A magnetic field z-gradient coil is manufactured by inserting elements (38) into openings (36) on an outside of an insulating carrier (32), wrapping an electrical conductor turn (34) around the outside of the insulating carrier with one side of the wrapped electrical conductor alongside elements inserted into openings on the outside of the insulating carrier, removing the elements alongside the one side of the wrapped electrical conductor from the openings, and repeating to wrap conductor turns of a z-gradient coil (20) around the electrically insulating carrier. A transverse magnetic field gradient coil is manufactured by laying electrical conductor (44) onto a mold (50) with a keying feature (46, 46a) extending along the conductor engaging a mating keying feature (52, 52a) of the mold that defines a winding pattern (56), attaching an insulating back plate (58) to the resulting coil section opposite from the mold, and removing the mold.