Coil shapes & its effects on tone

[GroundskeeperWillie]

I've been thinking about different shapes coils like these the humbucker bobbins near the bottom of the page
Throbak Electronics
When i try to wind any pickup i try to keep it straight & symmetrical .
By winding straight coils ,am i missing something . Tone wise
I'm just curious why some strat pickups have a bulge or a rounded coil is it a way to keep it from flaring ?

[copperheadroads]

vintage stuff i would consider keeping it straight . that's bulge is usually in over wound pickups
Texas specials are wound with a belly or a bulge.Id say it's there to prevent flaring & i think it might darken the tone - the diameter of the coil is increased at one point compared to a straight coil where you would have more wire in your top & bottom corners near the flat work .......mmm

[belwar]

I recently unwound a 50's broadcaster which is handwound and it had the biggest center lump ive ever seen.

[kevinT]

John has an nice website.

The particular shape of a coil, in the case of PAFs, was generally created by accident not intentionally. The traverse on the machine was off a bit so it didn't lay the wire evenly on the bobbin. Once you have an anomoly (wire bunching in a certain area of the bobbin) it sort of snowballs and builds upon itself at an increasing rate. John and I have mentioned this before regarding how the coil pulls/influences/delays movement of the wire being laid on the coil. The farther away the wire guide is to the bobbin the more influence the coil has on how the wire is being directed onto the bobbin. So it does have a randomness to it.

I think tension and TPL have more influence on tone than does coil shape.

[Bill M]

Also worth mentioning with regard to vintage PAF's, is the coil start wire was soldered to the lead wire, insulated with tape, and this connection was made inside the coil. This has a huge impact on coil shape because the lead wire is much thicker than the coil wire and causes the coil to build up more in that location, on an auto winding machine. This internal connection was not in the same location on all pickups, therefore influencing even more different coil shapes in vintage PAF's.

[GroundskeeperWillie]

Thanks everyone

[David Schwab]

I think tension and TPL have more influence on tone than does coil shape.

I agree. I hear no difference between coil shapes.