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Post subject: Strange.. Very interesting. (Pickups)
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 12:14 am
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A while back I mentioned a newly acquired Squier Strat that I bought mainly for the body. But after listening to the pickups, I was blown away by them. I still consider them to be a good accident. I always consider lower level pickups to be inconsistent. It's a crapshoot. But these are really good.

It's a very strange circumstance. I decided to pimp the guitar out a little. I need to thin the heard around here, and I did decide to create a Frankenstrat out of it. No offense to Squier, but I have a Hamer neck that is a sweet light colored blonde maple with black headstock that is perfect with the white body and a black pickguard. Pics will be put up eventually and you'll see why I chose this route. The mock up looks amazing.

But when I took it apart, I decided to put a multimeter to the pickups and get a reading on them. I do it to all of my pickups and document it. I know, it only gives a Ohm or resistance reading, but I'd have to say I was pretty shocked.

As far as output goes, just by an ear test through an amp, these pickups hang with my hums. And I'm talking about Dimarzio Super Dist., Steve's special, Gibson 498t and 490r, Duncan JB and Hotrail type output. In Singles. They're in that range.

On the Multimeter, I expected at least somewhere between 6-8 readings. The actual numbers.. 3.5 to 3.9.

Any pickup gurus that can chime in on this would be appreciated. That is a little strange isn't it? What is the relationship between output and resistance? In what way does one affect the other?

This is pretty much unlike the norm I'm used to. Usually a resistance reading can be a good enough gauge to determine close enough what the output will be like. But this reading has me baffled a little.

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Post subject: Re: Strange.. Very interesting. (Pickups)
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 2:04 am
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Resistance / output ;

Short answer ; more resistance = more wire around magnets = more output


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Post subject: Re: Strange.. Very interesting. (Pickups)
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 2:29 am
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stratele52 wrote:
Resistance / output ;

Short answer ; more resistance = more wire around magnets = more output


Given two identically made pickups, yes. Otherwise not at all. You can have a super hot pickup which reads very low on a multimeter, or a low output humbucker which reads extremely high. It's all in the construction, gauge of wire used, etc.


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Post subject: Re: Strange.. Very interesting. (Pickups)
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 2:43 am
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Vulpinity wrote:
stratele52 wrote:
Resistance / output ;

Short answer ; more resistance = more wire around magnets = more output


Given two identically made pickups, yes. Otherwise not at all. You can have a super hot pickup which reads very low on a multimeter, or a low output humbucker which reads extremely high. It's all in the construction, gauge of wire used, etc.



That 's why I wrote : short answer. Most of the time pickups work like I write
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Post subject: Re: Strange.. Very interesting. (Pickups)
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 3:49 am
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It's definitely wire wind to magnet strength. Weaker magnet and properly balanced wind can produce low resistance but still have a decent output.
Rule of thumb from Trev Wilkinson in laymans terms is is magnet=attack, wind=thickness.

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Post subject: Re: Strange.. Very interesting. (Pickups)
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 3:52 am
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Not this again, please ...

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=82551

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Post subject: Re: Strange.. Very interesting. (Pickups)
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 5:30 am
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Thanks guys, that does answer some things for me. I do appreciate your expertise about the mechanics of it all. So far, given all of the pickups I've gone through, I'm surprised this is the first time I've encountered this. To this degree anyway.

Gilgafrank, I do apologize, I didn't see that topic for whatever reason. The only Internet I have at the moment is an iPhone. It eats data and my wallet to do a lot of searching. I kind of knew the quality of people and answers I'd get here, so I just threw it out there even though I knew it had probably been discussed before.

Part of the reason I wanted to ask was that I want to find a similar set in the future. Given the manufacturer of these, I don't think it's an easy task. I think the only other pickup I have that reads that low is a duckbucker. But the difference is quite a bit when it comes to being able to push the distortion. Squier doesn't have an outfit like aftermarket pickup makers. And even the Squier singles I have here are in the 5-7 ranges. Compared to those, I was really expecting these to be in the 8 range.

