1965 grey bobbin with formvar ?

[Lyrebird Steve]

Hi Guys,

I've seen pics of a Grey bottom Strat pickup dated 9.9.65 that had Formvar wire on it. I thought the Formvar was first part of 64 and then PE was used from then on ?

The wire looks in immaculate condition and reads to 6.2k (1963?)

I'm wondering if these may have been rewound ... is there a definitive cutover date between Formvar and PE ?

Was Formvar ever wound on the Grey bottoms ?

Thanks

[LtKojak]

Hi Guys,

I've seen pics of a Grey bottom Strat pickup dated 9.9.65 that had Formvar wire on it. I thought the Formvar was first part of 64 and then PE was used from then on ?

The wire looks in immaculate condition and reads to 6.2k (1963?)

I'm wondering if these may have been rewound ... is there a definitive cutover date between Formvar and PE ?

Was Formvar ever wound on the Grey bottoms ?

Thanks

Pickups specifications, Fender , Gibson, etc..

Here you can read 'bout it.

HTH,

[Lyrebird Steve]

Pickups specifications, Fender , Gibson, etc..

Here you can read 'bout it.

HTH,

Yes,

that's the info I was referencing ... but it looks like they should be wound PE not HFV

thanks

[jonson]

There is no deffinate with Fender so could well be formvar as some earlier plain enamel pickups were wound with formvar as well. When the suits moved in after Leo went then it was down to wire costs and against the opinions of the guys on the floor they went with the cheaper plain but just like black forbon and mixed black and grey if there was still some stock found in a bin then don't waste it use it.

[Jim Shine]

Being that late in '65, I would suspect rewind.

I have seen some anomalies in late '64-65. There is a winding wire I have seen on some Strats and Musicmaster family guitars used during the time they were chnaging to gray bobbins. It has a natural color and has a thinner insulation. The wires color is very pale, almost like the color of freshly polished brass. Earliest examples I have seen have the yellow date stamps, latest examples when the earliest handwritten dates were applied in pencil. By the time they went to marker, they were using the multi bobbin winding machines and in PE.

I wouldn't be crediting Leo to much of that kind of thing. By that time he was ill and didn't have much to do with the manufacturing aspect of the business. Forrest White made those sorts of decisions while Leo pretty much stuck to the R&D department.

[Lyrebird Steve]

The pickups look way to clean to be "original vintage" - ie I think these must be rewound ... here's a pic

[Jim Shine]

Rewound for sure. I would even look for evidence they are a conversion (take a Musicmaster family pickup, install staggered magnets and rewind). Conversions were real popular 20 years ago.

[big_teee]

The pickups look way to clean to be "original vintage" - ie I think these must be rewound ... here's a pic
[ATTACH=CONFIG]28069[/ATTACH]

Why does the pic say "fake-vintage.jpg" when you run your cursor over the image you listed?

[Lyrebird Steve]

Why does the pic say "fake-vintage.jpg" when you run your cursor over the image you listed?

LOLs ... I "Save As" the screen print to my hard drive as "Fake Vintage ?" ... didn't realise the file name would appear

[big_teee]

LOLs ... I "Save As" the screen print to my hard drive as "Fake Vintage ?" ... didn't realise the file name would appear

It looks like a copy to me, the whole pickup, even the writing looks too clean.
I like that price! We need a whole set at those rates.
T