Stripping 42ga pickup wire/Frequency response

[loogie]

Is there some readily available solvent that will do this?  Or if you have a preferred technique what is it?  Also, after winding a pickup what would be a good way of getting a ballpark idea on its frequency response?  Thanks.

[Geo]

Don't worry about stripping the wire. When you go to solder the two 42AWG leads to your pickup leads, the solder will melt the insulation. Test with an ohm meter when you're done. If it reads open, melt the joints and keep them hot for a few seconds longer. The insulation will melt.

As to this...

Also, after winding a pickup what would be a good way of getting a ballpark idea on its frequency response?

Honestly, I would just test it with my ears. The physics of it are so complex (coil's capacitance, resonance, etc.), I wouldn't attempt it. But someone else might have equations for you etc.

[loogie]

Thanks, I'll do that.  The first one I wound I would stop every once and a while, scrape off some insulation and measure resistance.  I painted over the exposed area with nail polish.  I'm just going to wind this one up until I run out of room, but I will revisit the stopping-and-measuring approach in the future.

I figured it was a fiddly job; trying to determine frequency response, and its not real important to me.  I was just curious.  I wonder if I could put a speaker near it, or a speaker with some lightweight steel item -- like a paper clip -- attached to it.  I think I'll try something screwey like that. 

[jhadhar65]

http://www.provide.net/~cfh/pickups.html

There are sc charts further down the page for Fender pickups.  Most winders (I'm not one) seem to focus on turns rather than actual resistance/impedance.  More creative searching would likely turn up other charts for different pickups and styles.

As for frequency response measurement, analysis, and results comparison ideas:

http://www.stormriders.com/guitar/telecaster/guitar_wood.pdf

http://buildyourguitar.com/resources/lemme/

[tubesornothing]

Damn - beat me to it!

I like the lemme site - real cool stuff for testing pickups.

[loogie]

Great stuff! Thanks. 

Particularly interesting is the body woods abstract.  Back in high school a friend had a Dan Armstrong guitar.  I though the coolest thing about it was that you could quickly change pups.  Of course the fact you could see through it was way cool as well.  I wish I could remember how it sounded un-amplified.