[Phlogiston]

It is hard to get that much wire on there. The insulation between the layers takes up space too. I just stock a few lbs of 39, 38, 36 and 34.

I bulk wind mine because my coil winder does not have the precision to layer wind, but I don't have 3 days to put into it either. The way you did it is better, if you have the patience.

One suggestion would be to cut off the wire and weigh it. Then calculate the length needed to rewind. You need a good scale.

I don't know, but I would say that the shorted windings would matter more depending on how many are shorted out of the circuit - not many, little change - a lot would mean poor results, BUT any shorts will mean that the transformer is unreliable.