I guess the only thing to really do is find another year 2000 Squier Strat made in Indonesia and see if they might be the same. That doesnt sound very easy either, and i really wouldnt hold my breath on it. But I'd love to have another set of these.

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Last edited by Jah Soldier on Sun Jun 02, 2013 5:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Strange.. Very interesting. (Pickups)
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 5:36 am
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Jah Soldier wrote:



Part of the reason I wanted to ask was that I want to find a similar set in the future.
.



Only with resistance you can't find similar.


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Post subject: Re: Strange.. Very interesting. (Pickups)
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 5:45 am
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Yea, that's what I'm gathering so far. Unfortunately. I don't think these were even meant to be this way. The other alternative would be to get to Rock Star status and hand my Guitar to Fender and say "Make these" and walk away with four beautiful women under my arms. But I wouldn't hold my breath on that either.

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Post subject: Re: Strange.. Very interesting. (Pickups)
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 6:03 am
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Vulpinity wrote:
stratele52 wrote:
Resistance / output ;

Short answer ; more resistance = more wire around magnets = more output


Given two identically made pickups, yes. Otherwise not at all. You can have a super hot pickup which reads very low on a multimeter, or a low output humbucker which reads extremely high. It's all in the construction, gauge of wire used, etc.


Agreed and well said. :!:

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Post subject: Re: Strange.. Very interesting. (Pickups)
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 7:47 am
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stratele52 wrote:
Resistance / output ;

Short answer ; more resistance = more wire around magnets = more output


This is NOT true!

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Post subject: Re: Strange.. Very interesting. (Pickups)
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 10:09 am
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Martian wrote:
stratele52 wrote:
Resistance / output ;

Short answer ; more resistance = more wire around magnets = more output


This is NOT true!


Humbucker pickup are more powerfull than single coil for the SAME kind of pickup .

Humbucker are made with two single coil in serie . So resistance is twice .


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Post subject: Re: Strange.. Very interesting. (Pickups)
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 10:58 am
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I know that resistance is not a good science for determining output. This just seems to be more of an interesting perceived mismatch between the 2 that I haven't run across before.

I was able to experience something similar last year when I made a trade for a Duncan 59. A Duncan 59 is a good example of deception. On the Duncan website, you'll see that they list a 59 bridge pickup at 8k and moderate output. But if you compare one in an ear test to one of the hotter hums mentioned earlier (somewhere between 14k-17k) you get the same result. The amount of treble is so up front in a 59, that you will perceive it as being as hot as the others.

Not quite as interesting as these though. These are singles reading at 3.5 and doing the same thing. However, the bridge pickup doesn't have as much treble as my Tele. So it leads me to think that they are very hot to single standards. No way of telling how hot. I have no way to measure that but my own ears. How much is perception, how much is reality?

Anyway, just thought it was an interesting discovery. I'll be posting pics soon and the guitar will be on an album coming out in the fall. I'll be sure to post a link to what gets recorded.

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Post subject: Re: Strange.. Very interesting. (Pickups)
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 2:12 pm
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stratele52 wrote:
Martian wrote:
stratele52 wrote:
Resistance / output ;

Short answer ; more resistance = more wire around magnets = more output


This is NOT true!


Humbucker pickup are more powerfull than single coil for the SAME kind of pickup .

Humbucker are made with two single coil in serie . So resistance is twice .


This makes no sense.

You (and others) may want to read this:

http://www.billlawrence.com/Pages/Picku ... uation.htm

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Post subject: Re: Strange.. Very interesting. (Pickups)
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 2:36 pm
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Very helpful Martian. Thanks for the link.

I guess all I can say is, this is a fine cocktail of all of the intangibles I like in single coils. As far as a crapshoot goes, it hit the pass line for me.

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