No, with a machine wound coil, Higher number of turns, or less scatter like you're trying to fill the bobbin across 1 layer all the way until you're done winding, will, as stated above by SteikBacon, make the capacitance lower as well as the resistance, as if you made 1 turn with a flat piece of copper the width of the bobbin all the way around. More scatter will increase capacitance because the wires overlap a lot more causing an increase in capacitance with resistance , think of it like having a 4 inch pipe, the tight scatter is like the water flowing through the pipe freely now imagine the more scatter where the wire goes over the other windings numerous times, imagine that those are like little baffles in the pipe, it's going to impede the flow of the water because you have more resistance. If you wind a coil with a lot of scatter you'll get to your desired resistance faster with less turns than you will with less scatter. I can't tell you how many times I've read this post and never got it. When I did it was like a light bulb turned on.
Basically, if you wind a little looser, don't confuse me saying looser with the wire being sloppy falling off the coil, with less scatter the pickup will brighten up. Less scatter and it will fatten up and cut some highs. The trick is to get the tension and the TPL just right for the best of all things combined. Don't take my word for it. YMMV.......
Yo Bob, do you realize you are responding (with an answer) to a 9 year old post in a thread that went dormant in 2015?
"No, with a machine wound coil, Higher number of turns, or less scatter like you're trying to fill the bobbin across 1 layer all the way until you're done winding, will, as stated above by SteikBacon, make the capacitance lower as well as the resistance, as if you made 1 turn with a flat piece of copper the width of the bobbin all the way around. More scatter will increase capacitance because the wires overlap a lot more causing an increase in capacitance with resistance"
This is wrong correct? I would think the more you scatter, your capacitance goes down. When my latest hobby was winding single coils, i used to measure inductance and then find the resonant peak with my signal generator and XY on the scope, then calculate capacitance. I think i remember tighter/closer and more uniform winds would increase capacitance. Been a while since i wound pickups, glad i bought those 5lb spools back then.
I've been reading this post and the comments over and over and I see one person say i get this instead of that with scatter and another saying they get the opposite. Lets not forget Tension. Increasing or decreasing the tension can affect the overall tone no matter whether you're using a lot of scatter or doing a 100% fill rate.
If you wind very consistent and place one turn next to the previous turn i would think you will increase the capacitance. That's how a capacitor is made right? More surface area.
Generally a looser wind can give lower capacitance.
But the result can be spoiled when the winder fills up the "valleys" of an uneven wind for a nicer look, because this lowers the distance between inner and outer turns and can significantly increase total capacitance.
It is essential to build up the coil evenly for low capacitance.
Most vintage type Strat-PUs using heavy Formvar wire measure between 50pF and 100pF.
My test comprised hand wound PUs from several boutique winders as well as machine wound (e.g. Fender) PUs including a set of original 1959 Strat PUs.
The test didn't show a clear trend between hand and machine wound.
Plain enamel insulation is thinner and increases capacitance by roughly 50pF, measured PUs ranging between 110pF and 150pF.
As PU capacitance merely adds to the much larger cable capacitance, I wouldn't worry about a difference of 50pF.
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