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Post new topic Pickup windings
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Author Topic:  Pickup windings
Dave Seddon

 

From:
Leicester, England.
Post  Posted 4 Mar 2003 10:03 am    
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Does anyone know what is the standard wire guage for pickups? If there is such a thing as a Standard.
Cheers. Dave.
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Gino Iorfida

 

From:
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Post  Posted 4 Mar 2003 10:12 am    
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the norm for guitar pickups is between 42 and 44 awg wire. I'm sure others have used different guages, but I think the most common is 43. I'm sure others with more experience will chime in, though.
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Erv Niehaus


From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
Post  Posted 4 Mar 2003 12:17 pm    
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As long as we are on the subject of pickups.
How does one go about checking to see if a pickup is any good? I am redoing a Fender triple neck and a couple of the pickups have taken a hit. How do I check to see if they are still ok?
Erv
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Jim Bob Sedgwick

 

From:
Clinton, Missouri USA
Post  Posted 4 Mar 2003 9:03 pm    
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Irv: If you have an ohm meter, check it out with that. A shade tree method that will work is to attach the wires from the pickup to a guitar cord, plug it in the amp and lightly tap on the top with a screwdriver. If you hear the tapping through the amp, the pickup is probably ok.
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jerry wallace

 

From:
Artesia , NM (deceased)
Post  Posted 4 Mar 2003 9:11 pm    
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Dave , The most common wire gauge now days is #42 or #43..

Erv,You can use a ohm meter to check the continuity of the windings..A shorted coil will read 0 DC resistance..An open coil will read infinity..
In order to check for a partial short of some of the windings you need to know what the approximate DC resistance should be for your particular pickup.The Fender 8 strings were around 10 to 12 K ohm I think..

You should allow a plus or minus of about 2% due to meter accuracy and ambiant temperature variations..

------------------
Jerry Wallace-2001 Zum: D-10,8+6, "98 Zum: D-10,8+8,Nashville 1000,Session 500 ,Session 400 head only amp,Tubefex,ProfexII, Artesia, New Mexico
http://communities.msn.com/jerrywallacemusic http://www.jerrywallacemusic.com

[This message was edited by jerry wallace on 04 March 2003 at 09:39 PM.]

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Erv Niehaus


From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
Post  Posted 5 Mar 2003 8:03 am    
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Jerry,
If I hook an ohm meter to the two wires coming out of the pickup and it reads in the neighborhood of 10-12 k's then it should be alright?
Erv
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jerry wallace

 

From:
Artesia , NM (deceased)
Post  Posted 5 Mar 2003 9:54 pm    
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Erv, Yes it seems your pickup coils are intact..Thats about right for the Fender 8 strings..

------------------
Jerry Wallace-2001 Zum: D-10,8+6, "98 Zum: D-10,8+8,Nashville 1000,Session 500 ,Session 400 head only amp,Tubefex,ProfexII, Artesia, New Mexico
http://communities.msn.com/jerrywallacemusic http://www.jerrywallacemusic.com

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Jim Bob Sedgwick

 

From:
Clinton, Missouri USA
Post  Posted 9 Mar 2003 1:46 pm    
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Jerry: just a question out of my ignorance. I had a pickup short out doing a gig in 112 degrees fahrenheit weather. The whole coil did not short out however. When checked DC resistance, it read about 5000 ohms resistance when it should have read 20,000 ohms. Question would this be due to where the short occurred in the coil, or do you have an explanation? Thanks, Jim Bob

(Originally from Las Cruces, NM, in case anyone cares )

[This message was edited by Jim Bob Sedgwick on 09 March 2003 at 01:46 PM.]

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