Resistance and pickup splitting??

[papersoul]

Hi guys,

Does anyone know how a pickup changes in output when split? I have some guitars with split humbuckers and it is puzzling. I have had split Deans, PRS pickups, and soon most likely some split Duncans. From my experioence the output doesn't seem to drop significantly when split as I would think.

I often hear people say that only hot pickups split well.....because you are left with a 4.5k pickup if you split a 9.5k humbucker. My ears tell me this is not the case. They don't sound that weak.

Any insight?

Thanks.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Resistance and pickup splitting??

Do whatever works for you, I split evenything with enough conductors attached to them.

You would think that cutting a pickup in half would half the output, so you'd get 1/2 the volume. The human ear perceives volume changes in a non-linear fashion though so I don't know that it is that simple.

 

[Jester700]

Re: Resistance and pickup splitting??

Do whatever works for you, I split evenything with enough conductors attached to them.

You would think that cutting a pickup in half would half the output, so you'd get 1/2 the volume. The human ear perceives volume changes in a non-linear fashion though so I don't know that it is that simple.

You're right; half the wattage is -3dB, and half the voltage is -6dB. "half volume" is generally percieved to be about -10dB, so splitting won't halve the percieved loudness, even if you cut the voltage in half (which I don't think splitting a pickup does).

 

[papersoul]

Re: Resistance and pickup splitting??

Thanks guys, my McCarty has the stock pickups but I haven't used them with a band yet and I was wondering what I might fine when splitting the coils with other musicians in the mix. I like the pickups but I still want a Strat for true single coil tones.

 

[StrykeBack]

Re: Resistance and pickup splitting??

I've never had someone with a PRS say "oh there just the stock pickups"...was looking at a set of dragon IIs and they wanted 180 for them...prs pickups I don't really think of as "stock"