Gibson BR-6 Pickup specs

[JGundry]

It could also be a type of enamel wire, some of the old stuff is very reddish. Don't forget that poly wire existed in the 50's too, though I think that pickup is probably from the 40's. Photos of the coil itself would help.

Jon what kind of wire was on the one you rewound?

Some of those old pickups weren't always one thing or the other, Charlie Christian pickups for instance were wound with 38 formvar but they were also wound with 42 PE in the later period they were made.

It was wound with 42 awg PE for sure. It has the original wire. The start pigtail was thick stranded cloth insulation wire. It was not potted.

[Possum]

....

If the owner of the pickup wants it returned to how it sounded before, best to stick with the same kind of wire. Lacking any photos its difficult to say if the wire was original or not. You can buy small amounts of 38 gauge plain enamel of the red type through electronics stores, it actually is plain enamel, not soderon, I have a spool of 36 gauge I got thats like that made by Consolidated electronics wire and cable, 1lb. for about $20.

[ab763]

BR-6 Pickup

The slugs are 3/8 x .725 and not magnetized. The magnets are 2.5” long x .50 wide x .143. I tried to unwrap the wire on the pup from one winder to another and count the turns. This turned out to be a tedious process and I broke the wire a several times, but my best guess is 4450 turns. The pickup was wound quite loose which may be why there was wax on the top windings.

Note in the photos the unwrapped bobbin has a translucent red center and the slugs are covered.

So my thinking at this time is it needs a little over 4000 turns of 38 gauge like a Charlie Christian pickup. Any thoughts on this? I found some 38 gauge wire on ebay.

[David King]

Ab763,
I think you meant 3/16" dia not 3/8" for the slug diameter..

I think you need to have a discussion with the owner about whether they want it back to original spec or back to the way you found it. The current wind will sound nothing like that the original spec would have sounded like.

That red tape over the slugs looks a bit like polymide tape but redder. Anyone seen stuff like that before.

[ab763]

BR-6 Pickup

That is not tape in the center it is solid plastic of some sort with holes drilled for the slugs. the top and bottm are glued to the center piece.

Is it possible this is some sort of mid 40's transition model? The customer has only owned the lap steel since mid 60's and BR-6's do not have sr numbers so it is hard to say what year it is.

I do not have a gauss meter but he magnets seem weak not as strong as alnico 5s I have in stock.

The customer has several lap steels and this one had a sweet tone the later p90's don't have. So it back to best guess.

[David King]

Thanks,
I'd forgotten about the solid plastic core in the middle of the bobbin.
I'd think 38 with so few turns would be massively bright on a lap steel but perhaps the short, wide bobbin is making it tolerable. If it's from the 1940's I'm not sure A-5 was even commonly available outside of military applications. I'd think Cunife or Alcnio-II would be the most likely and they would certainly be weaker. Again I speak from no experience here, others here would be much more likely to know better.