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Topic: Pick-Up ratings/readings? |
Gary Watkins
From:
Bristol, VA
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Posted 5 Aug 2019 4:38 pm |
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Please explain to me about the ohm readings on pickups. Does a higher rating mean higher notes/tone? I guess I should know this but I don't. I see posts about a BL805 reading 26.5 ohms, and I have no idea what it means. Thanks in advance.
_________________
If you succeed in cheating someone, don't think that the person is a fool. It's just that the person trusted you far more than you deserved. |
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Gabriel Edell
From:
Hamilton, Ontario
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Posted 5 Aug 2019 4:53 pm
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It is simply the impedance of the pickup. Generally speaking, the more windings there are on the pickup, the higher the electrical resistance. A higher Ohm reading isn't reflective of a brighter tone.
Higher impedance pickups can have a higher output and a "fatter" sound. However there are so many other factors that go into how a pickup sounds (magnet material and design, space between the windings and magnet, wire material, how the wire is wound, etc.) that this isn't really an accurate indicator.
_________________
GFI S-10 P U, Moyo Volume, Fender Steel King, Fender 5F4 Super-Amp |
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Gary Watkins
From:
Bristol, VA
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Posted 5 Aug 2019 5:07 pm
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| Gabriel Edell wrote: |
It is simply the impedance of the pickup. Generally speaking, the more windings there are on the pickup, the higher the electrical resistance. A higher Ohm reading isn't reflective of a brighter tone.
Higher impedance pickups can have a higher output and a "fatter" sound. However there are so many other factors that go into how a pickup sounds (magnet material and design, space between the windings and magnet, wire material, how the wire is wound, etc.) that this isn't really an accurate indicator. |
Thanks. Like I said, I guess I should know this but I don't. Thanks for taking the time to give me an answer.
_________________
If you succeed in cheating someone, don't think that the person is a fool. It's just that the person trusted you far more than you deserved. |
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Jim Sliff
From:
Lawndale California, USA
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Posted 19 Aug 2019 10:02 am
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You do not read impedance of a pickup - you read DC resistance.
The reading has NOTHING to do with frequency response.
And a *major* misconception has been that higher DC resistance = higher output. This is absolutely not true! In SOME types of pickups that are `made using the same construction methods - like, say a common single coil Stratocaster pickup - higher DC resistance DOES mean slightly higher output...in MOST cases.
But where construction varies, or a pickup looks the same as another but is wound with heavier-gage wire, or uses different types or positions of magnets and so on higher DC resistance may NOT mean more output.
DC resistance is actually meaningless to the average player. Even those of us in the tech world need to "temper" it with other technical information from the maker to determine relative output.
AND higher output is not necessarily a good thing. Some VERY hot pickups are very harsh sounding, especially in the treble frequencies.
If you look at the Seymour Duncan website there are specifications form about a thousand different pickups. They provide a huge amount of information about each one - information that is useful to some techs and engineers - and "descriptions" and sound files that are useful to the average player.
Unless you're planning on becoming a very advanced guitar tech you can ignore DC resistance, because it will have NO meaning for you.
Hope that takes a lod off your mind!a 
_________________
No chops, but great tone
1930's/40's Rickenbacher/Rickenbacker 6&8 string lap steels
1921 Weissenborn Style 2; Hilo&Schireson hollownecks
Appalachian, Regal & Dobro squarenecks
1959 Fender 400 9+2 B6;1960's Fender 800 3+3+2; 1948 Fender Dual-8 Professional |
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Gary Watkins
From:
Bristol, VA
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Posted 19 Aug 2019 10:42 am
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| Jim Sliff wrote: |
You do not read impedance of a pickup - you read DC resistance.
The reading has NOTHING to do with frequency response.
And a *major* misconception has been that higher DC resistance = higher output. This is absolutely not true! In SOME types of pickups that are `made using the same construction methods - like, say a common single coil Stratocaster pickup - higher DC resistance DOES mean slightly higher output...in MOST cases.
But where construction varies, or a pickup looks the same as another but is wound with heavier-gage wire, or uses different types or positions of magnets and so on higher DC resistance may NOT mean more output.
DC resistance is actually meaningless to the average player. Even those of us in the tech world need to "temper" it with other technical information from the maker to determine relative output.
