Pickup education
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Cagey
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The resonant peak is the frequency that produces the highest output. No pickups have a flat response. If you know where the resonant peak is, you can sorta predict whether it's going to sound muddy, midrangy or bright.
Relation to DC resistance? About the same relationship as coil bobbin color to the weight of your cat.
Resistance is a grossly over-rated metric in pickup descriptions. In a perfect world, it would tell you the length of the wire on a coil, which can be extrapolated into a rough number of winds. Sometimes more winds means higher output, but not always.
Relation to DC resistance? About the same relationship as coil bobbin color to the weight of your cat.
Resistance is a grossly over-rated metric in pickup descriptions. In a perfect world, it would tell you the length of the wire on a coil, which can be extrapolated into a rough number of winds. Sometimes more winds means higher output, but not always.
Cagey
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I wouldn't pay too much attention to DC resistance, but the resonant peak will tell you where in the spectrum it's going to produce the most output. The lower it is, the muddier/beefier/chunkier it will sound, and the higher it is the brighter/clearer it will sound. And of course, all points in between. If you just read the descriptions from the various manufacturers, you'll find that each pickup they make is "great for country, jazz, blues, funk, classic rock and heavy rock". Everything but opera, really, unless you're in the orchestra for Jesus Christ Superstar. So, put a catalog page on the wall and throw a dart at it. Whichever one it hits is the one you should buy <grin>
strictly speaking there isn't a relationship of dc to resonant peak. resonant peak is of the entire circuit and depends on inductance and capacitance, not resistance. the capacitance mostly come from the cable unless the tone control is being used, this is part of the jimi hendrix sound and the eric clapton "woman" tone. it's the long coil type cables that give extra capacitance and fatten up the instrument.
inductance is a function of coil geometry as well as # of turns and core permeability. permeability is the ability of the core to hold a magnetic feild (not to be confuse with permanence which is the ability for the core to be permanently magnetized) so alnico is different from different engineered core material which are different from stainless, or "soft iron" or "hard iron." hard and soft iron indicates to the permanence of the core material which may change the tone but may not change the resonant peak. though a core with a different permeability may not have the same permanence but it's not the permanence that determines inductance.
the dc resistance is a function of wire length and gage.
since the length effects the number of turns there is a common factor to dc resistance and resonant peak so there is often a correlation but it's only true if the bobbins are identical, the core is identical and the wire gage is identical. but generally speaking more resistance is more inductance since the music industry is stuck on recreating the sounds of the 1950s and bobins and cores haven't changed much. but there are original designs and a p-90 is different from a humbucker and a single coil is also different and the wire gage can vary just a little.
inductance is a function of coil geometry as well as # of turns and core permeability. permeability is the ability of the core to hold a magnetic feild (not to be confuse with permanence which is the ability for the core to be permanently magnetized) so alnico is different from different engineered core material which are different from stainless, or "soft iron" or "hard iron." hard and soft iron indicates to the permanence of the core material which may change the tone but may not change the resonant peak. though a core with a different permeability may not have the same permanence but it's not the permanence that determines inductance.
the dc resistance is a function of wire length and gage.
since the length effects the number of turns there is a common factor to dc resistance and resonant peak so there is often a correlation but it's only true if the bobbins are identical, the core is identical and the wire gage is identical. but generally speaking more resistance is more inductance since the music industry is stuck on recreating the sounds of the 1950s and bobins and cores haven't changed much. but there are original designs and a p-90 is different from a humbucker and a single coil is also different and the wire gage can vary just a little.
S
swarfrat
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What dc-resistance will kinda sorta tell you is how two supposedly identical pickups might relate in terms of being overwound/underwound. Since it's by far the most easily measured parameter, it's handy for that, but it really is kind of a rule of thumb. (There's a joke in the fire department hazmat training. The rule of thumb for evacuation distance: Hold out your arm, if your thumb doesn't completely obscure the incident scene, you're still too close.) It won't really help you much comparing pickups with different designs.
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