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(formerly customkits)
Bear with me. I’ll post a link to some of those old Discussions.
Basically, the output is determined by a combination of the number of turns in the coil and the strength of the magnetic field. If you wound a pickup with the exact same number of turns of a much smaller wire gauge, the DC resistance would be a lot higher but the output would be the same. (Although the tone would also be slightly different due to the different coil geometry.) If you used a less powerful magnet as well you would then get *less* output, even though the DC resistance is higher.
And yes, the wire resistance does change a little with temperature, although not that much.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I’ve found its as much a matter of frequency range as it is output - lower resistance seems to result in a lower output but increased clarity and more top and bottom end. In my experience this means distortion and fuzz pedals can do their job better and you might actually get more gain before you get to the point of being mushy and undefined.
Also, in my experience the size of the coil seems to affect headroom too. For example Jazzmaster pickups seem to have loads of ‘headroom’ even when you dig in hard whereas a Strat/Tele/Jaguar kind of limits and compresses more easily.
So yeah, beyond how midrangey/loud it’ll be compared to other similar pickups it’s not the be all and end all in my (uneducated) experience!
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Inductance and magnetic strength will tell you about a pickups "output". Resistance is a vague clue. I think it's become a thing because it's easy to measure. But I do wish people would stop referring to "a pickups output is x KOhms". Ohms is the unit for the measurement of resistance, it can't actually be an expression of signal level! It's like saying a car's top speed is 1.6 Litres. Engine capacity is a clue to speed but many other factors involved.
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
Buying pickups in general is little more than based on a whim for the majority of people who don't get a chance to thoroughly test lots of different ones but we at least would like to have balanced output (or at least a desired mis match) without having to go for a set of the same kind.
I'm after a fatter sounding Strat bridge and I knew gilmour has that so I checked the specs of his and it's about 13k resistance or so. Bare Knuckle, however, don't have anything that high even in the pickups they class as very high output modern ones.
Hence this question, does it mean the pickup they call hot at around 8k can have just as much output as the 13k Gilmour one?
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
I quite fancied the Diamond Geezer just for having the option of a switchable extra sound. Is it available with flat poles instead of stagger?
Enough hints? ;-)
And yes you can have it flush pole :-)
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
Enough hints? ;-)
And yes you can have it flush pole :-)
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
But as others have indicated as above, a thinner winding, with more turns will produce a higher reading but that won't equate to a higher output - So it works when comparing a like for like pick-up, but not if built/spec'd differently
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message