The Attack Counter

"How much wire is on that thing?" Not a quote you hear at the music store daily, but an interesting question nonetheless. How much wire is on that pickup, and what does it mean. From the day I bought Mr. Lollar's book I knew that I had to have a proper counter for my winder. Well, now I have one. Where did you get it? I originally looked on the internet at several sites, and even received a few recommendations. However, all of the options either looked too hard or too expensive. Finally I turned to eBay and found this wonderful counter. Tip: This is a good place to find all kinds of industrial leftovers like this counter. The guy that sold me this one had two more just like it for sale.
Here is the counter on the left with our winder. The counter is made by Redington Counters, Inc., and its model number is 2-1006. This counter uses AC voltage to count the revolutions. That means no exotic or expensive power supplies.
Here is the switch that controls the counter. It is mounted just under the shaft, center of mass on the photo. I used Teflon tape on the nut just behind the chuck as a cam to activate the switch. Remember -- it has to be set so the switch trips once for each revolution of the shaft.
Here is a coil ready to wind. The pickup is a reclaimed Epiphone humbucker that I am rebuilding for a guitar. We'll test the winder on this coil.
The black coil above has a cream-colored mate, and here it is after being rewound. Both coils came out within a percent on resistance, and based on what I've read from Mr. Seth Lover, that was well within tolerance for original PAFs. I believe that a counter is critical to get balanced coils. I still have to wax pot these coils, but I'll let you know how they sound. Yet another milestone is passed in our quest for pickup self-sufficiency.
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