Vintage Braided Wire

[reedy]

A question for the group. Is there any way telling the age or authenticity of an old pickup by examining the braided wire? I've been trying to find information on this and I can't. I seem to remember reading somewhere that the 2-strand braided wire used in the '50s and '60s is different than what is used currently. I think it was something to do with the pattern of the weave being different.

Anyone have some info on this? Thanks.

 

[planks]

There is some degree of info here Gibson PAF Humbuckers Pickups Patent Applied For Pickups M69 M-69 pickup rings - Vintage Guitars Info

I'm sure someone else will chime in with details you might need.

 

[JJ Blair]

You can visibly see the difference, if you have examples of both. I've also noticed that there were at least two different weaves of the shielding, on the vintage, which I have seen on my guitars and/or loose PAFs.

 

[Pete M]

It might certainly HELP to identify a vintage piece, but the correct wire is available on the market. However most new wire has 3 or 4 strands per braid and all sorts of colours and plastic tubing inside. A good few pickup makers use the correct wire. Throbak for example...

 

[reedy]

So I've got a hold of some old wire from the '50 and compared it to 'modern' gibson braided wire. It's interesting, the weave of the wire looks similar; both 2-strand and each strand crosses under two other in the weave. However, the guage of the older 2-strand looks to be thicker. It also looks the material is slightly different as it looks different. I used modern wire from '94 to show the difference in how they age. Granted it's not the same age as '54 but it isn't brand new. Anyways, I snapped a picture in case anyone is interested.