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Cool Parsons Street Thread On The Les Paul Forum...

Gitfiddler

By Gitfiddler
in Heritage Guitars

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Gitfiddler Mentor

Gitfiddler

Posted
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This is universally cool stuff about the old equipment that was and is over at Parsons Street. My favorite is the discussion about the old 'Slug 101' pickup winder that J.Walker uses now to produce his Throbak pickups.

 

http://www.lespaulforum.com/finalframes/frameset.htm

 

J.Walker comments in part state the following:

 

"Below is a photo of the 50's P.A.F. Slug 101 coil winder as it sat in the Gibson Kalamazoo plant when I saw it before the guys at Heritage let me switch it on. The power cord was so old and brittle that it cracked when I plugged it in, but it worked! After I bought it and took it apart at the shop, I realized it was a wonder I was not shocked when I switched it on. Some of the internal cloth covered wiring was worn through to bare wire."



 

 

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Kuz Experienced

Kuz

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It's Jon Gundry of Throbak not J. Walker. I have spoken with Jon countless times about the story you quoted, but I don't know anything about a J. Walker. :icon_scratch:

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HANGAR18 Experienced

HANGAR18

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That is really interesting to learn about that machine. The thought had occurred to me it might be fun to try and wind my own pickups (since guitars are a hobby for me and I like to build stuff). I would like to get a good look at that part which was blacked out in the photos. The part which is called the traverse mechanism. Really interesting stuff!

 

But then I got to thinking about the actual wire that goes into this machine. This machine winds the wire into the manufacture of the pickups, but it doesn't make the wire itself. So, where does the wire come from you ask? I saw another video which answers that question. Apparently, some guy named Paul Reed Smith asked that same question and as the story goes, found the owner of the actual machine which made the actual wire which went into those original Gibson pickups and now he has secured the exclusive rights to all the wire which comes out of that machine, which in turn he uses to make his own vintage sounding pickups (using his own winders) which he has been doing for quite a while now.

 

http://youtu.be/pwQ4KPc_8ys

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tulk1 Experienced

tulk1

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I'm fairly certain there was still at least one winder there during PSPI. Jon had just gotten his from them. And wire. Lots of wire. Might have to look this year and see if there is another.

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Kuz Experienced

Kuz

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So, there was more than one winder at the old Gibson factory and one of them is being used by the Throback guy and one is being used by PRS?

 

As I understand it, PRS doesn't have an original winder but original way of sourcing/making the original wire itself.

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Guest HRB853370

Guest HRB853370

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So, there was more than one winder at the old Gibson factory and one of them is being used by the Throback guy and one is being used by PRS?

There was probably several winders around Gibson. If you go back historically, there were at least 3 and possibly 4 or more women winding pickups back in the 50's.

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HANGAR18 Experienced

HANGAR18

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I'm fairly certain there was still at least one winder there during PSPI. Jon had just gotten his from them. And wire. Lots of wire. Might have to look this year and see if there is another.

 

 

There was probably several winders around Gibson. If you go back historically, there were at least 3 and possibly 4 or more women winding pickups back in the 50's.

 

I wonder how much one of those original pickup winders would cost and whether or not it would fit in the back of my truck to take back to Virginia with me.

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tulk1 Experienced

tulk1

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It's Jon Gundry of Throbak not J. Walker. I have spoken with Jon countless times about the story you quoted, but I don't know anything about a J. Walker. :icon_scratch:

JWalker is Jon's personna on the LP Forum.

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Gitfiddler Mentor

Gitfiddler

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JWalker is Jon's personna on the LP Forum.

 

Exactly. I was trying to respect his forum ID, for whatever reason he uses that name.

He should have used a cool name like 'Gitfiddlepickupwinder' or something. :icon_joker:

 

I don't know what kind of winder PRS uses to create their 57/08 p'ups, but they are one of my favorites.

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H Rising Star

H

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Just to clarify, I haven't been able to find anything that backs up the assertion about the PRS pickup winder on the link I posted.

 

57/08s are very nice pickups though, whether in full size or Narrowfield formats.

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HANGAR18 Experienced

HANGAR18

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Just to clarify, I haven't been able to find anything that backs up the assertion about the PRS pickup winder on the link I posted.

 

57/08s are very nice pickups though, whether in full size or Narrowfield formats.

 

If I had to pick one over the other, I'd pick the wire over the winder.

 

I am curious about these Throbacks so maybe I'll have to buy another Heritage guitar just so that I can install a set into it.

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LK155 Proficient

LK155

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There are many internet ads for PRS guitars that mention Paul having obtained one of the original Gibson winding machines, but, as H points out, there is nothing on the PRS site to substantiate this.

Could be another urban myth. Or PRS myth. Or gearhead myth.

 

After some googling, I did find this reference:

=============================

From the original PRS press release (http://www.prsguitars.com/news/2009/011509_5708pickups.html):
"Paul Reed Smith acquired exclusive rights to the original pickup wire from the original machine used to make the most revered ‘50s era pickups in 2008, and 1957 was the year the humbucker was first commercially available, giving rise to PRS Guitars’ newest and most exclusive pickup, the 1957/2008."

==============================

 

That press release is not available on the PRS site (maybe too old), so who knows whether it exists? But the quote refers to the pickup wire, not the winding machine.

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Kuz Experienced

Kuz

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If I had to pick one over the other, I'd pick the wire over the winder.

 

I am curious about these Throbacks so maybe I'll have to buy another Heritage guitar just so that I can install a set into it.

 

DON'T, I REPEAT, DON''T buy any Throbak pickups..... Because then every other humbucker guitar you own will have Throbaks!!!!!

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HANGAR18 Experienced

HANGAR18

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If you copy and paste the link into notepad or similar and leave out the &feature=youtu.be it should work

 

I pushed the link button like I usually do, paste the link I got from youtube which didn't have that one part in it that you mentioned, the paste box removes the http:// part but then adds it separately. It is the same thing that I have done before many times but it doesn't always work. Lately it hasn't worked at all.

 

http://youtu.be/pwQ4KPc_8ys

 

 

http://youtu.be/pwQ4KPc_8ys

 

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/pwQ4KPc_8ys" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

https://youtu.be/pwQ4KPc_8ys

 

I give up.

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