Interesting Humbucker Question:

Micah

Micah

New member
One other question I have: The DC Resistance of a pickup is as of a result of the number of turns of wire used on a particular pickup model (I understand) correct? When this DC resistance is measured is it measured with the magnet used in place and the pole pieces/slugs installed in the pickup? Im assuming it is. As a result of these assumptions can I safely assume that the pickup's DC resistance values are changed slightly depending on the magnet and the pole pieces used? For instance, the Custom 5 pickup description (tone chart) states that it was designed in the Seymour Duncan user group forum by players that took the ceramic magnet out of their Duncan Custom and replaced it with an alnico 5 (or Alnico II in the case of the custom custom). That being said, when I look @ the tone chart, the Duncan Custom (ceramic mag/standard screws and slugs) reads 14.1K, the Custom 5 (A5 Mag/standard screws and slugs) reads 14.4K, the Custom Custom (A2 mag/standard screws and slugs) reads 14.4 and yet the Full Shred (A5 magnet with 2 rows of the lighter mass allen screws) reads 14.6K. Is it safe to say that the winds on these pickups are all similar, while the major differences lie in the magnets and pole pieces used?

To take this further: The Duncan JB (A5 mag/standard screws and slugs) reads 16.4K, the Duncan Distortion (Ceramic mag/standard screws and slugs) reads 16.6K, the Invader (Ceramic mag/large mass oversized cap screws) reads 16.8K and the Dimebucker (Ceramic mag/stainless blades for poles) reads 16.25K. Same winds with different magnets and pole piece configuration?

How about the vintage humbuckers? The Duncan 59 (A5 mag/standard screws and slugs) reads 8.13K and the Pearly Gates (A2 mag/standard screws and slugs) reads 8.35K. Couldnt someone replace the mags in a 59 with an alnico 2 bar and have a Pearly Gates?

I dont mean to sound arrogant what so ever in this posting, but Im wondering if this all makes sense to anyone out there? Is it the case? Or am I off-base? Lemme know what you all think!
 
Re: Interesting Humbucker Question:

other than the custom, c5 and cc im not sure any of those statements about being the same wind are correct.

in the case of the pg and 59 i can tell you they are not the same coils.

in reguard to the difference between the 14.4 and 14.4 there is a +/- 10% tolerance and those readings are well within 10% of each other.

as far as magnets and pole pieces effecting dc resistance, that is not my experience
 
Re: Interesting Humbucker Question:

+1 to what Jeremy said. Even using the same poles, wire, and magnets, you can end up with different pickups. A lot is determined by winding tension and wrap pattern.
 
Re: Interesting Humbucker Question:

Are you saying that if I order a pickup Custom 5 from Seymour Duncan, I could possibly get a pickup valued @ 12.96K on the low end or 15.84 on the high end?
 
Re: Interesting Humbucker Question:

10% variance on a 15k pickup is 1.5k, so on the high end it would be 16.5k, low end of things would be 13.5k.
 
Re: Interesting Humbucker Question:

As far as your sig question, ducer comes from the Latin ducere, or "to lead" . Go figure.
 
Re: Interesting Humbucker Question:

Benjy_26 said:
10% variance on a 15k pickup is 1.5k, so on the high end it would be 16.5k, low end of things would be 13.5k.
Click to expand...

So in the case of a custom 5 which has a DC of 14.4K, 10% is 1.44-so what I said was correct?
 
Re: Interesting Humbucker Question:

in theory yes but i never see any that far out
 
Re: Interesting Humbucker Question:

Micah:-

The DC (and specifically the DC rather than the AC) resistance is totally unaffected by the magnets, pole-pieces, base-plate, cover, coil shape, winding tension or winding pattern. It is only dependent on the length and gauge of wire in the coil.

Transducer is from the latin verb transducere (to transfer).
The ducer part is from the latin ducere meaning to lead and has it's roots in the earlier Indo-European word deuk.

It means to lead across - as in from the mechanical realm of vibrating string across to the electrical realm of pick-up signal.
 
Re: Interesting Humbucker Question:

Micah - as a folow on from the last post I made,
a quote from another pup manufacturer, Bill Lawrence:

"The DC resistance of a pickup tells you as much about a pickup's tone and output
as the shoe size tells you about a person's intelligence!"

:cool2:
 
Re: Interesting Humbucker Question:

The D/C resistance has +-10% as specified by Seymour Duncan. But your multimeter, if not a top quality one, can have the same variance. On top of that the resistance varies quite a bit with temperature.
 
Re: Interesting Humbucker Question:

I always kind of figured that all the, say JB/Invader/DD coils that were on the high end of the 10% would go in a DD or Invader. I mean there are going to be differences between magnet wire batches that I'm sure those numbers are indicitive of.

But like thermionik said DC resisitance doesn't mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things.

