How to Select Coil Wire For A Guitar Pickup

Coil wire can have a major impact on tone. This video will help you to understand how the choice of wire will shape the tone of your guitar.

[HighlineGuitars]

Hey everyone, I think the chart at 9:44 is wrong. The bars for thin and thickest should probably be swapped. I think. This stuff can even confuse me, especially when I'm editing video, winding pickups, and carving guitars on my CNC machine.

[MrPatzerat]

No mojo, no hype, no BS...just facts. That’s what I like about you. 👍🏻

[TVoltG]

I once made a P90 style bridge pick up bobbin that gave me about 2inches of inner core room to wind. I used a single formvar 40awg wire. It sounded fantastic and I still have it installed in a guitar now for a few years. It really gelled with an A8 and I think I wound it to 8.9k and the henries were outrageous. I don't remember those numbers. But seeing this video is making me want to make another one.

[elioalcala]

FOR next vídeos. WILL BE nice to hear your different guitar pick ups! As examples

[surginerc]

Chris, Once again great job clarifying. I have watched several videos on this and was a little undecided on insulation. Now I think I know which direction I’m going. I really enjoy the way you lay out facts, potential debates, and the arguments which are unable to be proven. BTW I love the new buffer I built from your design.

[fridellpickups]

I just stumbled across this video. Its a good one that offer some nice thoughts. I started winding the spring of 2020 and have concluded that there are several ways to get a certain tone by mixing different wire gauges, magnets etc :)

[TheRealChemlock]

you're the man! just the info i was looking for, and encouraging me to dig into the rest of your videos to learn more about how all this works

[karlsonkab]

52 years ago I had one bobbin and associated alnico bar magnet - wound it with perhps #26-28 - used a matching transformer from a microphone as a step-up- it had adequate output and a very "hi-fi" response - could be ok for some bass guitar rigs.

[ChezZenn]

Yes, I’m in the Way Back Machine catching up. Another great one!

[jumpingjack]

I'm still puzzled but that's coz your Soooo informative! Your very knowledgeable! Thanks.

[TomL-]

Another great video on pickups, you filled in a few more blanks for me. Thank you!

[thejmaker]

what a magnificent video! New to PU winding and very grateful watching this!!!

[theleftymonster]

Thank you Sir. Couldn’t be explained better. Very educational.

[valueofnothing]

I must say I like my 7k 43 gauge Squire tele neck pickup. But then again, it's mellow and not for everything - but is great for soft rock, jazz.

[inkpapers-]

Great, just the info I was looking for starting out with pickup winding.

[DavidRavenMoon]

It’s the number of turns, not the length of the wire that determines the output. 8, 000 turns of 42 and 44 will have the same output. Obviously if you want to fit more wire than the bobbin will hold with a certain gauge, then you must go thinner.

I’m not convinced the resistance matters, but they do sound different. 40 AWG will be much brighter than 42 with less mids. 44 has a tighter low end. The mid bump will happen as you wind more wire since the pickup acts like a band pass filter.

Don’t forget that the wire is generating the current. It’s not just passing signal. Also the current resides on the surface of the wire (skin effect), so clearly thicker wire has a larger surface area.

None of this is totally understood for pickups, but is better understood for inductors and RF circuits.

[VaansWorld]

in my mind, I thought "there must be graphs somewhere that visualize all this info..." and then voila, there they are haha. Thank you sir! Great info as always.

[atrumluminarium]

I suspect that *IF* the chemical composition of the coating has any effect on tone, it would be a function of the material's electrostatic permittivity. This is because that in theory there should be some parasitic capacitance within each turn of the coil which is a function of the overlapping area, the permittivity, and the separation of any two points

[rugirpickupsmanualwoundpup]

Enjoyed your video! I am making hand wound hand guided order-made pickups as a co business under company employed. I misunderstood the thinner wire will create treble tone however, your video shows different. I will try to change my lecipi for custom order.

[alastairmacdonald]

Another excellent video... explained really well ... thank you