Looking for a little bit of 38awg wire

[madzub]

Hello all. I've got a Charlie Christian bobbin that I picked up off the Baye, being very fascinated with this pickup and wanting to build my own, seeing as there are very few pickups of this style in production and the few there are are expensive.

I've never wound a pickup and don't plan to wind any more for the time being, so I'm just looking for a small amount of 38awg wire, any insulation type. But, I can't seem to find anywhere to get a small amount of this wire; i've found various sources for larger spools of wire starting at around $50, and I've also found small amounts of 42 and 43 awg (the popular ones!) but not 38.

Can anybody suggest a source? fyi, I'm located near Toronto, Canada, if anyone knows of a source close by, but I'd be happy with a mail order.

Help and guidance would be much appreciated, and I would suggest that someone should start producing an affordable CC knockoff, albeit not a direct knockoff; I think its a really fascinating model, and I am surprised that more people are not experimenting with thicker wire in general. Anyways....

Thanks,

Andrew

[John_H]

On ebay

[madzub]

Thanks John. Actually I've found that source already, and surely 1000 feet is not enough wire for one pickup, no? I messaged them and asked if I could get 5000 feet, thinking that it would cost 5*2.99=14.94, but instead the quoted cost is $38. Seems a little much to me.

I suppose I could get a few 1000' spools and solder the ends together? That might be a little messy, but it could work I suppose.

Anyone got another source for approximately 4000-5000 feet of 38 awg wire?

[Spence]

Scientific Wire in London, UK will sell as little as 500 grammes.

[Possum]

CC

not all CC pickups were 38 gauge only the early ones, the later ones were 42 PE 10,000 turns. You'll never nail an authentic CC copy probably ever, the original bobbins were some kind of cast stuff impregnated with iron dust to boost the inductance because those pickups are so bright. I got one of those too, they are pretty well done, a little rough but can clean up OK. I have no info on what kind of steel alloy was used for the blade but you won't find it at the hardware store for sure. blades are very frustrating to work with, basically the tone of the thing will be determined almost exclusively by the blade size and alloy, chaning winds doesn't have too much effect, type of wire does, magnets don't have much effect.

[madzub]

That's some neat info, Possum. I certainly wasn't intending to make an authentic copy, really just something a lot different from everything else out there. I was planning on experimenting with different polepieces, even just an alnico bar magnet as the polepiece. I think I might just go ahead and use some 36awg PE wire, for which i've found a reasonably priced/sized source.