

Place exposed sticky side of tape onto coil, and continue wrapping coil with another piece of tape. Approximately three wraps in sufficient.

3/8/2006 12:23 AM

Wolfe:

FWIW you ought to forward these posts to SD. I had a lot of trouble rewiring the Seth Lover pickups with 4+ cable because unlike most of the SD humbuckers they were not potted. Usually these wires end up under enough wax and tape to stay put but on these pickups the pigtails kept slipping out of the tape and one of them even broke off inside. I appreciate your instructions here since I was just kinda winging it after resoldering the connection.

To make matters worse, the brass screws going into the bobbins were spinning loosely in the holes so I figured that I better secure them before they start rattling or buzzing. I usually have flat toothpicks around for such problems but I could only find the round variety and when I put one of the brass screws in it went crooked and cut the coil wires inside the bobbin.

Not wanting to spend another $100 to replace the pickup I pulled a coil out of a old SD 59 bridge humbucker that had roughly the same dc resistance as the Seth Lover. It was potted so this pickup now has one potted and one unpotted coil... maybe I should patent that idea before someone with the initials LD beats me to it.

Speak of the devil- under the metal covers of the Seth Lover pickup I found one cream and one black bobbin! Perhaps I should turn it over to Homeland Security for prosecution...

As for poor solder jobs, I know of two MIM Fender guitars with dead pickups right from the factory: the solder joints on the pickups looked okay but tested out open so I had to resolder them and they are still working great.

--Thanks!

Steve Ahola (not a winder, just a mad scientist)

P.S. I liked your tip about tinning the wire and then retinning it and retinning it again... that was my trick when I used to be a plumber: if I went over the joints 2 or 3 times they hardly ever leaked.

3/8/2006 12:57 AM
Dave Stephens	I wish you would spell out SEYMOUR DUNCAN, so people don't confuse themselves thinking you're talking about Stephens Design (me). I've heard alot of bad stuff about Duncan quality control too....

3/8/2006 1:12 AM
Greg Simon	Nobody knows who you are Dave! Thankfully all the SEYMOUR DUNCAN pickups that I have are from at least 10 years ago when he must have still had good quality. I hope the new custom shop lipstick pickups I ordered from SEYMOUR DUNCAN turn out ok.. Greg

3/8/2006 1:31 AM
EMG	I am thinking of starting a company called EMG. Electro-Magnetic Guargantuan (Sound Ltd). I shouldn't have any problems with folks confusing my name with any other. The difference is clear.

3/8/2006 3:42 AM

Dave said:

I wish you would spell out SEYMOUR DUNCAN...

Sorry if anyone was confused but with these posts showing up on Google I try to keep a low profile, just in case some See More Dunkin' fanatic decides to give me sh*t...

I remember criticizing Bill Gates and Microsoft on a PC Mag forum (actually I was just agreeing with something that John Dvorak had written) and this wacko kept sending me email for about two months: "If you think you can do a better job, then write your own software!"

Steve Ahola

P.S. So how did you get the sdpickups.com domain name before Seymour grabbed it up? I think that they must have screwed up because big companies usually register any name that has anything to do with their company (like IBM would register the www.ihateibm.com domain name just so that nobody else could use it to cause them grief.) A Google search for "sd guitar pickups" shows a lot of hits for Seymour... I didn't find your site until I added "-seymour -duncan" to the search string.

3/8/2006 1:16 AM
Wolfe Macleod	Steve To cure stripped bobbins holes and spinning screws, a litle bit of medium cyano glue on a piece of solder and dipped into the holes works wonders. Run the solder through it once again to clear out the hole, and let it set. A screw will then bit onto the material very well. I have this problem very frequently when rewinding Duncan's. The plastic is too soft.

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