WB Custom Pickups: guitar pickups wound by hand

»About WB Custom Guitar Pickups

WB Custom Pickups, a small guitar pickup company located in the Northern California town of Redding, is my creation. The company is owned and operated by myself and my family. We are lifelong musicians who are fanatical about music and gear. I hand wind and assemble your guitar pickups with dignity and respect for you, our customer and now part of the family. My years of repairing and rewinding pickups showed me what critical variables can be tweaked to alter tone and character. I put that knowledge into every WB Custom Pickup.

»What goes into your pickups?

I work hard to source distinctive parts and materials to create my pickups. I don't want to go into too much detail and give away my secrets, but I have some crucial pickup components custom manufactured just for me, and these do have an impact on tone and clarity. I also have a small amount of new old stock 1960's pickup wire for select projects. Experience has helped me find the highest quality magnets and wires in different gauges. I believe in top quality from the brass bobbin screws down to the base plate to each wind I do. My pickups are my passion. And I will not send out a pickup without knowing that's it is the best for my customer.

»What makes your pickups different?

I hand-wind each pickup. And then we assemble them one at a time to assure you are getting the best all around quality out there. Then we load your pickups into an actual guitar and play and listen before shipping them out. I am very open to working with my customers to achieve tonal goals. Bottom line: my pickups are to be played, not to be put on ebay.

»What does "Hand-Wound" mean to you?

Well, I am not actually winding each turn of copper by hand. The term to me is hand fed/guiding the wire as a machine turns the bobbins. A lot of people out there say that it's a marketing tool. That pickups made by G*bson back in the day were machined automated. They were. And they were pretty inconsistent to say the least. A hand-wound pickup is art form. It's layering the pickup in a scattered wound technique to achieve clarity and overall punch. To control the tension by hand. The overall out-come is night and day compared to a standard automated machine wound pickup. I am geek when it comes to this. I actually video myself winding pickups just to watch what I did when designing new "Protos" and each Custom Tune Pickup ordered. That way I have a accurate account as to what I just designed and created. And to ensure the same pickup can be duplicated with accuracy.

»What is the custom tuned program?

All of my base model pickups can be customized to some extent. But for the person who wants to start with a blank slate, and is looking for a more in-depth interaction with me, I started the Custom Tuned Program. Basically, I will custom tune a set of pickups with your input to get your sound. We will go over your guitar's woods, construction, and current tonal deficiencies to come up with an ideal set of pickups for you. Some customers choose to ship their guitars so I can test the pickups in the guitar to refine them.

»Any plans to mass produce your pickups?

No, I have small shop that makes small batches of pickups by hand. Like I said before, I personally wind each pickup. And Greg Narducci does most of the assemblies. Aaron Goforth and Nick Osa from time to time come in and help out with assemblies. We can produce a few pickups this way. But in no way are we mass production. I take great pride in making my pickups by hand, and I have no plans to convert to CNC technology or other means of mass production.

I thank everyone who has joined the WB family. It's an honor and a pleasure to make your pickups. And I will continue to make only the best pickups for you. Guaranteed!