Plain enamel single or heavy?

[mkat]

I'd like to try some AWG 42 PE to compare with other wire I have. Was the plain enamel insulation used on Fender single coil pickups (bass & guitar) single or heavy build?

Also, was it the same for the Gibson humbuckers?

Regards,

Michael

[Spence]

Yes it was single build and the same for both.

[mkat]

Yes it was single build and the same for both.

Great stuff, thanks Spence. Just to answer one of my questions, MWS stated that PE is not made on heavy build, only single build where there are differences in the OD.

Regards,

Michael

[mkat]

Something I forgot to ask. Is the OD min - nom or nom - max?

[David Schwab]

Yes it was single build and the same for both.

Didn't Fender use heavy formvar on the early pickups? I seem to remember reading that somewhere...

[GlennW]

Didn't Fender use heavy formvar on the early pickups? I seem to remember reading that somewhere...

S. K.'s site shows "F" for Fender Strat pickups from 1954-1964 and some others - didn't see anything about Heavy. Maybe that's where you saw it. Lindy's site too for some stuff.

[mkat]

Didn't Fender use heavy formvar on the early pickups? I seem to remember reading that somewhere...

I've seen some information stating this up to around '64. From '64 up to I don't know when, they apparently used PE. Also, if you go by Forrest White's comments, they used PE or ST (and isn't the turn count in his list way off, don't know what happened there). The early pbass pickup I have has a orange colour wire, wheras the 70's jbass pickup has a kind of dark brown (?) colour.

[Spence]

Didn't Fender use heavy formvar on the early pickups? I seem to remember reading that somewhere...

The question refered to plain enamel rather than Formvar.

Some plain enamel coatings are thicker than others. That doesn't mean it's a double build.