What are scatter wound pickups?
Posted: Mon May 19, 2003 7:56 am
I have never heard of them before, does anyone have any experience with these?
Ric Toaster pickups are scatter wound ...
Here's a quote From John Hall.....
Subject: Scatterwound Pickups
Date: 2000/01/14
Question:I'm sure by now, you've all seen the "specifics" about the soon-to-be-released Carl Wilson Signature model, either at the Beach Boy site or the RIC Registration Page. The 7.4k pickups are described as "scatterwound." I don't know whether this is RICs "official" nomenclature and description, but it is said to be a method that simulates the pickups being "hand-wound." While it may be a more accurate attempt to replicate the process that was used back then, it certainly gives the impression that this method opens the door to there being more sonic variation between pickups, and ultimately between guitars, than normal.
Answer: Rather than have the coils wound perfectly uniformly, i.e. row by row and layer by layer, the computer controlled coil winder was given a random sequence, just as someone would imperfectly wind a pickup by hand. But because it's computer controlled, this same "scatter" pattern is used for every pickup, so they are identical to each other. They are perfectly imperfect, giving us the best of both worlds.