1930s Epiphone Spanish custom pickup build

Description

NOT FOR SALE – Repair example

Local Brisbane guitarist Rick brought in a 1930s Epiphone Spanish hollowbody that had a weak sounding pickup.  The original pickup was built on a cardboard roll and didn’t really have a bobbin to work on.  The coil was reading 36 ohms and was wound with really thick wire probably heavier than the 38 AWG they used to use.  Rather than destroy the original bobbin we decided to leave a build a whole new pickup bobbin.  I built a new bobbin from Perspex and wound a nice 6.7k coil with 43 AWG Plain enamel from a vintage spool I acquired.  The magnets on the original pickup were actually quite weak modern ceramics with the originals long gone.  I installed a new pair of alnico 5 bar magnets to power up the 70mm long blade that was welded to that massive steel block.

The pickup worked out perfectly with a big bold bright tone that was able to be rolled back on the tone.  Rick was stoked and I was very happy with the result.  Building the bobbin was a bit of a challenge but it proved that I can build just about any pickup to fit anywhere.

Rick has promised some sound clips so stay tuned!