Reappraising the 490R and 498T

roberty

Alnico said:

Philly_Q said:

Alnico said:

Holding my hands up to this....I'm a tit.

I'm not massively experienced with Gibsons and didn't realise that the neck pickup is supposed to be that much lower in resistance than the bridge. I obviously knew there was a difference as there is with all guitars but I thought it was a much more subtle difference and when I saw a figure of almost half what the bridge reads, I presumed it was only working on one coil.

I don't know this for sure, but based on the DC readings I've always assumed the 498T uses a thinner gauge of wire in the pickup coils - maybe 43 gauge as opposed to 42 gauge (perhaps) in the 490R.  That gives a big jump in DC resistance but it doesn't mean the pickup is much more powerful.

Thanks Phil,

I'm starting to understand. I think it just freaked me out that there might have been a problem with what is arguably my favourite guitar of my lifetime and then reacted with a lack of knowledge and experience.

I've started making concerted efforts to learn basic electronics at least up to a point of being able to work on whatever guitars need. I have little desire and probably not enough years left to learn about amps but being able to do this stuff in future will be very useful.

It doesn't sound bad or particularly unbalanced so it can remain as it is now with a but more peace of mind.

Thanks for the info, that makes some sense.

That's right, thinner wire needs more windings to get the same output as fat wire, so DCR is only part of the story. Someone who understands the actual science is probably going to jump down my throat and correct me now

CHRISB50

tony99 said:

I think they're fantastic, they used to be stock in a lot of LP customs no?

Yep. My ‘93 LP Custom had them. 

Boromedic said:

498T is a great pickup in my LP Standard, Dan from the Darkness uses them to good effect. Shame the 490R is a massive mudpie though..... 

I agree with this. 

I loved the 498T. 490R just sounded muffled. 

My LP Custom through a JCM900 is still my favourite of all the guitar / amp combos I’ve had over the years.