Every clod has a silver lining

[Sweetfinger]

Kcotsnekrib is the secret summoning name for the demon-god of ugly sandals.

Has it come to this....?
The conversations over at The Gear Page are positively scintillating in comparison, so I'll steer us back towards the light. anybody know how many turns there were on one of those Supro/National/Valco pickups? Sure, I could ask on the Valco pickup thread (and likely will) but this thread could use the help!
It's either that or someone builds a pickup out of a coat hanger.

[ken]

Hey Possum,

Are you going to use plain enamel or polyvinyl insulation on your coat hanger pickup?

ken

[copperheadroads]

Hey Possum,

Are you going to use plain enamel or polyvinyl insulation on your coat hanger pickup?

ken

The cool thing about using wire the size of coat hanger you can make your own insulation .If you want PE , just spray on a coat of Tremclad or RustOleum .If you want SPN, spray on a coat of krylon

[Possum]

Shrink tubing but don't tell anyone, OK?

[kayakerca]

Silver is the best room-temp conductor, better than copper by 4%, enough to make an audible difference. Elektrisola will draw out and insulate five pounds of silver #42 magnet wire for about $500/lb.

Silver is 1/6 denser than copper and a pound of it makes 45,000 feet of #42 (cf. copper: 53,000 ft). At roughly 1 mile per pickup coil, the silver wire cost is $56.

Would it be fair to assume that the $500/lb. at the time was pure silver (.999) vs. something like sterling (.925)? I have a luthier asking.

[salvarsan]

Would it be fair to assume that the $500/lb. at the time was pure silver (.999) vs. something like sterling (.925)? I have a luthier asking.

Matweb sez sterling silver conductivity is about 15% LESS than copper.

[ken]

Since this post was last replied to in 2012, how much would your coil wire be at 2016 prices? Inquiring minds wanna know

[kayakerca]

Since this post was last replied to in 2012, how much would your coil wire be at 2016 prices? Inquiring minds wanna know

Silver is up 51% from the time of the $500/lb analysis best as I could figure, so the 5 pounder would be ~ $3,800 U.S. today. That's about ~ $5,100 of my Cdn. $'s.

[Jason Rodgers]

Since we're talking about pickups made of special materials again....

I recently visited with a high-profile guitar builder and he showed me a guitar loaded with a humbucker "from a guy in Europe" who makes pickups with components made of pieces of meteorite. When I asked what parts, he said, "I don't know. He won't tell me how he does it. I just know they're the only things Keith Richards wants in his guitars."

[ken]

That gives a whole new meaning to the term getting stoned...

[Mike Sulzer]

That gives a whole new meaning to the term getting stoned...

But more likely they are iron meteorites (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_meteorite). The pole pieces made from this material should be just as good as any others made from a similar iron-nickel alloy. But much more mojo, of course.

Of course, it is an unusual heat treatment. You gotta machine with great care.

[John Kolbeck]

When I asked what parts, he said, "I don't know. He won't tell me how he does it. I just know they're the only things Keith Richards wants in his guitars."

Ugh. Keith Richards might as well be the celebrity spokesperson for guitar "mojo".

[ken]

That must be some of that 'blue sky marketing' musicianspeak I been hearing about lately

[charrich56]

Excuse me guys, but hasn't the silver wire pickup thing already been done by Seymour Duncan? Yes indeed, here it is:

Zephyr Humbucker ? neck | Seymour Duncan

$479.00 street for one pickup.

They should throw in the silver Litz interconnect wire, paper-in-oil tone caps, and custom taper unobtainium pots for that as well .....

[kayakerca]

Excuse me guys, but hasn't the silver wire pickup thing already been done by Seymour Duncan? Yes indeed, here it is:

And here's me thinking everything discussed in this forum had never been done before. Geesh, do I feel foolish. . .