
Pickup B

If
you chose Pickup B as the original 1956 pickup, you would be
correct... sort of.
This Stratocaster pickup is from a real 1956? Strat the
present owner's father played
in the 1960's, which was found in pieces while settling his
father's estate.
The owner is trying to restore the guitar to the condition it
was in when his father played it,
including a rewind for this dead pickup.
I have the electrical measurements for the other two pickups,
so I'm going to try to match this pickup
to them. The son wanted me to restore the pickup so it looked
like the other two pickups,
but told me his father always said he wished this pickup had a
'just a little more power'...
so I slightly overwound this coil for lead playing and rewired
the other two working pickups to match.

This
photo is the pickup 'before' rewinding. The coil windings
inside the pickup next to the magnets
were corroded, which was very common with early pickups like
this one.
I cleaned the pickup, reinsulated the bobbin and magnets with
nitrocellulose lacquer,
rewound the coil with 42 gauge heavy Formvar insulated coil
wire,
wax potted the finished coil for protection and feedback
reduction,
and rewired it with 'vintage correct' cloth covered 'pushback'
hookup wire.
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