Heavier gauge wire for bass pups

[Stan H]

Has anyone had any experience using a heavier gauge wire for bass pickups? I'm thinking that the tone would be clearer. Probably a little thinner as well? I have a couple of spools of 39 gauge that I was thinking about experimenting with. What are your thoughts?

[gilligan]

I wound a P bass pickup with 41 single poly once. Didn't experiment anymore with it though, just didn't like the sound. Sounded o.k., but the punch wasn't there. Will try again when time permits. Maybe different magnets. I used regular alnico 5 rods in it. 10,000 turns...I think?!
Maybe someone else can give you the why, or why not.

[David Schwab]

I haven't tried it yet, but it would make a lower impedance pickup, so it should have a wider frequency response. You might need to pre-amp it though. This is one of the things I want to experiment with.

[Stan H]

Thanks guys. As soon as I have a little "spare" time, I'll give it a shot. Will also post my results.

[SK66]

I wind many pickups with 40 and I've used heavier in restoration work (some old pickups used something like 38awg) They are generally very "full" sounding and can get bass heavy if wound to close to "normal" output levels (same turn count)