The Steel Guitar Forum

Can someone give me a ballpark cost of rebuilding a pickup from a Fender Dual 8?
Does this require access to the entire instrument, or can the pickup be removed for this?

Thanks-
Jim

Check with Jerry Wallace at True Tone pickups. He did one for me a few years ago. He does fine work at a reasonable price.

I had mine rewound by Jason Lollar and I could not be happier. His work is great, and he also happens to play a Fender single 8 that I traded him a few years back.

I had two trapazoid pickups rewound by a fellow in Hawaii. Most re-winders will not take on the trap pickups because of the shape of the bobbin.
This fellow did an excellent and job and I think that I paid $90 for the pair. Now if only I could remember his name!

Was the rewinder in Hawaii Pete Biltoft, Vintage Vibe Guitars?

Thanks him!
Very nice fellow to do business with.

You can remove the pickup yourself. A word of caution: I'd WD40 the tiny nuts that hold the pickup to the plate the pickups are mounted on before I tried to loosen them. Maybe even let the WD40 work overnight. These can get pretty crusty and oxodized over the years and you don't want snap off the post they are on. Been there, done that.

Good Luck.

Erv said "Most re-winders will not take on the trap pickups because of the shape of the bobbin." I don't doubt that he is correct, but I don't understand why it would be a problem for them.

I recently bought a Fender Dual Pro. dual 8 with the trapezoid pickups. I took the pickups out to have the magnets re-magnetized by Rick Aiello.
Taking the pickups off of the mounting plate for me wasn't a problem. I have heard it has been a problem for some though, so I was very careful, and luckily the nuts were not frozen on mine.

I am not looking to rewind pickups for anyone, but I have wound some for myself, as I have built two pickup winding machines. One for myself and the other for Rick Aiello. In looking at my trapezoid pickups the coil is wound parallel to one side of the bobbin, thus by mounting that side of the bobbin to the face plate of the pickup winding machine, it is my opinion that re-winding a trapezoid pickup should be no harder than any other pickup, for someone who re-winds pickups professionally.

These pickups are designed so that when mounted in the guitar the coil angles so that on the bass strings it is further on that end from the bridge of the guitar. The bridge is integral with the pickup bobbin housing. The magnet on the bass string end of the pickup is longer than the one on the other end also.

Pete said that he had to fabricate a jig to hold the bobbins when he rewound the pickups.
Jerry Wallace said he couldn't do it.

If none of the above rewinders are available, you could give Seymour Duncan a try. He rewound a couple of trapezoids for me a good number of years ago and I was very happy with his work.

The pick-up winder in Hawaii-

Larry Pollack

Aero Instrument

pickupz@aeroinstrument.com


His work and prices are too reasonable.

He enjoys doing the work the other 'experts'
can not do.

Lindy Fralin did mine in 1995 for $60 for the pair.

Not any more!

I did the magnets this weekend ... They were quite poor ... As usual for Fender Traps and Boxcars.

With those DC resistance readings ... I'm certain you will be pleased.

As far as who does and who doesn't rewind ...

The coil is wound on a bias ... That's not too big a deal.

What is the problem is ... For winders committing to the job ... Is bobbin failure.

They are waxed paper bobbins ... That will implode if not structurally sound.

If the winder isn't set up to rebuild a failed bobbin ... Well, there you go.

It's not in the same realm as rewinding a Rickenbacker or whatever ....

The core has to be fabricated ... Then the housings ( usually three) need to be made ... Which will securely hold the core.

Lollar's and my MRI used the same bobbin / coil ...

Later ... I made bobbins using wet forbon wrapped around a form ... Dried and glued.

I moved to hot Polycarbonate ( thanks to Danny J.) ... Wrapped around the form and cured / glued ... For some of my cast steels I made during that period ... a few years back.

Nice units indeed !!!

They are cool designs ... But not the easiest to rebuild ... So the fees that the guys who can do this ... Are certainly not "out of line" ...

These ain't no rewound stringmasters ...

Rick: can you rewind some for me? I have two Dual 8's
with the trap shaped style pick-ups. I know the front neck has to be done, and possibly one on the other steel. Can you rewind at least one for me? And one or maybe two more later? Thanks, Tommy......

Send them to me ...

I'll send you my address via PM ...

I never thought about the possibility of the bobbin imploding as Rick mentions on an original Trapezoid Pickup for a Fender Dual 8.

The bobbins on mine so far are still holding their own. However after what Rick said, if I were to re-wind my own, I would just go ahead and make new bobbins, and wind them myself. Making the bobbins is not easy, and I agree worth what someone would charge to make them.

Like I said I'm not wanting to go in business doing this for others.

It's so nice to see Rick back doing some work in his shop. Whatever he does, will be done right and that's for sure.--

I send mine to Lollar for a full rebuild/remag and while it was expensive (about $160 per) it's worth every penny and now the guitar will last another 50years I sent in the entire bridge/pickup assembly. Email Lollar and let 'em know what you need.