Is this a mislabelled bridge pickup?

[pinkymb]

Hey everyone,




I recently bought this off eBay - as new, unused Seymour Duncan 59 PAF pickup for the neck position on a tele I'm making. It is labelled 59N1 so I assumed it's a neck pickup, but when I measure the output it gives me 8.1k which seems too high for a 59 style PAF humbucker. I was expecting somewhere in the region of 7.5k-7.8k. Also the wire seems to be on the short side, and the combination of these things makes me wonder if this has been a bridge pickup that's been mislabelled.

Anyone have any wisdom on these?

Many thanks in advance!

 

[Sam SG]

Check the resistance at around 65-70 degrees room temp after the pup has sat awhile to aclamate. Maybe it was in the mail truck near the heat or sonething.
My 59n was about 7.3k

 

[pinkymb]

Thanks for that response. I've had the pickup for a few months now. I just decided to check the resistance to make sure it still worked after sitting in a box. It's definitely outputting 8 .1k at 65-70 degrees room temp.

 

[Sam SG]

Ah gotcha. Yea seems high

 

[Securb]

Seems like it was wound a little hot. That could be a plus. Install it and give it a listen, see if you like it. I would imagine you will need to back it off the strings a bit.

 

[Mincer]

Was it from an authorized dealer?

 

[freefrog]

+/- 9% of tolerance around an average value of 7.5k give a potential maximum reading of 8.1k...

And a higher resistance doesn't always mean more turns on the coils. It can translate the use of a slightly thinner wire gauge (IOW: of a 42AWG closer to a 42.5 than to a 41.5). As a matter of fact, min/max tolerance is also available for wire gauges. Elektrisola mentions values of 1.504k to 1.801k for 1000ft of 42AWG (average reading: 1.652k). Hey, that's +/- 9% of tolerance on each side!

Technical Data by Size | ELEKTRISOLA

www.elektrisola.com

 

[switchman]

It can't be a new ~current~ pickup because the sticker is wrong, A new pickup has detailed model, batch, and date sticker on the baseplate like this .


Yours has the way old pre-2002 style sticker on the bottom. The last letter is suppose to be the winder ID not a 1.
faqs/labels-built-before-2002

I don't remember bridge pickups coming with shorter leads.

Was it sold as New or New Old Stock?
How long is the lead?
Did it come in the original box?

 

[pinkymb]

It was sold as used but like new, opened but likely never installed in a guitar. It's definitely an older model. The lead is 260cm long, but this is my first time with a Seymour Duncan humbucker so I'm not sure if the leads for neck and bridge pickups are typically different lengths.

Seems to be in all in a normal Seymour Duncan plastic box:



There's no model description on the box or on the pamphlet, just a wiring diagram.

Thanks for the great responses, the guitar won't be built for another few weeks yet so I'll have to wait to install it and see if it sounds like a neck pickup! I'm hoping it's just overwound slightly or thinner gauge wire.