Did I read the output of the YJM neck wrong?

R

RipperShred

New member
Got it, wired it in, and it's really weak output-wise, but the sunuvabeotch says it's rated for almost 24k DCR... so did I wire it up wrong, or is it actually a low-output neck pickup?

If I did actually totally overshoot the output expectation, what would be a good match for an alder bodied, maple neck/board superstrat that has a custom-custom in the bridge?
 
Re: Did I read the output of the YJM neck wrong?

DCR doesn't directly equal output

Yngwie runs VERY LOW output pickups for many years and I don't think that's changed much. I used to own a YJM Strat with the old Dimarzio YJM pickups and they were even lower output than stock Fender single coil pickups. I haven't played the Duncan version myself but I know quite a few people who have, and they mostly tell me it's pretty much the same as the Dimarzio HS-3 and HS-4 (the 2 YJM pickups).

Many people make that mistake because they listen to Yngwie and it sounds so high gain that they expect YJM to run hot pickups: couldn't be further away from the truth, YJM gets all his gain from amp and his DOD pedal.

For your guitar I would recommend either the Classic Stack or if you want things a bit hotter, the Hot Stack or a JB Jr for even more output.
 
Re: Did I read the output of the YJM neck wrong?

As above K isn't output. It just reads the amount of wire in the pickup. Numerous pickups have such different construction to make K reading a totally useless metric for output (which is read in volts and not ohms in the first place).

Usually there is a specs chart for the various duncan pickups (or there was) that gave you the K reading. Knowing it is within spec is about the most use the K reading has.

The YJM is like a vintage strat pickup but noisless and much more compressed.
 
Re: Did I read the output of the YJM neck wrong?

AlexR said:
.....The YJM is like a vintage strat pickup but noisless and much more compressed.
Click to expand...

i've heard that before. can you explain what that means? how is that achieved as far as the dimarzio HS3/4 and the SD fury, if they are both compressed sounding, as far as how they're built? what's the differences between the two, compared to a vintage strat pup?
not to derail the thread...
 
Re: Did I read the output of the YJM neck wrong?

daenius said:
DCR doesn't directly equal output

Yngwie runs VERY LOW output pickups for many years and I don't think that's changed much. I used to own a YJM Strat with the old Dimarzio YJM pickups and they were even lower output than stock Fender single coil pickups. I haven't played the Duncan version myself but I know quite a few people who have, and they mostly tell me it's pretty much the same as the Dimarzio HS-3 and HS-4 (the 2 YJM pickups).

Many people make that mistake because they listen to Yngwie and it sounds so high gain that they expect YJM to run hot pickups: couldn't be further away from the truth, YJM gets all his gain from amp and his DOD pedal.

For your guitar I would recommend either the Classic Stack or if you want things a bit hotter, the Hot Stack or a JB Jr for even more output.
Click to expand...

Yeah, makes perfect sense. Needless to say I was really disappointed in the volume desparity going on. Put back the un-named dimarzio dual rail pickup pretty much immediately - even it's a bit weak compared to the Custom-Custom for my liking though. I'm looking for something that'll match it output-wise for the widdly-widdly.
 
Re: Did I read the output of the YJM neck wrong?

Remember, the YJMs (and all stacked pickups with high DCRs) have 2 coils of wire, so they will read higher than what you actually hear. I love a Custom Custom in the bridge of alder Strats, so I would probably choose the Custom Strat Stack to match in output (and growly tone).
 
Re: Did I read the output of the YJM neck wrong?

cato said:
i've heard that before. can you explain what that means? how is that achieved as far as the dimarzio HS3/4 and the SD fury, if they are both compressed sounding, as far as how they're built? what's the differences between the two, compared to a vintage strat pup?
not to derail the thread...
Click to expand...

You'd probably have to talk to the pickup designer if you want to know how a coil is wound to achieve certain effects.
All I know is that I had a set, and compared to the regular singlecoils like Ants they sounded 'flatter' but without being hot. There were also vids out at the time they were new about the development of the pickups which explain the details.
 
Re: Did I read the output of the YJM neck wrong?

Mincer said:
Remember, the YJMs (and all stacked pickups with high DCRs) have 2 coils of wire, so they will read higher than what you actually hear. I love a Custom Custom in the bridge of alder Strats, so I would probably choose the Custom Strat Stack to match in output (and growly tone).
Click to expand...

I'm thinking I want to stick to rail-based options, as the Floyd nut seems to taper the string width down pretty significantly at that neck pickup position; the E strings were barely over the inside of the poles which I think contributed to the lack of volume. the D and G string sat over the two middle poles nicely and were MUCH louder. That and the poles on those two string are much higher than the E and B strings too.

Which leads to my next question; the Hot Stack is a rail p'up ( so far so good) but on that colour-coated output meter ( at least that's what I think that rainbow bar is above the DCR measurements) only has it a little higher output than the YJM - is it really that much louder?
 
Re: Did I read the output of the YJM neck wrong?

RipperShred said:
I'm thinking I want to stick to rail-based options, as the Floyd nut seems to taper the string width down pretty significantly at that neck pickup position; the E strings were barely over the inside of the poles which I think contributed to the lack of volume. the D and G string sat over the two middle poles nicely and were MUCH louder. That and the poles on those two string are much higher than the E and B strings too.

Which leads to my next question; the Hot Stack is a rail p'up ( so far so good) but on that colour-coated output meter ( at least that's what I think that rainbow bar is above the DCR measurements) only has it a little higher output than the YJM - is it really that much louder?
Click to expand...

DCR is a terrible measurement of output across all pickups. Output voltage is really a much more accurate measurement. DCR only tells the output measure for the SAME design of pickups. For example, the JB humbucker is 16.6k compared to your YJM which has like 24k. The JB is VERY high output.

Rails are really more similar to humbuckers than single coils, so yes, the rails are way hotter than the Fury can ever be, by a huge margin too
 
Re: Did I read the output of the YJM neck wrong?

To me, the Hot Stack is louder and more 'present' than the YJMs. It is a little more compressed-feeling, too. But it is a great sounding pickup.
 
Re: Did I read the output of the YJM neck wrong?

Mincer said:
To me, the Hot Stack is louder and more 'present' than the YJMs. It is a little more compressed-feeling, too. But it is a great sounding pickup.
Click to expand...

That is what I'm looking for; more output, a little more high end or presence, and it looks like a single coil X2N, so I think that's a winner all round.

How do I organize a p'up exchange?
 
Re: Did I read the output of the YJM neck wrong?

Okay, so read that last little paragraph; I bought it on reverb because I had reverb bucks - shipping to them and back to me with a different p'up would probably equal at this point 40-50% of the cost of the p'up. Can nothing be worked out in this situation? :(
 
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