Seymour's new cryo-silver pickup

[salvarsan]

I dont think I have ever weighed the wire on a pickup, but i'd guess that what about a 1/32 to a 1/64 of a pound?

#42 copper is 52900 Ft per pound with a resistance of 1659 ohms/1000 ft.

A generic PAF coil is 3715 ohms or 2239 feet = .667 english ounces = 19.2 grams or 1/24 lb.

To get a #42 wire weight, divide ohms by 193.
The derivation is left to folks who have nothing better to do.

The same length of #42 silver wire weighs proportionally more
in ratio to the densities of silver and copper, 10.5/8.9, or about 1.18.

[David King]

I was thinking that though copper is only $4.30 per pound I've never seen pickup wire being sold for less than, $16/lb and PE is often in the high 20s. At 20 coils per pound, (per $500 for Ag). Salvarsan's $25 per coil sounds about right.

[salvarsan]

I was thinking that though copper is only $4.30 per pound I've never seen pickup wire being sold for less than, $16/lb and PE is often in the high 20s. At 20 coils per pound, (per $500 for Ag). Salvarsan's $25 per coil sounds about right.

It occurs to me that some people really hate it when we run numbers like this.

[David King]

I figure mine cost me less than a buck a coil total and I'm very proud of that. I got about 40 lb of that off-spec wire at under $5/lb on ebay. I picked up 40 Lb of forbon scraps for the price of shipping (I had to share it with someone else as part of the deal). Then I got in on an early Sensmag order and well we all know what those cost...

[David Schwab]

Yo.

Small co-wreck-shun: Silver spot price is per troy ounce (= 14.6 oz per pound), so its price per pound is about $425.

The $1200-1500 setup charge vanishes into noise when they process a half ton of copper into mag wire.

You know, I was figuring that was low, but that's what I keep seeing when I Googled "price of silver per pound". Seems too low for copper as well. I find those metal trading web sites confusing. I know gold is presently about $1,400.

[David Schwab]

It is totally relevant except at the highest frequencies where it does not account for the effect of the coil capacitance on the increased resistance. Since it is clear that you do not understand the physics of how magnetic induction works, you should just accept the model, which is well justified. The voltage source goes in series with the inductance and resistance, and the coil capacitance goes in parallel with that combination. You can see that at low frequencies, adding another resistor in series with the pickup is the same as increasing the resistance of the coil.

MIke, I have used series resistors to cut down on passive pickups interacting with each other. They were larger than 500 Ohms, and it didn't ruin the tone. Fender used to do that on the stacked knob Jazz basses too. I also often wire up blend pots with the ground lifted, so it's putting series resistance after the pickup. If I disconnect the other pickup and listen, its tone is not worse, just lower in level.

And I do understand inductance. That was my point. You can add a series 500 Ohm pickup coil, and if it's sensing the strings it wont sound like a 500 Ohm resistor. Not that a 500 Ohm resistor changes the tone much at all.

And for someone who doesn't make pickups, you have a lot of opinions about stuff that is irrelevant in the real world. I try all sorts of things all the time to see what effect it will have.

[Mike Sulzer]

Not that a 500 Ohm resistor changes the tone much at all.

Exactly my point. So if you change from silver to copper, increasing the resistance by a bit, it is not going to make much difference. As long as you understand that changing the resistance of the coil is very much like adding a small series resistor.

I warned you that you have to point your snark detector in the right direction, but you paid no attention!

[Mark Hammer]

Which is why I used the analogy of the role that high-end racing vehicles produced by major auto companies play in developing future products for regular folks. What Ford or Toyota or Peugot stick in the cars that bear their name at 200mph is probably not what's in what you and I drive...but maybe 6-8 years from now it might be.

So yeah, theremaybe something to seeing just how far you can push the envelope when cost is ignored.

[David Schwab]

I warned you that you have to point your snark detector in the right direction, but you paid no attention!

I surely missed the snark .... that's what I get for reading too quickly.

Now your post makes sense... sorry about that!

[Mike Sulzer]

Now your post makes sense... sorry about that!

My bad! I should be careful about doing that when there is any chance of confusion. I just get disturbed by some of this magic wire and molecular structure stuff. (But I do find the pole pieces intriguing!)

[David Schwab]

My bad! I should be careful about doing that when there is any chance of confusion. I just get disturbed by some of this magic wire and molecular structure stuff. (But I do find the pole pieces intriguing!)

I thought you went off the deep end for a moment.

[Magnut]

About a month or two ago I was at a sale for a local technology manufacturer and came across some 38awg silver plated copper. I thought it was very interesting and purchased several 2lb rolls. The only problem is it's not insulated. It was priced well enough for me to get it anyway. I want to find someone to insulate it or maybe even try it myself. Does anyone know of someone who can insulate it?

[Mark Hammer]

I'm not trying to be facetious or snotty, but at 38awg do the advantages of silver over copper still apply? What would be the break point (in terms of gauge, or # turns too, I guess) where silver wire stops providing clear advantage over copper?

[Magnut]

I'm not trying to be facetious or snotty, but at 38awg do the advantages of silver over copper still apply? What would be the break point (in terms of gauge, or # turns too, I guess) where silver wire stops providing clear advantage over copper?

I wouldn't have taken you for being snotty. It's a fair question. The reality is, I don't know. But at the price I paid for it, $3, it looked like it would be fun to play with, and learn from it. Mostly it was an opprotunity to have some experimental fun. At the very least it's worth the cost in scrap metal.

I now know who the manufacturer of it is and have considered trying another guage. I had no idea Duncan was coming out with this. It was another thread here that speculated about different materials and this found it's way into my hands by accident. If only it were insullated I would know the answer to your question already.

[Mike Sulzer]

I'm not trying to be facetious or snotty, but at 38awg do the advantages of silver over copper still apply? What would be the break point (in terms of gauge, or # turns too, I guess) where silver wire stops providing clear advantage over copper?

I do not think that anyone has demonstrated that there are any advantages to silver wire at all. And now this is silver plated wire under discussion. It has even fewer advantages, especially considering that with this tiny wire, skin depth is not much of an issue an issue.