'88 Kramer coil resistance

[gfrater]

I am restoring a 1988 Kramer Striker ST300H (2-1-1 SD pickup layout). Out of the four coils, only two give resistance values - one Humbucker coil reads 7.01 k ohms, while the other coil is open circuit. The middle single pickup reads 4.9 k ohm, and the neck is dead too. My questions: - is the 4.9 k ohm a realistic reading, or should I discard it and start from scratch? I'm thinking if the 4.9 is genuine, then it probably only has about 5000 turns of wire. Given the magnets are 35 years old, the output is probably going to be pretty insipid and if I get another low k-ohm coil wound the whole guitar will be lack-lustre. What would you guys do? The sound i'm aiming for should reflect the best of mid 80s Kramers.

[beaubrummels]

Welcome to the forum

4.9k would be the lowest single coil / Strat type pickup I've ever heard of. That's almost like a Danelectro lipstick pickup in reading.

Are you measuring the pickups individually, out of the guitar, or are you trying to measure the pickups at the jack? If the latter and the wiring is messed up, the pickups could be good but you're getting a bad reading at the jack.

[Mincer]

Yeah, my first thought is that you have to read these pickups not connected to a (possibly faulty) circuit. If you do that, are these still the readings?

[freefrog]

Low DCR readings on passive magnetic pickups are not that rare. 4k is the DCR of a generic Filter'Tron. Some vintage ones measure less than this. A Casio guitar synth that I had in maintenance (PG3.. something) had two ceramic powered single coils measuring respectively 4.32 and 4.24k. With almost the inductance of a Fender CS 69, they were not weak sounding. Harley Benton mounts the same kind of underwound coils above ceramic mags in their super cheap Strat copies: the low DCR is compensated by the "inductive boost" due to inert magnetic slugs and their iron content...

IOW: a 4.9k single coil wouldn't bug me. Anyway, there's no reason why DCR would get lower with age. A super-high DCR would be more annoying IMHO.

Also: 35 years of age don't make pickups insipid in my humble experience. Even my cheapo DeArmond Harmony from 1962, with its rubber fridge magnet inside, sounds as expected (IOW: like a cheap transducer with a delicious retro low-fi tone). ;-)

I don't remember what I had in a Kramer Pacer in the early 80's. I just recall the stock PU's as quite generic and the overall quality of the instrument as... discussible. Maybe it had 4.9k single coils. <:0)

Good luck in your restoration, OP. :-)