Pickups, pickups, pickups. [Hi-Gain vs. HB-1]

kennyhowes · Post by **kennyhowes** » Thu Aug 01, 2002 3:43 pm

Two questions:

1) Can the impedance of a pickup be measured while it's still connected (to pots, etc.)? It'll be a lot of soldering ahead for me otherwise...

2) What To Do about this whole HB-1 thing. I have one installed at the back position on my Frankenstein '65 360 OS, and it does indeed sound different than my other Rics (one '67 330 with orig. toasters, one '89 330 with hi-gains) and I am struggling with the clarity and volume of the hi-gain vs. the unique, yet muddy sound of the HB-1. I REALLY wish there was an alternative to the HB-1 (two coils side-by-side, etc.).

I suppose I could just leave the pickups the way they are and use different guitars for different songs/sounds. That'd be the easiest thing at this point, i guess. Maybe I have too much time on my hands.

Opinions/thoughts?

P.S. I have a WEM Dominator for sale, write for details.

markthemd · Post by **markthemd** » Fri Aug 02, 2002 6:46 am

What is generally used to discribe "OUTPUT" is the coil resistance . In reality this is NOT how to do this , but as these numbers are common and it is easy to find this type of info for any brand of pickup , that is what I will use .

You need a Volt / Ohm meter .... I use a 'Fluke' , but any brand will work .Cheap ones even for $15.00 will do this task .

Positions of pickups are erroneously call front and back . If you look at old Gibson catalogs and old fender catalogs , they speak of front pickups . Fender uses the single pickup 'Esquire model ad their example and Gibson uses the single pickup ES-175 as their example .
PROBLEM ????? Yes !!!!

Fender and their 'front' pickup is the bridge pickup , and Gibson ...their 'front' pickup is in the neck position !!!

So who is correct ?

Screw this terminology .

Bridge pickup is easy to understand , neck pickup is the same .... then for all guitars with a pickup inbetween these .... that one is the 'middle' pickup .

markthemd · Post by **markthemd** » Fri Aug 02, 2002 6:56 am

To specifically answer your questions ;

Yes you can measure the pickups resistance while still connected , but you need to use the selector switches to 'remove' the other pickups from the circuit .

Guitars with NO active circuit are ALL high impedence .

Guitars that utilize a power source ( 9 volt batteries or similar ) are all medium or low impedence .

However , guitars that have a circuit that has an effect and uses a battery /power source CAN be high impedence , as the effect is not part of the pickup system itself . Case in point , the Roger McGuinn signature Rick and the Eric Clapton signature Fender.

AS to the tone of pickups , what are you trying to get from your guitar . I assume you have toasters in it as stock pickups , yet want something that is 'more' than what came stock .

Any humbucking with coils that sit side by side (as opposed to stacking ) will have a definate midrange bump .

Single coils tend to be lacking in midrange and heavy on the treble and bass . This does not mean that there is NO midrange , but rather this is a generalization of all single coils .
The more wraps you put on a pickup , the less treble you have ... so that is one way to bump up the midrange . But it also effects the treble and the bass .

kennyhowes · Post by **kennyhowes** » Fri Aug 02, 2002 7:12 am

To clarify: I have the HB-1 installed at the bridge. (I usually don't use the "front/back" terminology either, don't know why I chose to here.)

Thanks for your help--I'm off to buy an ohmmeter!

I should get one that reads ohms 1X, right? (AS oppsoed to X10, etc)

dave4004 · Post by **dave4004** » Fri Aug 02, 2002 2:39 pm

Kenny, when you say "two coils side-by-side" do you mean like a Precision Bass pickup? Two RW/RP single coils connected in series like a Precision (each single coil handling two strings) is the only way I know to get single coil tonality, hum cancellation and decent output.

kennyhowes · Post by **kennyhowes** » Fri Aug 02, 2002 7:35 pm

Sorry...I meant two coils side-by-side (ala Les Paul) vs. stacked-coil-humbucker (ala HB-1). Seems like you'd get back some treble lost in the two-coil-midrange-bump (Les Paul's got PLENTLY gain as well as treble).

Sorry for all the dashes.
-KH

P.S. Nobody here is interested in my WEM amp? Bummer.

tracy · Post by **tracy** » Sun Aug 04, 2002 9:15 am

Pickup impedance can be most readily be measured from the output jack on most guitars (all controls fully extended). Notable Rickenbacker exceptions are: 1) three pickup models where the neck and middle pickups are tied, and 2) older models with a series capacitor in the bridge position.