Pickup volume/output balancing confusion

veil

veil

New member
It's been a super long time since I've posted here! But I remember this being the best place to ask about pickups, so hey what's up.

I have a dual humbucker strat that I've had a SD '59 neck and a Dimarzio 36th Anniversary bridge in for a while. I want to change the bridge PAF out for a Dimarzio Bluesbucker, because I want a brighter, biting P-90-like sound and its hum-cancelling is also appealing.

However, I don't know how this will work volume-wise. Mostly I just need to make sure that the volume between the two pickups is even, and that there isn't a gain loss/increase when I switch. Dimarzio says that the Bluesbucker is 10.07k and the '50 neck is 7.43k. However, I'm told that DC resistance doesn't describe the whole output picture, so I'm not sure what I can expect.

Help!
 
Re: Pickup volume/output balancing confusion

Well, add to this that the neck will always give more output due to the increased string movement, and you can see that neck position pickups usually balance better with bridge pickups if they're weaker. Luckily most guitars have pickup height adjustment screws so you can fine-tune to suit your taste and rig.
 
Re: Pickup volume/output balancing confusion

Thanks for the response Alex. :) So as long as I can raise my bridge pickup higher (which I can on this guitar), I shouldn't have a volume problem?

I guess I could always get a pair of Bluesbuckers, but I do really like the sweet creaminess of the '59.
 
Re: Pickup volume/output balancing confusion

Yes. You shouldn't have a problem that height adjusting screws can't fix.
 
Re: Pickup volume/output balancing confusion

I've had Bluesbuckers in a few guitars. I think you'll be fine. However, make sure that when you install it, you have the screw coil towards the neck. The other coil is just a dummy coil. So if you orient the Bluesbucker the "normal way" in the bridge slot, you probably won't like the tone.
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Austin
 
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