How thin can you go

[Joe Gwinn]

The spool. Ah. I translated plastic coil to bobbin, not spool.

Sometimes it’s a PITA to type something in a foreign language and try to explain something you don't know the words for. I didn't even remember the word spool...

And the German word for coil (as in the winding of a pickup) is spuhle, so the roles of the words coil and spool (and their cognates) are reversed between English and German/Swedish.

BTW I discovered that my problem probably wasn't primarily from the thin wire. While winding a couple of P90s last night the whole motor fixture started to wander around! The glue (yeah only glue, no screws, shame on me) had come undone. It was probably some vibration from the motor fixture falling apart that flange of the bobbin wobble thus catching the wire

Well, epoxy would have worked... but it sounds like some kind of rubber mounts are in order, to keep the vibration from shaking everything.

[Mark Hammer]

1) belwar, when I visited the Evans facility in 1988 or so, I was under the impression that the single-coils were a pair of yin-yang coils in the one Strat-sized package. I suspect the 4-coil assemblies being discussed were their attempt at a side-by-side humbucker that could be put into "single-coil mode" without sacrificing hum-rejection.

2) I would imagine that spools of wire thinner than #45 or so generally do not come in 1lb, or larger, sizes. Or is it easier to rotate such spools without risk of tearing than I imagine?

3) How does the proportion of overall outside diameter contributed by the insulation change with gauge? For instance, does the coating on #41 wire make up a much smaller percentage of the outside diameter than on #46? And if ultra-thin IS thicker-coated (relative to the copper inside the insulation), does that change any concomitant electronic properties?

4) In view of the risk of catching on the ends of the spool, is there any easy way to not only make the ends smooth but slippery as well? E.g., teflon spray or something? Do manufacturers who produce such wire use a different sort of material for the spools in those instances?

[David Schwab]

1) belwar, when I visited the Evans facility in 1988 or so, I was under the impression that the single-coils were a pair of yin-yang coils in the one Strat-sized package.

Yeah, they were.

2) I would imagine that spools of wire thinner than #45 or so generally do not come in 1lb, or larger, sizes. Or is it easier to rotate such spools without risk of tearing than I imagine?

Why do you need to rotate the spool?

[tedmich]

bigger spools can be conical or upper flange less, but most unspooling is done over teflon or nylon rollers; never over the top flange. DIYers can and do polish the top flange to allow free slippage, NOVUS plastic polish works well for this. High quality mag wire does have very smooth nylon spools but added tape and "wire keeper" notches need to be removed completely.

I have even removed the top flange by CAREFULLY undercutting it from the center using a countersink, but you have to use it up after that!

Avoiding hand oil etc is also a good idea and some old wire (or older bondable) is tacky and almost impossible to work with IME.

[Peter Naglitsch]

[QUOTE=Joe Gwinn;115211]And the German word for coil (as in the winding of a pickup) is spuhle, so the roles of the words coil and spool (and their cognates) are reversed between English and German/Swedish.
QUOTE]
Yeah, spole in Swedish. So please account some of the confusedness I'm causing to linguistically problems!