P Bass 1951-1957 single coil pickup wire type?

[okabass]

What wire type was used on P Bass 1951-1957 single coil pickup? AWG 42 but  plain enamel, formvar...?  

[reTrEaD]

Hello okabass

to the GuitarNutz family.

I would guess by looking at this they used formvar. There seems to be a pattern where Fender used formvar in all their pickups until somewhere around 1964 where plain enamel was used, at least in some pickup models.

It might not be a bad idea to confirm this with other internet search results. Maybe try 'vintage pickup specifications' as the search string.

[okabass]

Thank you. Nice to be here. Very informative forum.

Tried to look pics from old PUs. That little you can see the wire is "dark" (Plain enamel?) Or the black wax could have make the dark colour. 
 www.dropbox.com/s/ng7k0ew2edbfv2z/Screenshot%202018-05-06%2019.17.25.png?dl=0
www.dropbox.com/s/gal2xodwnnpw39y/Screenshot%202018-05-06%2019.22.48.png?dl=0

[reTrEaD]

I don't wind pickups and I've never had the need to be able to identify the insulation on windings by looking at the color. I'll tag antigua and he can probably shed some light on that.

[antigua]

According to this site www.guitarhq.com/pickups.html and this site www.theguitarmagazine.com/features/all-about-stratocaster-pickups/ , Fender used formvar until 1964  , then switched to plain enamel around the same time as switching to gray fiber board. 

[okabass]

May 6, 2018 12:14:09 GMT -5 antigua said:

According to this site www.guitarhq.com/pickups.html and this site www.theguitarmagazine.com/features/all-about-stratocaster-pickups/ , Fender used formvar until 1964  , then switched to plain enamel around the same time as switching to gray fiber board. 

Yes. I've found those sites. But like to hear it like someone who's really checked or rewound a real 50's bass pickup. Here's a 1957 P Bass PU. Doesn't look like formvar. I think they have used different wire for bass PU.
www.dropbox.com/s/rn58votvv7y0hhr/Screenshot%202018-05-06%2023.31.07.png?dl=0
I may not be really important, but like to know it for sure.


Ps. Many thanks for you really great posts here and Pickup makers site.

Ps 2  I found pics from my friends original 9-57 P Bass. It is a spilt coil PU but only a few months after the change from single coil to split coil. 
www.dropbox.com/s/9b5qtaj472l791o/Screenshot%202018-05-07%2000.04.14.png?dl=0

[antigua]

I'd be surprised if they wound the bass pickups with a different wire from their other pickups, since they looked at it from a cost perspective and would have had no reason to favor one type for Strat pickups, and something else for their bass guitar pickups.

I suppose by looking at pictures of sold and for-sale eBay or Reverb listing for authentic vintage pickups, you might be able to corroborate 1964 as being a year where the color on the wire changes. Formvar can be lighter or darker shade of orange, but it appears to me that plain enamel is always a very dark burgundy, so it might be possible to verify through visuals of pickup listings. 

[okabass]

Seems that 7ender used different wire for bass PU than guitar PU. 

"  Fender used 42 gauge (43 gauge in some cases such as teles) formvar for their normal production guitars until March ‘64, then they switched to 42 gauge plain enamel. However, Fender used plain enamel for the P-Bass after switching from the single coil pickup to the split coil pickup at ‘58 ❮should be '57❯. As a matter of fact, they used plain enamel for all their bass models until they went back to formvar in the late 60s. In the early 70s they returned to using plain enamel again.  "

www.talkbass.com/threads/is-this-a-pre-cbs-precision-pickup.1222997/

According to that guitars use formvar '50 to '64. After that PE wire.  Basses:  formvar '51 to '57 or '58, then plain enamel to late 60s. Then early 70s again PE.