Help with stripping insulation

[hondo49]

Hello all. I'm old to rock n' roll but new to pickup winding. I am hoping that someone might be able to advise me on the best method for removing coil wire insulation from a newly wound pickup without breaking the wire. I'm looking for that low impedance sound of the early Beatles. I just wound my first pickup with a homemade winder. I got the first bobbin wound okay, much to my surprise, but when I went to remove the lacquer from the ends of the wire through the eyelets, both ends broke. I tried sanding it with 600 grit paper but no luck. This stuff is #43 gauge wire and is thinner than baby hair. I now have to remove the wire from the bobbin and start over again, but am very frustrated with how difficult it is to remove the lacquer insulation for soldering. Any help you all can provide will be highly appreciated. Thank you all in advance. J

[copperheadroads]

what kind of wire are you using ? poly if so you don't have to strip it. but if your using plain enamel or heavy formvar ,just use sandpaper somewhere around 600 grit & sand about 1" or more from the end to the end before you start winding loop it thru the eye 2 to 3 times, attach your bobbin to the winder & start winding . sorry if i miss understood you question. i dont sand both sides at once ,i lightly sand with the wire against something a book or my hand not pinching the wire between both sides of sandpaper

[hondo49]

I'm not sure what type of wire it is. I bought it from Stew-mac. I will try soldering a test piece tonight and see if I get a reading with the ohm meter. If i do then I may have the poly wire that you are referring to. I am hoping that it is the poly wire instead of enamel because it is so thin that I don't see how I can avoid breaking it with the sandpaper. Thanks much for the tip about looping it a few times around the eyelet. I'll definitely give it a try. Thanks again, J

[copperheadroads]

stew mac wire is Essex soderon ,schatten supplies stew mac ,they get it from electro-wind up here in Canada .i have ordered from them both the wire is the same . so you don't have to strip it you can solder as is, but stripping wire is a good practice you don't know what can happen down the road especially if you selling pups

[FunkyKikuchiyo]

I had a roll of the stew mac stuff, I found that it broke sooner than anything else I've had. Maybe it is just my imagination......

[hondo49]

Thanks for the info about not needing to strip the insulation. I'll try again but it seems that it shouldn't be as difficult to do as I am experiencing. I'll let you know how I make out with soldering it directly. Thx.

[David King]

Solderon needs more heat than you would typically use for normal soldering. Set your iron at between 775 and 800º. If you don't have a temp controlled iron you might have to wait a while for the iron to get up there. Most non temp control irons run very hot like 925 so it shouldn't be a problem either way.
Solder melts at just under 500º

When the solderon gets hot enough you will see a little puff of white smoke coming from the joint as the insulation vaporizes. Learn to look for that.

[hondo49]

Thanks David. You're right. it took awhile for the iron to get up to temp. I'll look for the smoke next time. I'm going back at it this weekend. Looking forward to that old vintage sound. These are toaster replicas. (Hopefully)

[dan stanton]

Use a lighter to burn offf the insulation before you solder. Lacking that, try a utility knife to scrape off the enamel, works better than sandpaper, and less residue.

[Zhangliqun]

I use #400 grit paper but you do have to develop a bit of a touch, especially with that 43 AWG.

[David Schwab]

I used to use a lighter, but now I leave my soldering station set at 700° and that works fine for SPN wire.

Every time I tried to use sand paper I would break the wire.

[copperheadroads]

last night i wound a couple of single coils with heavy formvar & i did not strip the wire. i just soldered it as if it was solderon maybe i left the iron there for a second longer