Re: Questions on pickups output...
LJ King said:
If I understand the theory correctly which is what I am now trying to learn. So this is meant to be taken in general and please anyone correct me if I have anything wrong.
Resistance of a pickup is only based on the guage of wire used and the number of turns. The more the number of turns the greater the resistance. The higher the guage number the higher the resistance. So a lower guage wire needs more turns to produce the same resistance as a higher guage wire.
True. The higher the gauge number, the thinner the wire. Thinner wire can't have as many electrons flowing through as thicker wire, like you can't suck as much soda through a swizzle stick as you can through a normal straw.
Rule of thumb with some exceptions: #42 is standard for vintage range pu's to slightly higher. #43 is standard for mid to high output pickups, say 12 to 15k. #44 is used from about 16k on up.
LJKing said:
Resistance really has no direct affect on the sound produced.
False. All other things being equal, higher resistance will make the pickup louder, but also with less treble and bass past a certain point. Different magnets, position of the magnet, size and shape of polepieces, shape and size of the coil also affect a pickup's output, not to mention its position on your guitar (neck, bridge, middle).
LJKing said:
Inductance is not directly based on resistance but is based on the number of turns. Not only the number of turns but the quality of the turns. A more precise winding with the same number of turns as a scatter winding will have more inductance. Two pickups can be wound with the same guage of wire and the same number of turns and this will give the same resistance. But if one is scatter wound and the other is precisely wound then the precisely wound one will have more inductance.
That I'm not sure about. I'll defer to others who know more about inductance. I do know that the tone is very different between a precisely wound coil with a shallow pitch (angle of wire to bobbin) and a scatterwound coil.
LJKing said:
The more inductance the greater the output voltage from the pickup. The greater the inductance the lower the resonant peak will be. Capacitance is also related to the quality of the windings. Scatter windings will produce less capacitance in the pickup than a precisely wound coil.
True.
LJKing said:
Less capacitance also produces a higher resonant peak.
In my experience winding, it's the opposite. A tight, precisely wound coil with a shallow pitch will sound pretty shrill and cold. Wider pitch and/or scatter winding gives a warmer, more organic flavor.
LJKing said:
There is also some affect by the core of the coil. I do not remember the name correctly but I think that it is permeability and it might not be spelled correctly but what it means is how much it allows a magnetic field. Sort of like the resistance of the core to a magnetic field. A high measure will increase inductance and a low measure will decrease inductance.
Here again I must defer to others.
LJKing said:
Sorry to run on so long but inductance is more related to a pickups output voltage than resistance.
True, but DC resistance is a contributing factor. As I said earlier, all other things being equal, higher DC resistance = higher output.
You can put an Alnico 8 or ceramic in a pickup with a coil with high permeability, etc., etc., but if the DCR is only 1.3k, it will get blown away by an 8k pickup with an Alnico 1 magnet.
are they an other way to describe a pickups tone instead of using resonant peak?what are they reffering to?
