Polyurethane VS Plain Enamel wire

[tazzboy]

I'm just wonder what is the difference between the two tone wise a and winding wise.

and watch Modern Gibson Pickups used both of these types of wire?

 

[captcoolaid]

poly is a cheaper wire. Alot of the bigger guys use it in thier lower end pups. However most if not all boutique guys here use plain enamel.

 

[tazzboy]

OK sound what is the difference sound wise?

 

[MrRhoads]

I guess Polyurethane is brighter and Plain Enamel is a little warmer.
Some say it´s in-audible

 

[tazzboy]

That's what I thought as well since I have Tim Shaw PAF that around with Polyurethane wire. The bridge Pickup always to seems to be bright and shrill. I do use a .022uF cap and I am considering going to .033uF Cap.

 

[MrRhoads]

Remember that the insulation on the copper wire alone does not determine if the pickup will sound bright or warm even thoug different insulation effects the tone.

 

[tazzboy]

OK So what does? The Magnet I know is Alnico 5 Cause it is very bright sounding even when I sent the string action up. It still has a lot of brightness.

 

[jonesy]

That's what I thought as well since I have Tim Shaw PAF that around with Polyurethane wire. The bridge Pickup always to seems to be bright and shrill. I do use a .022uF cap and I am considering going to .033uF Cap.

Why not just roll off your Tone control a little farther instead of going to a larger value capacitor?

 

[tazzboy]

I have back the tone down to 7 on both, but I general like to have a little bite of treble when I need but not too much.

 

[captcoolaid]

Most poly that I have heard is real shrilly, but yes it is in the wind. To me PE is the way to go better quality and overall sound. But that is just my oppinion.

 

[tazzboy]

For the Bridge Pickup it is. For the Neck it's great.

I was also wondering what is the difference between Plain Enamel #42, 43 and 44?

 

[bryvincent]

For the Bridge Pickup it is. For the Neck it's great.

I was also wondering what is the difference between Plain Enamel #42, 43 and 44?

it is the AWG(American Wire Gauge) number. the higher the number, the smaller the wire diameter.

 

[MrRhoads]

OK So what does? The Magnet I know is Alnico 5 Cause it is very bright sounding even when I sent the string action up. It still has a lot of brightness.

Read this http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/pickups/62498-output-vs-resistance.html look at the post by "Skatterbrane"
The more wire you put on a coil in the pickup will make it sound darker (more low mids and bass) and the less you put on will make it sound brighter (more high mids and treble).
Then it also depends on how the wire is put on the coils and the outher shape looks like on the coils bent of flat like this () or )( or ||.
Hope you understand.
If you missmatch the coils you´ll get some more treble out of the pickup as well.
There´s alot of magic in the winders tension when he guide´s the wire on to the coils as well.
Once you have the 2 coils wound up you need to get some magnet to got with them in order to build the humbucker.
Different magnets will require different winds sometimes.
Alnico 2 - warm and compressed
Alnico 3 - thin and bright
Alnico 4 - bright alot of punch a mix between Alnico 2 & Alnico 5
Alnico 5 - more treble and punch
That´s my opinion on some magnets.
Then all the parts that´s go in to the humbucker the slugs, pole screws, baseplate, holding screws, keeperbar, spacer will also effect the final tone.

Remember that a bright sounding pickup for example isn´t nescesarily harsh or ice picky sounding, making sure one has some great electronics, pots and caps can do wonderfull things for your guitar
Hope you understand all of this.

 

[MrRhoads]

That's what I thought as well since I have Tim Shaw PAF that around with Polyurethane wire. The bridge Pickup always to seems to be bright and shrill. I do use a .022uF cap and I am considering going to .033uF Cap.

What kind of pots and caps do you have in your guitar?

 

[tazzboy]

CTS 500K Audio with 10% Tolerance (That's the type to get if you want to your CTS to read over 500K) and Russian .022uF/200 volts Caps

My Pickups are of course the Tim Shaw PAF 498/499 Combo made in May 1981 and the Neck pickup reads 7.53K and the Bridge reads 7.55K.

Like I said I have consider getting .033uF or .047uF caps for the bridge to car tail some the treble when the pot is on 10. As for the neck it is a little bit boom so right now .022uF is fine but I have entertain getting .015uF to take away the boom.

 

[jonesy]

CTS 500K Audio with 10% Tolerance (That's the type to get if you want to your CTS to read over 500K) <snip>



Like I said I have consider getting .033uF or .047uF caps for the bridge to car tail some the treble when the pot is on 10. <snip>

Many 20% tolerance pots will read over 500K as well, I have tested dozens of both types on my bench meter.

With your Tone on 10 it won't matter if you have an .022, .033 or .047 as your cap does not really become active in the circuit until you start to roll off your Tone control.

 

[tazzboy]

Well the 20% is like finding a needle in a haystack that would read over 500K Audio.

 

[jonesy]

Well the 20% is like finding a needle in a haystack that would read over 500K Audio.

No, not from my experience. Actually all I use are the A audio type and would say out of the last 100 or so of the 500K CTS pots that I got from Allparts 30% were below 500K 30% were right at 500K and 30% were over 500K.

Think about it 20% tolerance will have a wider fluctuation than a 10% so why would many of them not read over 500K? I think you are just speaking from your past experience which my not reflect on the over all scheme of things.