Measuring inductance (henry) to determine output - questions...

[sedawkgrep]

Hi guys and gals -

I just got an LCR meter and am curious about how reading the inductance (henry) equates to output. My understanding is it's the most accurate measurement of the output of a pickup we really have. Is that true?

If so, is taking a measurement of two different types (construction / magnets) of pickups and comparing their inductance a way to get an accurate representation of output between the two?

If so, I have about 80 or so pickups (mostly Dimarzio and Duncan) that I can start getting readings for, and would be happy to put that into a spreadsheet for others to add to or just use to compare. But again, if this isn't a useful way to determine output, then there's not much point.

Any and all thoughts and ideas are very much appreciated.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Measuring inductance (henry) to determine output - questions...

I for one would be interested to know the henries of a lot of popular pickups just for geeking purposes, but even the inductance alone doesn't give a complete picture of a pickup's output. Pickup gurus explained why in a thread I started a year or two ago.

 

[beaubrummels]

Measuring inductance (henry) to determine output - questions...

There’s a guy who used to be on here that reviews pickups and posts all those specs on his test models. Can’t remember his name. Can be found with Google.

 

[freefrog]

Re: Measuring inductance (henry) to determine output - questions...

Hi guys and gals -

I just got an LCR meter and am curious about how reading the inductance (henry) equates to output. My understanding is it's the most accurate measurement of the output of a pickup we really have. Is that true?

If so, is taking a measurement of two different types (construction / magnets) of pickups and comparing their inductance a way to get an accurate representation of output between the two?

Hello,

Inductance is certainly much more meaningful than resistance.

It will surely tell the difference of output between two pickups structurally similar .

With two pickups of different constructions, it's another story: a 4k Filter'Tron has a lower inductance (1.6H) than a 8k PA.F. (4.4H) and a Tri-sonic often measures less than a Fender pickup... but they aren't weaker because both feature stronger magnetic circuits, because the coil of the TS is wide and flat, and so on.

In a worsely misleading way, a P.A.F. will exhibit its highest inductance with an A3 mag and it weakest one with an A5... but the output will be inversely proportional to inductance in these two cases, because of magnetism.

So, inductance is interesting when one keeps in mind the rest of the picture.

If so, I have about 80 or so pickups (mostly Dimarzio and Duncan) that I can start getting readings for, and would be happy to put that into a spreadsheet for others to add to or just use to compare. But again, if this isn't a useful way to determine output, then there's not much point.

Any and all thoughts and ideas are very much appreciated.

It would be generous!

Just be aware that sharing online can be time consuming but not necessarily rewarding, especially when it comes to tech data (at least IME).

Anyway: even if you do that for yourself only, try to measure the inductance @ low frequency. 100hz rather than 1000hz, for example. It's what most people do and it's also at low frequency that inductance is the least affected by some other features.

Conversely, if ever you wanted to measure coil capacitance, you would have to do it @ the highest frequency possible (10khz) because it's beyond most resonant peaks...

As mentioned above, there's already such data published online, by various persons: it allows interesting comparisons of measurements. Check out Guitarnutz2 if you want more information (and if you're ready to deal with dogmatic discourses).

On the Duncan forum, uOpt is another member who measured inductance on a bunch of PU's. He had published his findings on a personal page which is maybe still online.

See this, too: http://online.physics.uiuc.edu/courses/phys498pom/498emi_guitar_pickup_results.html

Or that: https://www.buildyourguitar.com/resources/lemme/

Non limitative list. Prof Errede and Helmuth Lemme are just two well known contributors who started to share pickups data online and whose work is a good basis for comparisons.


If you post some findings here, maybe I'll share a few excerpts of my own archived data. Since I'm jailed at home like a few millions of persons, I might find the time required to do that.

 

[sedawkgrep]

Re: Measuring inductance (henry) to determine output - questions...

Thanks @freefrog that's useful info. I'm not expecting a completely accurate result extrapolated/related across all pickup types. Merely wanting to know if say a Tone Zone has more output than a JB or a Suhr Aldrich. Wouldn't necessarily expect inductance to be correlative between different construction types as you mention above.

Anyhow I might list my findings, but this isn't nearly as cut-and-dried as I'd hoped.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Measuring inductance (henry) to determine output - questions...

The best way to measure output in my opinion is how Dimarzio does it, with voltage, but even that's limited. It accounts for the electrical nature of output, but not perceived loudness due to the nature of how people hear certain frequencies. It'd also be hard to setup, because in order to be most accurate, you'd need to install all the pickups in the same guitar and measure 2 values, one at the highest pickup height you'd be comfortable using the pickup at, and one at the lowest. And the values would all have to be done by the same person, strumming at the same intensity, so comparing values with someone else would be meaningless in most cases.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Measuring inductance (henry) to determine output - questions...

There’s a guy who used to be on here that reviews pickups and posts all those specs on his test models. Can’t remember his name. Can be found with Google.

I don't think you mean me, but I used to do that. I might have a big text file somewhere but can't find it offhand.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Measuring inductance (henry) to determine output - questions...

There was a guy who did that, and argued with everyone who challenged him on what those specs actually mean. He was banned. He can be found on other forums, as argumentative as ever.