Wire half gauges? Anybody try Weico wire?

[achase4u]

Im going to a friends place soon - he has a micrometer that Im going to measure my wire with. Meanwhile, let me try to get something straight.

42g vs 43g

With 42g PE min-nom from MWS, 9500 turns on a tele bridge bobbin (alni 3) gets me 7k, 3.8H w/o plate, 4.25H with it on.

43g - obviously much fewer turns for DCR - I get about 3.8H with the plate on at 9.4k

The coil is much smaller. The 42 I have makes a pretty big coil.

My mojo PE gets me more DCR per turns, and less inductance than the min-nom from MWS - so doesnt that mean the mojo wire is thinner?

Are there really half gauges? Id like to use wire with less inductance than the 42 I have, without being as low as 43 gauge...

[David Schwab]

Don't worry about the DCR, the number of turns is more important. Even though you get a higher reading with less turns with thiner wire, winding less turns will have less output too.

[achase4u]

Hey David -

Yea I figure DCR isnt as important, but isnt the DCR to inductance ratio?

Should I be aiming for inductance for a certain level of treble frequency?

[David Schwab]

If you need to fit more wire on a bobbin then you can get with 42, then you have to go to a thinner gauge. So that's one reason it's used. But if you wind two coils with the same number of turns, but one has 42 and the other has 43, they will sound different. The thinner wire has a more pronounced midrange. Heavier wire is known to get more treble, but a coil would with thin wire can also be very bright sounding.

Rickenbacker pickups use 44 AWG.

[achase4u]

Thanks David - it certainly changes the tone going to 43. I like the sound though...

[David Schwab]

I like it too. I use different gauges for the tone they give, even when I have room to use 42.