American Wire Corp. Sandy Hook, Conn. Brown Plain Enamel wire ?

[capehead]

Would this image from google maps be where AWC is located: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4172...2w!2e0!6m1!1e1 If so, this isn't what I would have expected either. None the less, so long as the product is good who cares what the facility looks like? I'm still dying to know how you guys' wire is working out for you....

[big_teee]

This is the location I get when I do a lookup on google Satelite image.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wi...d3562d7f2d9235

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4177512,-73.2957371,17z

[the great waldo]

Would this image from google maps be where AWC is located: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4172...2w!2e0!6m1!1e1 If so, this isn't what I would have expected either. None the less, so long as the product is good who cares what the facility looks like? I'm still dying to know how you guys' wire is working out for you....

Looks a bit vintage to me !!!

Cheers

Andrew

[big_teee]

Looks a bit vintage to me !!!

Cheers

Andrew

The satelite image shows a lot more.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wi...d3562d7f2d9235

[the great waldo]

The satelite image shows a lot more.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wi...d3562d7f2d9235

Hi T


I was talking about that shed thing at the front you could turn to the left and see the correct building in street view. I'd much rather see an old building with old guys in there that know what the rather than a bunch of guys with i phones and no experience. I must be getting old !!

Cheers
Andrew

[big_teee]

Hi T


I was talking about that shed thing at the front you could turn to the left and see the correct building in street view. I'd much rather see an old building with old guys in there that know what the rather than a bunch of guys with i phones and no experience. I must be getting old !!

Cheers
Andrew

I bet that is just an old frame house that has been there a hundred years.
There are two factory type buildings. Don't know if they are both AWC.
Neither one looks very new.
I had rather it be a real factory with experienced employees that came up through the ranks, during the old and new times.
It sounds like they run a skeleton crew, and mainly make modern Poly wire.
I think the PE, is a sideline!
Hardly anyone uses it!
Just old Mossy Pickup Winders! :<)

[David King]

They had to stop running PE for a couple of years because the guy who knew how got sick and was out for a while. They only just started it up again recently. The wire place is the larger agglomerated building at the back. Not many folks work there. There's Teresa and then there's her boss and then maybe the guy who knows how to do the PE. OK that's a wild guess. Bill M got the low down and would give us a first hand account.

[Jim Shine]

I started in on my spool today. The only thing that kind of surprised me is it looks exactly like the last few spools of Electrosola I bought from Remington. Had the spools not been labeled, I would have assumed they were made by the same people. The color and the feel are exact.

[big_teee]

So did anyone stick a Mic on the new wire?
I'm curious how big it is? For Future Reference?
And, if you really want to measure, check 10 feet of wire and see what the Ohms measures?
You should get in the 16 - 18 ohms range for 10 feet?
T

[David King]

The race is on...

[Stratz]

AWC bought some of the old Viking Wire equipment. Bill and Theresa are both very nice people.
The last batch or 42 PE I bought from (Aug 2014) measured out at ~0.0275"-280" which is a bit heavy.

The 44 gauge I have measures ~,022
Go figure.

[Possum]

I wish they would get their act together, .0028" is just too big to be useful, are they even drawing their own wire or buying bare wire stock from somewhere else? I have several rolls from 2003 that are just unusable to base any pickups on, they are around .0031" diameter. Apparently PE is hard to make, I was in contact with another wire maker no one knows about who tried to make PE and failed at it after 3 tries. If only one guy there knows how to do it, thats just sad, when he's gone there won't be anymore? Has anyone talked to Essex? They made damn good wire back in 2003 and earlier, I've heard that PRS or someone had them make wire, but someone has to tell these guys there are preferred diameters we need and if its out of range I won't buy it. I have one roll of AWC from 2010 or so, its the right diameter but its hard to design around something you can't get anymore. With the crudity of Chinese products if they are making PE that would be a place to look. But PE isn't used by any industries anymore.

[big_teee]

I wish they would get their act together, .0028" is just too big to be useful, are they even drawing their own wire or buying bare wire stock from somewhere else? I have several rolls from 2003 that are just unusable to base any pickups on, they are around .0031" diameter. Apparently PE is hard to make, I was in contact with another wire maker no one knows about who tried to make PE and failed at it after 3 tries. If only one guy there knows how to do it, thats just sad, when he's gone there won't be anymore? Has anyone talked to Essex? They made damn good wire back in 2003 and earlier, I've heard that PRS or someone had them make wire, but someone has to tell these guys there are preferred diameters we need and if its out of range I won't buy it. I have one roll of AWC from 2010 or so, its the right diameter but its hard to design around something you can't get anymore. With the crudity of Chinese products if they are making PE that would be a place to look. But PE isn't used by any industries anymore.

I would think someone that makes strat pickups would want the .0031 wire.
We have guys on here wanting big wire.
I contacted Essex a year back about selling to the forum members, and all they offered to sell us was SPN.
And, it was high at their dealer cost.
If no other industry uses PE? Pickup makers know better???

[the great waldo]

If it's of any interest

I just measured the wire from an 62/63 p90 came out at 0.063mm Last batch of elektrisola 0.064 new awc 0.065 mm (the p90 did vary a bit in thickness 0.062 to 0.064 maybe due to stretching when wound)

Cheers

Andrew

[Possum]

PE is old technology, no one wants it anymore, except us. Your measurements of those wires seem awful low. Typical vintage P90 wire I have is .0027" and sightly under, one from '49 with hand made bobbin was .00285" from an old Switchmaster and all the pickups on it are real low reading due to the fatness of the wire. The fattest wire I've seen was from earliest 50's mostly. I've a roll of purple PE from '54 that is .0031" so useless for PAF's, unless you can convince a guitar player that a 6K PAF is something they'd want ;-) Will save it for Tele bridge pickups at some point. Some of the oldest AWC I have the insulation is flaking off in some places. I've had alot of conversations with Elektrisola over the years, they measure their wire with a laser and they admit they make their PE on the skinny side, and a bit fat on the max side, at some point it might be worth talking to them to see if they can make some wire in the middle and do a group buy somehow, I seem to remember it was around $10,000-$20,000 for a minimum custom buy. 100 pounds i think it was. The weirdest wire I ever bought was black single formvar, it looks like PE but is darker sounding. I remember some thought that Gibson's BurstBucker wire was dyed poly, I wonder if they are still doing that.