I just put a Dimarzio "Area T" in a tele, did some test DI recordings with it. Then I noticed that the SG I have with "Classic '57s" in, with the same settings, was a good few dB's quieter when recorded...
Does anyone know if the Area T's are pretty hot (comapred to stock), or the 57's are very low output for PAF type HB's?
Even better, anyone with the two units found the same thing or d'you think the wiring may be futzed in the SG?

I'll do some more tests asap, but I just found it odd.
Many thanks.

PS, I have >15 years recording, I'm sure so far it is not a signal-chain issue.

I'll try to keep this brief as possible.

The 57 Classics are actually among the weakest Gibson full sized HBs, if not the weakest.

Even though many people erroneously look to the DC resistance of a pickup as the ultimate indicator of how powerful a pickup is and what it will sound like, in this case, both the 57 and the Area T have similar DC resistances; specifically, both are in the low to mid 7K ohms range. So right here, this proves that there must be more involved:

Some of the more critical factors in determining the ouput and frequency response of a pickup are: The type and strength of charge (where applicable) of the magnet(s) and the gauge(s) of coil wire used, the tension on the windings and of course, even the shape and size of the coil's bobbin all come into play. And then there's the resistance value of the pots in the guitar which helps shape frequency response and of course, the overall quality of all the components help determine the final audible output.

In your situation, the DiMarzio sounds louder because by design (per the former paragraph) it has a wider frequency response than that of the 57 and the magnetic polepieces (which run through both coils of the pickup) can be brought much closer to the strings than the 57 can. So, the magnetic field is much tighter and more aggressive than that of the 57 along with taller and larger bobbins which makes the Area T noticeably crisper and louder than the 57.

With a side by side coil humbucker, the coil with the flush, slug polepieces inherently has a more powerful magnetic field even if the DC resistance is absolutely identical to its partnered coil. Thus, this slug coil is the more powerful of the two. You can substitute the word, "powerful" with, "efficient" in this context. With this in mind, especially if the 57 has a cover on it, the slug bobbin is considerably away from the strings which now weakens the magnetic field and makes the screw coil more powerful because those polepieces are adjustable directly to the string. Even without a cover, the slugs cannot be made to conform to the curvature of of the fingerboard and contoured for each individual string like the DiMarzio was designed to do. At best, only the screw polepieces can but by doing so, the magnetic field is again weakened because the head of the screw is bigger than the rest of the screw itself and by being screwed up away from the coil, there is obviously less mass going through the coil. Consequently, as there is less mass (polepiece diameter), the magnetic field for the vibrating string is weakened and less efficient. And don't forget, the magnet is in between the bottom of the two coils, sitting on that steel plate which is also sucking up some of the magnetic pull. As a consequence, here too, less pull for the polepieces.

In conclusion, I would venture that nothing is wrong with the wiring of your SG nor anything wrong with either of your 57s.

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You dig?

Wow Martian! I always learn something when you answer. It explains a lot about some pickups I have in another guitar. I was one of the people who erroneously measure the resistance, and didn't understand why my pickups were so quiet. They sounded great, so I have no complaints, but it was something I didn't know how to explain.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Glad to be of service!

Classic of classic examples: A DiMarzio HS-3 has a DC resistance of 23.72K ohms. Using DC resistance as the sole indicator, this pickup should be able to blow the doors off of virtually every passive pickup out there when in reality, it is a VERY weak pickup.

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Martian , Bro , Thank you for a great explanation!

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Cool, nice post!
It's funny, I have wound SC pickups before, and am familiar with the res. frequency, inductance, coilwire and magnet types/structures that really influence the sound (I'm away at a job so don't have reference or test gear here) - But I had NO idea the 57s were such "low-output" units. They're showing ~6dB less output on the DAW...
They do sound nice though, the clean tones are not flabby or congested like some PAF clones.
Interestingly the SG is a scratchplate mount model (no angled rings) and the pups are around 15 degrees-on to the strings (slugs closest on bridge unit), I have a feeling this may be having some effect too.
Plus, the Area T is pretty tight sounding for an Alnico II pole design IMHO.
Surprises all round today.

Thx v much.

Well there are three Area T pickups that you can buy. Ones a Area T Hot Bridge pickup another is just an Area T Bridge Pickup and then theres a Area T Neck pickup available. Also Area T 's can be closer to the strings and give you higher volumes because they are not strong magnets used in them and you wont get the bad harmonics from string pull. Thats one of there selling points and the reason they say they use the alnico II magnets on them.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Right, yes, lol I didn't know about the hot...
It's the Area T bridge that I'm talking about.

Just my 2c on the Alnico II's, I think there are pro's and cons to the AII mags.
One thing is, that in bending, I think you do get a slight drop-out in volume on the neck units when the string is in between poles.
As I alluded to before, you often get that "sponginess" with AII's.
I'm probably wrong, but I think it may be because the field is weaker and the coil/unit is normally closer, the string is effectively (relative to A5) slightly hotter when it's closer to the mags, and vice-versa, producing a more "asymetrical" waveform around unity... S'cuse my fudged engineer terminology. There is a slight "hairiness" to notes on the lower strings where excursion is greater. The Area T's though don't seem as pronounced in this as other AII's I've tried.

I agree with your assessment.

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Even when using alnico II's much depends on the turns and the overalll density of the winding which effects the inductance.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson