Mixing wire diameters....

[Possum]

I tried to find the old thread on this, sometimes the search engine sucks....

Has anyone tried mixing magnet wire gauges, or slightly different wire diameters in a bucker, I know some have but what did it do? DiMarzio's FRED pickup does this, does anyone know what gauges wire he used in it? It measures around 10K, I had one here once but didn't write anything down. DiMarzio says I think, better hum cancellation and more frequency range, but then says that pickup is designed for a midrange boost....

[SJE]

. . . keep and eye on the blind test thread . . . as a hint 2 of the 3 have mixed diameter wires.

But I'll save the details until hopefully some people who commented on the 1st take mp3 have had a chance to re-listen to the correct 2nd take and the lead clips.

[Possum]

.....

I would guess (maybe blindly) that number one has mixed diameters if what DiMarzio patent says is true, either that or number two......or number 3 (covering my ass, ha). I set up an experiment myself but will take a few days to listen to.

[David Schwab]

I do it all the time. It's a standard feature in some of my pickups.

I started doing it when I liked the tone of two different pickups I made and wanted a bit of each in one pickup. So I used a coil from each one.

For guitar humbuckers, I did one kind of imitating a DiMarzio Air Norton... only with no air gap. And I wound it lower. I had a Duncan Jazz in the neck position on a basswood body guitar, and it was too boomy. So I made a new humbucker with different wire on each coil, and it has a tighter low end, and a nice thick, yet clear tone.

You can try like 42 and 43, or 43 and 44, etc.

Here's the pickup I made with an alnico 5 and an alnico 2

[paulyy]

I just did something like this the other day. I wanted a paf style pickup with alittle more power. I wound the pole side with 5500 winds with 42 PE and the slug side with 5500 winds of 43 PE. It read around 11.4 to 11.5 ohms. It had a tight but smooth sound. I really like the way it came out even tho its not really a paf style pickup any more.

[JGundry]

I don't mix wire diameters outside of 42 AWG. But I do intentionally wind each bobbin from a spool that mics out differently within 42 AWG. I do think you get a little more complex sounding pickup doing this.

[Possum]

....

Yeah this is kind of what I'm experimenting with. I'm working on the bridge and not sure I want it there, but I note that Satriani only uses that DM pickup in bridge position, so curious to see what a small difference does. I read that most of the pickups that had different wire in them were the early Patents, guess they were ending one batch of wire and starting a new batch, thus the mix...

[Possum]

....

OK so I tried it in bridge, didn't like it, it also added more treble and some of the vowel type tones just about disappeared. It did however make a very quiet pickup.

[kevinT]

I wound one a few months ago with 42 and 43. Initially, i didn't care for the tone but it started to grow on me. I have it laying around, I think I'll put it in a guitar again and mess with it.

[David Schwab]

You can try messing with the ratios too. You don't have to wind both coils the same number of turns. This can fine tune which coil you are hearing more of, as well as the tone of each coil.

I've gotten some pleasing results, and I've also heard some Dimarzios, like the Tone Zone, which I really don't care for.

[Possum]

....

I think the biggest use for this technique is what DiMarzio used it for, thin guage wire wound hot, to gain some clarity out of the mud....I have no problems with clarity and not using those thin gauges for this...

[David Schwab]

I tried it because I had one prototype wound with 42 that I liked, and another with 43 that I liked. The one wound with 43 had a nice mid resonance (that vowel thing), but the one with 42 has more lows and highs.

I wanted more lows from the 43 pickup, so I combined the two.

This was a bass pickup, and just for the bridge.

So I ended up with a wider tone, with less mid emphasis.

[RedHouse]

OK so I tried it in bridge, didn't like it, it also added more treble and some of the vowel type tones just about disappeared. It did however make a very quiet pickup.

Try it on the same coil, as oppsed to different coils. I've had some success with that.
(so say those who sampled them anyway)

Not a PAF sound at all, but way more modern, a clear with bite tone that comes through distortion well for modern players.
(oops there goes a new-millenuim secret!)

[SJE]

Looks like me and David have very similar thoughts on pickup winding!

But yes not only winding different gauges on the coils but also vary the amount of turns on each coil. I also vary the height of the coils also but unless you are going to make your own bobbins this isn't possible.

Interesting you should mentioned that Redhouse I was thinking about that doing that on my next creation - whether I will is yet to be seen.

[RedHouse]

...Interesting you should mentioned that Redhouse I was thinking about that doing that on my next creation - whether I will is yet to be seen...

Give it a shot.

I've been doing it for a few years now, it can get you places a normal wind can't. You have to be able to break out of the PAF mold though, it's a wind for newer players not older players although in saying that any older blues player can find a sweet spot in a coil like that. It can bridge together styles if you do it right.
(and plug them into decent amps)