Luke
 
Re: Interesting Humbucker Question:

I've measured quite a few Duncan pickups. I've noticed a little variation from the published specs but not as much as 10%. Lew
 
Re: Interesting Humbucker Question:

Thermionik said:
Micah - as a folow on from the last post I made,
a quote from another pup manufacturer, Bill Lawrence:

"The DC resistance of a pickup tells you as much about a pickup's tone and output
as the shoe size tells you about a person's intelligence!"

:cool2:
Click to expand...

Hmm--interesting--but, if The amount of wire (DC Resistance) doesnt have much to do with tone, then what about a pickup does?

Also--the other question about the DC resistance was more of a joke than a real question, but, thanks for the reaserch!
 
Re: Interesting Humbucker Question:

DC resistance is variable depending on temperature. If the shop was hot/cold the readings would vary a little. You would see a slight difference probably less than 1k. The poles and the magnet don't vary the resistance, just the winding and total length of the wire. Thus resistance is approximate. I will test the resistance of a JB I have this afternoon, it is 0 degrees out today so I will measure the difference between 0 and 70 degrees.
 
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Re: Interesting Humbucker Question:

idsnowdog said:
DC resistance is variable depending on temperature. If the shop was hot/cold the readings would vary a little. You would see a slight difference probably less than 1k. The poles and the magnet don't vary the resistance, just the winding and total length of the wire. Thus resistance is approximate. I will test the resistance of a JB I have this afternoon, it is 0 degrees out today so I will measure the difference between 0 and 70 degrees.
Click to expand...

Absolutely-

More Heat= More Resistance

Because of that Im going to guess that the pickup will read less than the JB's initial reading of 16K on the SD spec sheet. The degree of affect it will have on it, Im not sure.

But after being reminded of what you mentioned about the resistance being effected by the temperature it does raise an interesting question tho. Even tho a pickup has the same amount of windings, if you play a gig outside in the summer, will it make your pickup sound warmer with more midrange because of the additional DC Resistance introduced into the circuit. It seems like it would have to make some sort of difference.... But Ive mever tried doing a comparison....
 
Re: Interesting Humbucker Question:

Micah said:
Absolutely-

More Heat= More Resistance

Because of that Im going to guess that the pickup will read less than the JB's initial reading of 16K on the SD spec sheet. The degree of affect it will have on it, Im not sure.

But after being reminded of what you mentioned about the resistance being effected by the temperature it does raise an interesting question tho. Even tho a pickup has the same amount of windings, if you play a gig outside in the summer, will it make your pickup sound warmer with more midrange because of the additional DC Resistance introduced into the circuit. It seems like it would have to make some sort of difference.... But Ive mever tried doing a comparison....
Click to expand...
After putting the pickup outside for an hour its temperature is 0 degrees and its resistance is lower by 1k.
 
Re: Interesting Humbucker Question:

Micah said:
Absolutely-

More Heat= More Resistance

Because of that Im going to guess that the pickup will read less than the JB's initial reading of 16K on the SD spec sheet. The degree of affect it will have on it, Im not sure.

But after being reminded of what you mentioned about the resistance being effected by the temperature it does raise an interesting question tho. Even tho a pickup has the same amount of windings, if you play a gig outside in the summer, will it make your pickup sound warmer with more midrange because of the additional DC Resistance introduced into the circuit. It seems like it would have to make some sort of difference.... But Ive mever tried doing a comparison....
Click to expand...

The increase is too small to hear.

I have a couple of winter/summer readings here:
Code: 
                                Kohm/summer     H       nF
ssl1 [1] my original, rev wires 5.96/6.04       2.45    40.8    bridge
[...]
aps1 ijd48 0288 [5] new2        6.28/6.40       2.97            bridge
aps1 RW 1345 [4] new1           6.28/6.44       2.94    38.0    neck
aps1 0824 [2] old kept          6.35/6.46       2.99    41.3    bridge
aps1 0824 [3] new1              6.35/6.51       2.86    37.0    bridge
ssl1 0230 iqei7 [6] new2        6.77/6.90       2.92    bridge  bridge
 
Re: Interesting Humbucker Question:

uOpt said:
The increase is too small to hear.

I have a couple of winter/summer readings here:
Code: 
                                Kohm/summer     H       nF
ssl1 [1] my original, rev wires 5.96/6.04       2.45    40.8    bridge
[...]
aps1 ijd48 0288 [5] new2        6.28/6.40       2.97            bridge
aps1 RW 1345 [4] new1           6.28/6.44       2.94    38.0    neck
aps1 0824 [2] old kept          6.35/6.46       2.99    41.3    bridge
aps1 0824 [3] new1              6.35/6.51       2.86    37.0    bridge
ssl1 0230 iqei7 [6] new2        6.77/6.90       2.92    bridge  bridge
Click to expand...

Great info uOpt! Tthanks for the add-
 
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