Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Joe Williams on September 3, 2018 at 12:45pm

I'm pretty new to messing with electronics. Just looking for pickups which will work best with low power cigar box amps.

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Permalink Reply by Korrigan on September 3, 2018 at 12:58pm

MGB has 2K humbuckers.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on September 4, 2018 at 5:40pm

Some pickups offered on sites will list a DCR which is a level of resistance the coil will read. It's not an accurate gauge of a pickup's output, but it can give you an idea.

Original Lipstick Tube single coil pickups had a 3k ohm DCR and were low output pickups. New versions often have 5k to 6k DCR. Original Stratocaster type pickups were in the 5k(neck) to 6k or more range for bridge pickups. Original Gibson humbucking double coil pickups were 5k to 8k, P90 single coils 5k to 8k. Gretsch Filtertrons were 3k to 5k.

All this can be confusing because many factors come into play for a pickup's output. Most venders will advertise low output pickups as"Vintage Wind" or "Vintage Output" while the hotter pickups will be listed as "Hot" or "Overwound".

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Permalink Reply by Joe Williams on September 5, 2018 at 4:54am

Been thinking of trying lipstick. Also, is it reasonable to assume that, all else equal, about any pickup will produce less distortion in the bridge, rather than the neck position?

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on September 5, 2018 at 5:43pm

When it comes to position, it's usually about the tone. Neck for more Bass, middle for more Midrange and bridge for more Treble.

You are correct for moving the pickup towards the bridge for less output. A Fender Strat will usually have a 5k neck pickup, 5.5k middle and 6k bridge pickup. More ouput for pickups closer to the bridge because of the node position. So a 6k pickup will most likely be overpowering for the neck, but spot on for the bridge position.

Low pickup height(further away from the strings) will also help.

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on September 5, 2018 at 7:40pm

Hi, thanks for the explanation Paul. I remember suggesting, what you have just put so well, in an earlier post about pickup positioning. I mentioned that pickups are often labelled neck middle and bridge for the reason you mention above. 

But others came back with comments that, that is to do with the spacing of the pole piece. But that it is not the only reason.

The strings at the bridge have less movement over the pickup, the string area that is over the neck pickup has more movement so creates more energy. So I understand pickups are wound, as Paul described above, differently due to the strings output being different at varying points in its length.

I see this when tuning/setting intonation on different guitars. I play an harmonic at the 12 fret and find it may not be loud as I would like. The obvious thing to do is turn up the volume. But if you left the volume alone and just switched to a different pickup [best with a 3 pickup system] you get extra volume due to the strings output being greater over a different pickup/string position.

I'll shut up now.  Taff

 

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Permalink Reply by Joe Williams on September 6, 2018 at 2:55am

Don't shut up, it all gives me more stuff to think about.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on September 10, 2018 at 11:38am

That's the string nodes(vibration at different point position of the string length) I was talking about. Your correct in the way you explained it. 

Higher output for the bridge area - lower output for the neck area for best results. High output in the neck area can often lead to muddy sound - low output in the bridge will give low volume.

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