Pickup Wire Q

[TonMan1]

I know the wire being used is done by the same machine used in the Fifties. Now what I wonder is most of that wire back then was Not pure copper like used today for magnet wire. Does the wire being used have the same impurities as the old, original `50's wire has? Alot of that old wire has silver & lead in the copper mix.
BTW, why is there not a sub topic on this forum for pickups?
Thanks!

 

[László]

BTW, why is there not a sub topic on this forum for pickups?
Thanks!

Maybe because you're the only person who's ever asked for it?

Here's a link to a nice article on pickup wire you might like.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/tales-from-custom-shop/seymour-duncan-company/the-way-of-wire/

 

[TonMan1]

Thanks for the link! I've known Seymour and Cathy for about 35 years. I will most likely see Cathy Monday night if she makes the drive down from Santa Barbara. We have a "geeky guitar group"(Joe Bonamassa's term) that meets on a very irregular basis. MJ, Seymour's right hand, has made me and fixed for me a number of pickups over the years(decades really). Too bad the article didn't go into the purity of the copper. My friend Tom (TV) Jones is the one who hipped me to the impurities when he was reverse engineering his Ray Butts FilterTron's. He had all the materials analyzed which entails basically grinding up all of the components and having them documented. He told me the wire was different in the Fifties & early sixties and contained trace amounts of lead and silver and even iron. The wire will have an effect on a pickup and the amounts of trace materials can vary from spool to spool.
Thanks!