Right. That reminds me of one of my earlier conversations with Curtis Novak - he's wound me 6 pickups now, but the first time I talked to him, I came in with preconceived ideas of magnet type, wire gauge, and resistance based on what I had played, heard, and read. I think he just politely pushed my suggestions aside by saying, "I can wind that pickup for you, but it's not going to sound the way you're hoping for in that guitar. Here's what I suggest." The most valuable thing a pickup winder can do is combine their experience with your descriptions to figure out how to make you happy.PixMix wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2020 12:29 pm100 % agreed. Even the 'high end' pickup makers started in a modestly priced range. And yes, that's exactly what I did - send a message on reverb asking about options, and specifically describing what I need (medium output, slightly warmer etc.). I was suggested by them to go with A4, otherwise I wouldn't have known.
Similarly, when I was first ordering my Firebird pickups from Fab at D'Urbano Magnetics, I expressed concern that he was going to wind them with 43g instead of the vintage-correct 42g. I told him I was afraid they'd be too middy and weren't "vintage correct". We had talked about what I was looking for, and he said, "Don't worry, these are going to sound exactly the way you want them to." And he was right. Listening to the pickups, not once have I ever thought, "I wish these had less mids" - and I'm a "Fender pickup" guy. As a winder, he knew his materials and his winding technique and he delivered pickups that sounded exactly how I had hoped, even though they didn't have the exact specs I'd have expected. And he made me my entire set for just under the price of a single Fralin.
