OilCity 'Masterwound' Route 66 Strat pickups

OilCityPickups · September 2015

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 · September 2015

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 · September 2015

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

OilCityPickups · September 2015

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

OilCityPickups · September 2015

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 · September 2015

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 · September 2015

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 · September 2015

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 · September 2015

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

ThorpyFX · September 2015

full of all the mojo!!! awesome

Teetonetal · October 2015

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

PVO_Dave · October 2015

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 · October 2015

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 · October 2015

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 · October 2015

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 · October 2015

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

WezV · October 2015

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 · October 2015

stunning!

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

Megii · October 2015

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 · October 2015

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 · October 2015

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.

Samgb · October 2015

A craftsman at work! I love these type of posts Ash. Brilliant.

Roland · October 2015

Ditto

PVO_Dave · October 2015

Excuse the dodgy playing, but everything is wired in and working as it should, quick demo here:

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/810702/#Comment_810702

Basher · October 2015

@PVO_Dave - great demo, nothing dodgy there.

They sound very "rounded" and focussed without the harsh glassiness that some sets have. That said there's plenty of clarity so nothing overwound or muddy sounding about them. I could imagine these being great for classic rock in the Blackmore / Gallagher vein. Loads of fat power from that neck pickup and the bridge having powerful mids without the scratchy overtones some have.

I have a naturally quite bright ash bodied strat that I bet these would sound great in!

OilCityPickups · October 2015

I had a set of dead 66 Strat pickups to analyse and measure some while ago. When they were live they sounded great ... the owner had recordings of them, so they were carefully unwrapped and the turns counted ... a bastard of a job ,,,, as the decayed wire kept breaking. They turned out to be a smidge hotter than some of the learned books and gurus say they should be. Not by much, but enough to just thicken them a tad. I put it down to occasional operator error in the Fullerton factory. I rewound those and kept the spec. I have the second and prototype route 66 set in my own 'The Bastard' Strat, with reverse stagger poles.

A few more turns were added to the bridge for balance and modern tastes.

This is perhaps my favorite Strat set I have made to date

:-)

ThorpyFX · October 2015

Ok so i treated myself to a set of these pickups..... They have been put in a Cady Apple red Mex strat. Now previously that strat had the factory fitted custom shop fat sixties pickups but with the bridge swapped out for a Bareknuckle trilogy as i needed something a bit hotter. Having got a dave murray strat, i dont need the CAR strat to be aggressive. So the Route 66 pickups have gone into the guitar.

First off, the pickups look class, love the bevelling and love the vintage look. My bridge was fitted with a steel baseplate for a bit of added grunt and focus (for my taste) They fit easily into the strat, wire up nicely too.

The important bit, how do they sound? EPIC in a word, smooth warm, but clear too. powerful and jangly in the inbetween settings. All of the superlatives fit here. The neck and middle pickups sound creamy and so articulate. The bridge cuts through but without the icepick attack I hate of lots of other strat pickups.

Ash has knocked these out of the park. Give a set a go- you will not be disappointed.

PVO_Dave · October 2015

ThorpyFX said:

Ok so i treated myself to a set of these pickups..... They have been put in a Cady Apple red Mex strat. Now previously that strat had the factory fitted custom shop fat sixties pickups but with the bridge swapped out for a Bareknuckle trilogy as i needed something a bit hotter. Having got a dave murray strat, i dont need the CAR strat to be aggressive. So the Route 66 pickups have gone into the guitar.

First off, the pickups look class, love the bevelling and love the vintage look. My bridge was fitted with a steel baseplate for a bit of added grunt and focus (for my taste) They fit easily into the strat, wire up nicely too.

The important bit, how do they sound? EPIC in a word, smooth warm, but clear too. powerful and jangly in the inbetween settings. All of the superlatives fit here. The neck and middle pickups sound creamy and so articulate. The bridge cuts through but without the icepick attack I hate of lots of other strat pickups.

Ash has knocked these out of the park. Give a set a go- you will not be disappointed.

Very happy with my set, glad you are too!

pickerg · October 2015

Wow! Looks and sounds great. Amazing craftsmanship and attention to detail. I love UK hand-built stuff, any new Masterwound tele pickups in development?

ThePrettyDamned · October 2015

pickerg;820521" said:
Wow! Looks and sounds great. Amazing craftsmanship and attention to detail. I love UK hand-built stuff, any new Masterwound tele pickups in development?

I've got a masterwound tele set, which is designed for sheer utter power.

I've wired them in and quickly put a cheap nut on and even though the action isn't amazing, by god do these scream.

Actually quite happy for classic metal, but excel at modern djent and tech metal styles which have a lot of upper mid/treble content for clarity at high gain across complex chords. I've whacked out some protest the hero on it, and it's excellent for it. I've not noticed hum either, but I'm used to running single coils and don't use hefty amounts of gain for my crunch sounds.

Clean, they're lovely. Bright but warm, and very very clear. The bridge is twangy too, much more so than the calibre 53 bridge pickup I've got in my strat. So it does have a very "tele" voicing.

It won't do that huge, thick, roaring saturated crunch you hear on trivium records quite so well as humbucker pickups, but that's why we buy humbuggies! Instead, these are probably the wet dream of rock, fusion, country (seriously) and alternative, fuzzy rock pickup.

All of this is very preliminary - the guitar is going to @felineguitars for a set up and proper nut in November, so I'll give a more in depth review then. But in short, yes, masterwound is coming to tele. And it's very loud

ThePrettyDamned · October 2015

@theguitarweasel I hope you don't mind me posting initial thoughts?

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OilCity 'Masterwound' Route 66 Strat pickups

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