r
gg
Jan 2018- p.24
All Fender pickups were hand-wound up
until 1965, this means the coil wire was
guided onto the bobbin by a human being;
consequently the windings were scatter-wound
with uneven layers and variable numbers of
turns. This makes some pickups higher or lower
output depending on how much wire is actually
on the bobbin.
Scatter-winding reduces co-planar
capacitance in the pickup making it sound
more “open” without the harsh treble and
muddy bass response that you inevitably get
from a machine wound pickup wound layer by
layer in a uniform way
DC Resistance is the total resistance in
the coil, if you use thinner wire the DC
resistance increases, most pickups use 42
AWG wire or 43 AWG wire, 43 is thinner than
42 so the DC resistance is higher for the same
number of turns
A “hot” pickup may have a high DC
resistance reading but won’t necessarily
be louder. For instance a Telecaster neck
pickup usually has 43 gauge wire and will read
around 8 Kohms, a bridge pickup wound with
42 gauge wire and 8 Kohms reading will be
much louder
The magnet material used in humbuckers
has a big impact on tone, classic
humbuckers used Alnico 5 which is more
powerful than Alnico 2, ceramic magnets are
even more powerful than Alnico 5. You can
change your tone by changing the magnets
without rewinding the coils. Swapping out
ceramic magnets for Alnico 5 will give your
pickup more of a vintage tone with more clarity
and a sweeter treble
If the coil wire is not wound tightly the
pickup can become microphonic with
squeals and feedback with high gain and
volume, wax potting (dipping the pickup in
melted wax) will cure this problem. Some
people prefer the sound of non-potted pickups
as they can sound more open and responsive
Stratocaster pickups with Alnico 5
magnets can create wolf tones on the
bass strings higher up the fretboard if the
pickups are too close to the strings, the
magnets pull the strings and prevent the strings
from vibrating cleanly and your Strat will sound
out of tune
If you want to talk pickups come and see us
at:
The Little Guitar Shop
or email:
r
gg
21
YEARS
1995-2016
7 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW...
...ABOUT PICKUPS
By Martin Dufficy
Seven Things Every Guitarist Should Know About Pickups
Here at
The Little Guitar Shop
we do a lot of repairs including pickup rewinds and
we also build our own hand-wound pickups, we’ve been doing it for over ten years
and thought you might like to know what we’ve learned about pickups and tone.
So here are seven things that every guitarist should know...
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