Newbie from an Oldbie

[Woodenspoke]

Well hello to the Music Electronics forum.

A little background for everyone since I am new here. I have been building guitars as a hobby for 20 plus years. Never wanted to do it for a living so it has been for myself a few friends and a of course a few sales. I recently started selling guitar tools and supplies (which I will not promo here).

For some reason I never got into building or repairing Pickups and have decided to make a go at doing some inexpensive but limited production work to round out my skills and learn something new. I probably have a better knowledge of what needs to be done. I'm less of a newbie than I claim because I have done so many things, but its hard to figure it all out myself and I haven't found that single post which includes everything about every thing, the rosetta stone pf pickup making. Hey I may have even emailed you asking for pricing for all I know.

I will try and limit my questions to one at a time so the 20 or so replies can be mentally sorted.

Pickup wire. my first question.

You would assume you just buy some wire but I found it to be a little more complicated. I am assuming an AWG42 single poly coated magnet wire is a great place to start.

I got in touch with a manufacturer Essex wire and here is where they threw me a curve ball, wire classes. Solderable wire 155 deg I said to my self why would I need that?. Now I really just asked for plain old 42 magnet wire with a single poly coating. So why are they asking about the ability to solder withing the coating. maybe it was up selling, but I finally just wrote back and said quote me your least expensive plain Jane poly magnet wire which I believe was the Thermelex 200 200Deg (if this helps anyone). The price was good and sold in 2lb spools just about the right size.

So was I on the right track here or did I miss something? I see people talking about old enamel wire, but the Poly is listed as enamel, probably with all the VOC's removed to bring it up to code in some states.

[Spence]

Old plain enamel - coated wire had to have the coating stripped by scraping or sanding to allow you to solder it to a hookup. So solderable coatings allow you to burn through it as you apply the solder.
They asked you about the heat resistance because in some applications, the coating needs to withstand high temperatures. They have no idea what a guitar pickup requires.

[Woodenspoke]

Does that mean the 200 deg wire I am looking at is proper? I assumed that the wire would need to be stripped at each end regardless. I have done electrical work more complicated than installing pickups, so it's a skill I don't need to hone. Copper being one of the easiest metals to solder together in my experiences.

[David King]

Stripping and soldering 43 wire is probably the most challenging things I've ever tried to do so I wouldn't take the Solderon suggestion so lightly. It's got to be easier than worrying about any pickups you make going bad in a few days or decades because you didn't get a solid connection or you thinned the copper so much that it broke under the tape. That said, I think collecting a few different wire options is wise. Formvar heavy is one that comes in handy for quite a few pickups.

[Woodenspoke]

At would be really nice is a spec on pickup wire from someone, so I dont go out and buy the wrong wire. If the temperature is only rating the outer casing than all 42 wire is 42 wire and all I am looking for then is a plain thin coating sutable for smaller coils?

[DrStrangelove]

Originally Posted by Woodenspoke

At would be really nice is a spec on pickup wire from someone, so I dont go out and buy the wrong wire. If the temperature is only rating the outer casing than all 42 wire is 42 wire and all I am looking for then is a plain thin coating sutable for smaller coils?

Short answer: you don't need no steenkin' temperature rating.

In pickup winding, the magnet wire insulation is selected for sonic qualities
irrespective of its temperature rating. Insulation dielectric constant and thickness
are the determining factors, and while the sonic differences are apparent for single
build insulations, they become less for heavy (double) builds.

You can use any insulation you want so long as you can solder
to the wire underneath. It depends on how much you (dis)like sanding
magnet wire.

Solderable polyester is easy to work with.
Solderable poly-nylon coils will sound darker than straight polyester.
Plain Enamel PE and Formvar need to be scraped or sanded down to the bare wire first.
Polyimide ML is unusually tough. Expensive, too.

-drh

[David Schwab]

Originally Posted by David King

Stripping and soldering 43 wire is probably the most challenging things I've ever tried to do so I wouldn't take the Solderon suggestion so lightly.

Try 45 AWG! I was pulling my hair out for the first couple of winds.

I wanted 44. I have 42 and 43.

I'd like to start using Solderon... currently I use a butane lighter to strip the insulation before soldering. It works great as long as you watch what you are doing... too long and you melt the wire. I make a few quick sweeps under the wire back and forth.

[Woodenspoke]

I think for a first timer I am gong to stick with 42. I have plenty of time to experiment once I can get one working design set.