Voltmeter questions...

[Farkus]

Hi all!

I have a question for those with some experience. I've been working on guitars for about 10 years, but with all my equipment, I still don't have a voltmeter! I need to know what gradations the meter needs to have so that I can measure pickup specs.

Also, is there any benefit between the analog and digital meters?

Thanks
Farkus

[Stevo]

Re: Voltmeter questions...

No meter?? Some people like to look at the needle but I always use digital meters these days. You don't need high precision for guitar work. Fluke has a large line of meters and they are highly rated. One of the lower priced Flukes would work fine.

[Kent S.]

Re: Voltmeter questions...

No meter?? Some people like to look at the needle but I always use digital meters these days. You don't need high precision for guitar work. Fluke has a large line of meters and they are highly rated. One of the lower priced Flukes would work fine.

The analogue meters are prone to loading effects per a given voltage/resistance/current range ... it has to do with the way that they function ... the meter's sensitivity effectively changes for different ranges. on guiatr work I can't see it making a big difference, however working on amps, err that's a different story,also true RMS reading meters are crucial there. Generally B&K ,Tenma, Vellemen ( never can remember how they spell it) makes some descent ones also, many of the cheaper one's will work just fine, but they don't take a hit to the floor as well as those costing a bit more (it does happen). Yeah there is always fluke of course. Radio Shack has some descent DMM's as well, they have one around $34 that has a diode teset, continuity test, resistance, voltage, and current, auto range, and auto polarity . They have a smaller one also that fits in your shirt pocket and it's leads fold up and go inside the case, about the size of a checkbook, I think that's like $25 or so.That covers just about anything you'd need to do, except for capacitance readings, and full function transistor testing, or frequency counting. Generally the only thing you'd need is the resistance mode, and continuity (really just a form of that mode), as well as ac/dc voltage, and current. For about $30 you should be able to find a descent basic function digital meter.
A digital meter with say a 10 Meg input impedance will be 10 Meg for all ranges, and not load and siganl down, nor give a false reading due to loading the source it's measuring. Plus digitals are just easier to work with also. Hit some of the electronics supply sites under meters and see what you want feature and price wise.

[ArtieToo]

Re: Voltmeter questions...

One thing to keep in mind also, make sure that whatever meter you get, has "manual" ranging mode capability. (Most do.) Sometimes you can run into a problem with auto-ranging meters when trying to read the resistance of a coil - like a guitar pickup.

As the meter "hunts" for the proper range, it will switch voltages that its applying to the coil. The coils back EMF will "kick" the meter back into the wrong range, and you end up with a situation where the meter is just flipping back and forth between ranges, with no usable reading.

Not a big deal - just something to consider.

[Kent S.]

Re: Voltmeter questions...

One thing to keep in mind also, make sure that whatever meter you get, has "manual" ranging mode capability. (Most do.) Sometimes you can run into a problem with auto-ranging meters when trying to read the resistance of a coil - like a guitar pickup.

As the meter "hunts" for the proper range, it will switch voltages that its applying to the coil. The coils back EMF will "kick" the meter back into the wrong range, and you end up with a situation where the meter is just flipping back and forth between ranges, with no usable reading.

Not a big deal - just something to consider.

Interesting, I hadn't considered nor experienced that, mine does just fine in auto range, but like everything else, you get what you pay for ... ;-)

[rspst14]

Re: Voltmeter questions...

One thing to keep in mind also, make sure that whatever meter you get, has "manual" ranging mode capability. (Most do.) Sometimes you can run into a problem with auto-ranging meters when trying to read the resistance of a coil - like a guitar pickup.

As the meter "hunts" for the proper range, it will switch voltages that its applying to the coil. The coils back EMF will "kick" the meter back into the wrong range, and you end up with a situation where the meter is just flipping back and forth between ranges, with no usable reading.

Not a big deal - just something to consider.

So that's why that happens for ten seconds or so before I get an actual reading of a pickup's resistance.

Ryan