Spooler Alert!!

Posted on February 3, 2018

After so many redesigns and setbacks, I managed to complete the pickup spooling machine, which I now have affectionately dubbed the “Spooler Alert!!”

I first tested the machine with thread—and not yet with pickup coil copper wire—to ensure that all works as intended. Lo and behold the majestic pickup spooling machine in action!

To recap, this tool will allow me to create pickups with a single pole magnet. Whereas guitar and bass pickups have multiple polepiece magnets—or sometimes a magnetic bar—because they are aligned with an array of string, I intend to use metallic strings in a different physical setup than those instruments. This freedom of positioning will allow me to create sound sculptures with their own custom configurations, separate from the limitations of the guitars.

The machine itself is much higher than I originally thought it would be—some 30 cm—but that is of no real concern. Its design is still quite charming.

There are some minor Arduino software issues that I have to improve, but even with those, the machine is completely functional! I could even change the spooling bit to build coils as needed.

Up next: creating a pickup and wax potting it!