Copper wires vintage style

Voicing a pickup is not only about the right number of turns and thickness of the wire; how copper layers are composed, as well as the wire insulation, define a pickup’s tonal response.

Nowadays, there are almost 18 different types of wire insulation: polyurethanes, nylons, poly-nylons, polyester and lots more.

But only two are vintage, period-accurate coatings that were used in all vintage-style pickups, and today few batches are produced, usually only on demand for boutique custom shops and high-end pickup makers, because they exceed standard industrial tolerances and are therefore obsolete for industry applications.

Formvar, or Formal Varnish, insulates with hydrolized vinyl acetal resin  and condensation of formaldeide and looks like a smooth uniform film. It has an excellent abrasion resistance and great flexibility and elasticity. The orange amber colored application used on old Strats had a double coat called heavy formvar, with a gauge of 42 awg (approximately 0.063 mm).

Plain enamel, 42 awg, with its blackish-purple coating, was common in the ’50s and into the ’60s for use on all the old Gibson P.A.F.s. The single coat allows space for more turns in the bobbin compared to the HF coil.

The result is a warm, clear, vibrant tone, the best faithful reproduction of the VINTAGE sound a guitar can play.

Our goal is to recover the vintage tone of a classic era and reinvigorate the modern one, combining intuition, experience, and quality artisan craftmanship,  check it out .