Oil City Pickups: The Tele rewind from hell

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OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9978
edited June 2020 in Made in the UK tFB Trader
This 1970s Tele pickup came to me dead ... normally a simple matter to rewind ... not so this time. The piece of black tape hinted at a bodge ... little did I suspect the bodger from hell had been under the cover before me!
 
Hummm narrow masking tape ... Fender sometimes used wide masking tape to wrap coils  ... but not this stuff ... and at the bottom there seems to be ...
Oh my god ... the whole coil is not only wound with the wrong wire ... it's solid ... smothered in epoxy resin!!!


So hard it broke my knife tip!

Resin soaked wire off at last ........The whole core of the pickup has been filled with manky, rock hard epoxy.

So out with the burr and mini grinder ... and drill ... and files ... till at last ...
Bobbin cleaned and re-lacquered ... eyelets replaced as the muppet who had bodged this poor pickup before I got to it had used so much heat on the eyelets the flatwork crumbled around them. I patched the flat-work, then re drilled before I fitting new brass eyelets.
Rewound ... I fitted the reused output wires before re-fitting the cover and ensuring the pickup would keep rocking on for many more years.
Moral of the tale? Careful who has rewound your pickups in the past ... and 'EPOXY ... JUST SAY NO!'  :-)


Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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Comments

  • TTonyTTony Frets: 27342
    Please excuse the ignorant question, but ... was it really worth it?

    Surely any value associated with its age is now gone, and the wouldn't it sound different too (if the owner can remember how it sounded) given all the work you put into it, and the changes made?

    Plus I'm guessing the charge for your time (and materials) is somewhat more than just buying one of your standard pickups??
    Having trouble posting images here?  This might help.
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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9978
    edited June 2020 tFB Trader
    It should look and sound exactly how other 70s fender pickups sound and look, Aside from the wire (which is exactly the same as the original before the pickup was bodged) all the other pickup components are Fender and original to the guitar this comes from.  Most restoration work is a balancing act ... and a new Oil City Honkytonk Angel would sound very very similar, however this pickup is linked to the guitar it left the factory with ... and I think it's nice that it will stay that way.

    Oh ... and I never let a rewind beat me ...
    though this one came close.

    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • WezVWezV Frets: 16541
    Awesome work!!
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  • rze99rze99 Frets: 2260
    Stellar work and dedication.  Top man!
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  • FelineGuitarsFelineGuitars Frets: 11494
    tFB Trader
    nice work Ash

    Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
    Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.

    Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.

      Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com.  Facebook too!

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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14320
    edited June 2020
    rze99 said:
    dedication
    Grim determination, more like! That and a brain softened by decades of inhaling lead solder fumes.

    TTony said:
    wouldn't it sound different ... given all the work you put into it and the changes made?
    It is entirely possible that the refurbished pickup is now built to a higher standard than the original factory spec. 



    Be seeing you.
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  • normula1normula1 Frets: 639
    go straight to the top of the dedication class, wonderful to see someone prepared to go to these lengths in today's throwaway culture
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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9978
    tFB Trader
    rze99 said:
    dedication
    Grim determination, more like! That and a brain softened by decades of inhaling lead solder fumes.

    TTony said:
    wouldn't it sound different ... given all the work you put into it and the changes made?
    It is entirely possible that the refurbished pickup is now built to a higher standard than the original factory spec. 



    Like most golden era 'Fender factory spec' the quality or lack of it depended on how full the order books were at the time. For example pickups were lacquer potted ... sometimes ... if there wasn't too much on ... otherwise they weren't potted at all. 
    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • outstanding work!
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  • Musicman20Musicman20 Frets: 2296
    Dedication! 
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  • Good lord that is some dedication 
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