Winding with 42gauge heavy formvar questions.

[FunkyKikuchiyo]

Everyone says that, but I don't hear it, except the barrels are usually brass, and the individual saddles aren't. I dislike brass bridges anyway.

What I hear is more of an envelope thing. The round saddles have a broad surface for the string break and end up with a sort of buzzy sound. Thicker strings make it more obvious. It is like the loudest part of the note is slightly after the attack because it first has that weird damping sound, if that makes sense..... I have compared brass and steel barrel saddles, the brass is definitely better. Steel is a bit too shrill. I typically don't like brass either (way too 70s for me) but on a tele it works. Telecasters are like hershey bars, they may not be all that fancy or amazing, but don't mess with something that has just worked so well for so long!

You have a good ear David, but we obviously have different tastes. I like j-bass pickups and shudder at kahlers on fretless basses...

Anyway, I'm getting dangerously close to thread hijacking.

Folkcafe, I haven't been winding nearly as long as I've been teching, so my opinion is a lot humbler than that of others around here, but I've found that the basic form factor is the biggest determinant of pickup character, trumping magnets, wires, any number measurements, etc... so it might turn out to be quite a trick to duplicate your first success. Alnico II tele pickups never sounded articulate to my ears, to be honest. I've pulled a lot of SD pickups out of teles for people who found the same to be true.

Stew-mac is not a great source for wire. It is great that they sell the 1/2 lb rolls for folks starting out (I bought one!), but for the same amount of money you can get 1.5-2 lbs of SPN on eBay. I'm collecting spools like an old lady collects ceramic cats, though I'm trying to pace myself.

[David Schwab]

I like j-bass pickups and shudder at kahlers on fretless basses...

You never heard me play a fretless with a whammy bar so...

It was actually a PJ bass. Used to be a Hondo II.

Go here and listen to the track "Run!" The whammy is used at the end of the song. I didn't use it much... as you can hear from the other tracks.

Expresso Tango on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

Recorded about 25 years ago....