AND higher output is not necessarily a good thing. Some VERY hot pickups are very harsh sounding, especially in the treble frequencies.
If you look at the Seymour Duncan website there are specifications form about a thousand different pickups. They provide a huge amount of information about each one - information that is useful to some techs and engineers - and "descriptions" and sound files that are useful to the average player.
Unless you're planning on becoming a very advanced guitar tech you can ignore DC resistance, because it will have NO meaning for you.
Hope that takes a lod off your mind!a |
Jim, I have an original BL805 and it reads 28k. If I had a pickup that read 17k, could I just put a resistor in line to raise it to 28k?
_________________
If you succeed in cheating someone, don't think that the person is a fool. It's just that the person trusted you far more than you deserved.
Last edited by Gary Watkins on 19 Aug 2019 12:00 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Gabriel Edell
From:
Hamilton, Ontario
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Posted 19 Aug 2019 11:56 am
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| Jim Sliff wrote: |
You do not read impedance of a pickup - you read DC resistance.
The reading has NOTHING to do with frequency response.
And a *major* misconception has been that higher DC resistance = higher output. This is absolutely not true! In SOME types of pickups that are `made using the same construction methods - like, say a common single coil Stratocaster pickup - higher DC resistance DOES mean slightly higher output...in MOST cases.
But where construction varies, or a pickup looks the same as another but is wound with heavier-gage wire, or uses different types or positions of magnets and so on higher DC resistance may NOT mean more output.
DC resistance is actually meaningless to the average player. Even those of us in the tech world need to "temper" it with other technical information from the maker to determine relative output.
AND higher output is not necessarily a good thing. Some VERY hot pickups are very harsh sounding, especially in the treble frequencies.
If you look at the Seymour Duncan website there are specifications form about a thousand different pickups. They provide a huge amount of information about each one - information that is useful to some techs and engineers - and "descriptions" and sound files that are useful to the average player.
Unless you're planning on becoming a very advanced guitar tech you can ignore DC resistance, because it will have NO meaning for you.
Hope that takes a lod off your mind!a |
D'oh! Nice catch. Impedance is for A/C circuits.
_________________
GFI S-10 P U, Moyo Volume, Fender Steel King, Fender 5F4 Super-Amp |
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Georg Sørtun
From:
Mandal, Agder, Norway
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Posted 19 Aug 2019 1:20 pm
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| Gary Watkins wrote: |
| If I had a pickup that read 17k, could I just put a resistor in line to raise it to 28k? |
No, as that would just be a DC resistance in series with the PU and make it sound much weaker when loaded by whatever follows it.
17K is a pretty normal DC value for a single-coil PSG PU, so just plug it into your sound-chain and play. |
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Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
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Posted 19 Aug 2019 1:42 pm
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Since you mentioned Bill Lawrence, I can tell you that he described his pickup values in terms of inductance and henries.
The BL805 you mention was in a series of 505, 605, 705 and 805. His own literature on these pickups stated the DC resistance as follows in this John Fabian of Carter guitars post:
| John Fabian wrote: |
The first number of the x05 series indicated different impedances and resistances running from lowest to the highest. lower numbers tend to be brighter while higher numbers tend to be mellower.
705 - approximately 18K-21K Ohms, 15H inductance
805 - approximately 26K Ohms, 21H inductance
605 - approximately 15K Ohms, 11H inductance
505 - approximately 12K Ohms, 7.5H inductance
This numbering system does not hold true for the modern Lawrence pickups (710, 716, 910, etc.) The first number indicates construction and the second two numbers indicate impedance in Henrys. |
In this case, the 505 was definitely the brightest of them with the 805 being the heaviest or darkest sounding. I know this for a fact having used both the 705 and 805. I put the 805 on the rear neck of an Emmons P/P and it was so dark it only stayed in there for a few days before I pulled it out and sold it.
For most of us lay people who really don't understand all the electrical aspects quoted by Bill Lawrence et al I think we would say that generally pickups of the same build/series and using the same wire and components as in these Bill Lawrence 05's, lighter wound pickups do have a brighter, keener tone than the heavier wound ones....all other things being equal.
This DC resistance is just about the only value that most lay people and pickers are familiar with when talking pickups, so it's what we used to compare different ones. YMMV. |
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