HMV No. 11 Pickup

[Zkeener323]

I finally finished rebuilding this pickup. I hand wound the 44 gauge wire to spec. Excuse the makeshift set-up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFAuRNS5iVo&t=33s

[Inigo]

It sounds wonderful. I suppose you've had also to renew the rubber parts inside...? What rubber have you used?
I once tried to rebuild a pickup, but I did it very badly and finally I rejected it. By then I found no means of rebuilding the tiny rubber pieces inside. In my area it's very difficult to get natural rubber.

[Orchorsol]

Really excellent!

[Zkeener323]

Yes, I did replace the rubber dampers. I used white gasket tubing and a rubber band laminated with rubber cement cut down to size for the center dampening piece. It could probably benefit from further tweaking but after spending almost three hours winding the pickup by hand, I think I’ll leave it alone. I just need to get some cloth covered cord to make it look correct and connect it to its volume control.

[shoshani]

Fantastic restoration! The sound is marvelous. I'm really hoping to find one myself, preferably with the adapter as I have both an HMV 101 and a 102. (I was outbid on one in late November at the very last second, and haven't really recovered from that.)

[Zkeener323]

I've actually had this for about eight years. I got it in its original, albeit dilapidated box. With the volume control and cords/connectors. The only thing missing was the adapter for the smaller tonearm, (I made one) and one of the two clips to hold the cord onto the tonearm. The coil was open so I set it aside for a couple years. I transplanted another coil I had but it was under 100 ohms. Recently I decided to start winding my own coils, one of the most difficult things is actually making a bobbin for it. The 44AWA wire is so thin sometimes I could not even see what I was doing. Later tonight I will test it to see how many ohms I was actually able to produce. This was the largest coil I have made so far. I use neodymium magnets because they are less weight and stronger. I was able to reduce the weight considerably (I actually had to add more weight because it was tracking so light it was causing record wear) and now it plays even later recording with no wear and excellent results. Having the better coil has definitely made all the difference and I am finally able to enjoy the pickup after having it for so many years. The Youtube video isn't the greatest because I am not very computer savvy and to make the recording I just plugged the pickup into the microphone input, but had to turn the volume way down. I probably could have turned the level up a bit more. I wish you luck finding one and should you need a coil made for it, I'll be more than happy to make one for you.

Fantastic restoration! The sound is marvelous. I'm really hoping to find one myself, preferably with the adapter as I have both an HMV 101 and a 102. (I was outbid on one in late November at the very last second, and haven't really recovered from that.)