insulation type

[David Schwab]

Your too cool : )
Nothing wrong with getting the thinker thinking, I just have some serious insomia over Gear in general. Pickups Consumes my thoughts. However, you should take the plunge and get some PE, I believe you'd hear it.

Well thanks!

All my recent pickup experience has mostly revolved around one particular pickup design, and it's variations, and I used the wire sold by Stew-Mac because I wasn't ready to buy a boat load of wire, if I didn't know what I wanted!

I got good results with that gauge and insulator. I'd love to try other gauges and insulators, but that involves buying a bulk of wire I might not use. Yet.

I left my day gig to get back into building basses, so the R&D budget is a bit tight ... Now I'm actually going through the wire makers catalogs.

So I listen to you guys. I see smaller rolls on eBay sometimes of various gauges and coatings. I'll have to take the plunge and try some.

[NightWinder]

Just get a 5lb spool. Ask for the smallest. Sometimes they have their head screwed on right. In the meantime, heres some Eyecandy for you David. A custom Bass, and my newest snag : )

[corduroyew]

So I listen to you guys. I see smaller rolls on eBay sometimes of various gauges and coatings. I'll have to take the plunge and try some.

Most of the PE on ebay is really just black poly so you have to contact the seller and ask them questions about it. I'm told that the only company still making real PE is MWS.

[David Schwab]

Most of the PE on ebay is really just black poly so you have to contact the seller and ask them questions about it. I'm told that the only company still making real PE is MWS.

Yeah I was referring to different gauges and stuff. I had heard that MWS is the only one making PE.

So many different combinations to try out...

[Rosewood]

I'm always thinking that unless you can wind two identical coils, identical in every way, then how do you know what different insulations are doing for tone.
Unless, the change is so great it overcomes the slight differences in coils. If I think about it long enough my head will explode, so I'll try some PE and formvar if it's available.

[Dave Kerr]

I wonder if any difference in tone arising from different insulation type might be due to a difference in the coefficient of friction between the materials? A smoother coating would be slightly more microphonic, and the difference more evident in unpotted coils.

[PoorMan]

I'm always thinking that unless you can wind two identical coils, identical in every way, then how do you know what different insulations are doing for tone.
Unless, the change is so great it overcomes the slight differences in coils. If I think about it long enough my head will explode, so I'll try some PE and formvar if it's available.

Well, with handwinding it's impossible to wind the coils exactly the same. You just have to do your best. Although it's not a perfect method of comparison, there really isn't a better way to do it.

[kevinT]

Most of the PE on ebay is really just black poly so you have to contact the seller and ask them questions about it. I'm told that the only company still making real PE is MWS.

Just curious...what questions do you ask besides who manufactured it? Thanks.

[kevinT]

Just get a 5lb spool. Ask for the smallest. Sometimes they have their head screwed on right. In the meantime, heres some Eyecandy for you David. A custom Bass, and my newest snag : )

Sweet Axes!!!! I like the color of the Les Paul...I was looking at a Hamer Standard USA model similar to that in orange...

[David Schwab]

Just get a 5lb spool. Ask for the smallest. Sometimes they have their head screwed on right. In the meantime, heres some Eyecandy for you David. A custom Bass, and my newest snag : )

Oh.. forgot to comment on these!

That's a pretty Paul. I like the bass. Reminds me of a Karl Thomson. Is that purpleheart in there? I use a lot of purpleheart.

What, no pickups?

[NightWinder]

Thanks. I thought David may like it. It is purple heart- Don't breath the dust, its highly poisonous!! The other is a Gary More Gibby, Been actually paying on it from a local collector....I tryed to coarse him into some trades, but had to dish out about $400.00 cash and a few trades. took me a while, but I like to pay all at once. He's a fairly rich fella, so he worked with me : )
the Thread: David- If you don't like what you hear....I'll buy the rest of the spool. I think many would here too(but i offered first!!) No biggy. I really want ya to try it. SHit, If I had a fairly empty spool, I'd send it to you. I'm not to much into reinventing the wheel, and I use alot of Half sizes, and different insultaion builds, but the common 42 awg is a must. 43 too for that matter too. Try to let them know that you are "trying" the new insulation type (MWS, although I have another spot too!) you may get a 3.5 lb or something. Just a thought

[corduroyew]

Just curious...what questions do you ask besides who manufactured it? Thanks.

Typically you don't need to ask any more than that but I usually ask if it's oleoresinous enamel. Most of the guys selling the stuff on ebay don't know, a few of them have told me that they thought it was just black poly.

1 guy told me it was oleoresinous enamel and gave me a brand name that wasn't MWS so I asked him how old it was. I then took the information back to the maker and didn't get any responce. So perhaps it was NOS PE but I don't really know. Unfortunatly magnet wire manufacterers aren't speedy quick when answering questions from guys like me.

[madialex]

I'm no expert and

cant explain a lot of things going on in a pickup. I have a pretty good ear for the most part.

I use PE, formvar and Poly and each has their own distinct tone. PE versus Poly, well to me Poly has a more wet tone to it where as PE has a dry type tone. Formvar is like the 2 combined with a smoother feel but very nice highs and lows. Just My .02 cents worth.

[Joe Gwinn]

Typically you don't need to ask any more than that but I usually ask if it's oleoresinous enamel. Most of the guys selling the stuff on ebay don't know, a few of them have told me that they thought it was just black poly.

1 guy told me it was oleoresinous enamel and gave me a brand name that wasn't MWS so I asked him how old it was. I then took the information back to the maker and didn't get any response. So perhaps it was NOS PE but I don't really know. Unfortunatly magnet wire manufacturers aren't speedy quick when answering questions from guys like me.

If one has a sample of the wire, I bet one can tell the insulation types apart by smelling the smoke. This works pretty well for plastics, though I haven't yet tried it with magnet wire. The main thing would be to use a flame that has no or very little smell of its own, so the little puff of smoke from a wire put into the flame isn't masked. An alcohol lamp would work, as would a gas flame. Candles and matches would not.

[DrStrangelove]

slick dielectrics

.wysiwyg { background-attachment: scroll; background-repeat: repeat; background-position: 0% 0%; background-color: #f5f5ff; background-image: none; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal } p { margin: 0px; }Coupla thoughts:

The insulations differ in friction and dielectric constant.

A slicker insulation will pack*winds*more tightly.

A higher dielectric constant = more instrinsic capacitance = lower resonant freq.

MWS Wire's catalog lists the dielectric constants of insulation on page 11.
...all except for plain enamel.

The poly-nylon and polyurethanes have the highest dielectric constant.
Does anyone have experience with them?

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