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| the fancy way of checking pickups http://mowrystrings.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10123&t=30807 |
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| Author: | skankstro [ Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:28 pm ] |
| Post subject: | the fancy way of checking pickups |
I got the 2 pickups and no multimeter. What do you do? well in my case i held the pickup ground and hot to the jack and pluged it straight into the amp and held my phone to it with a ring tone going off.  ps: uhh out of curiosity is that healthy for the pickup? |
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| Author: | Ti-Roux [ Sat Jan 22, 2011 11:21 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: the fancy way of checking pickups |
skankstro wrote: well in my case i held the pickup ground and hot to the jack and pluged it straight into the amp and held my phone to it with a ring tone going off Genius. Seriously. skankstro wrote: I got the 2 pickups and no multimeter. What do you do? Buy a multimeter, ****! skankstro wrote: ps: uhh out of curiosity is that healthy for the pickup? Not for you. dang, stop it, please! |
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| Author: | peters instruments [ Sun Jan 23, 2011 12:21 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: the fancy way of checking pickups |
my normal way of checking pickups is as chris described, but one nice thing about the multimeter is that you can see if the pickups have been wound to the specs they were supposed to. with higher end pickups its probably not an issue but with the gfs pickups ive been using lately it tends to be more so. my experience with them thus far has been that they are typically under wound a bit, usually between .5k and 1 k. i dont know if that is a standard degree of error between pup companies or not, doesn't seem to hurt anything though. where you can run into trouble is if you happen to get one thats way over wound it will still make noise when you hook it up to an output jack, but it wont sound good once you get it into the guitar. |
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| Author: | skankstro [ Sun Jan 23, 2011 12:53 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: the fancy way of checking pickups |
haha well then multimeters are great but i have to stick with the simpler version, cash for fancy is better spent on other stuff
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| Author: | theguitarwhisperer [ Sun Jan 23, 2011 1:44 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: the fancy way of checking pickups |
Why did I even read this post?  I want the last minute of my life back, it's wasted forever! |
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| Author: | Ti-Roux [ Sun Jan 23, 2011 2:05 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: the fancy way of checking pickups |
skankstro wrote: haha well then multimeters are great but i have to stick with the simpler version, cash for fancy is better spent on other stuff Yhea. I have a good way to spend your money for you. http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Books,_plans/Electronics/Guitar_Electronics_For_Musicians.html |
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| Author: | Ti-Roux [ Sun Jan 23, 2011 2:16 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: the fancy way of checking pickups |
You'll learn in that, especially, that pickups are not microphones, but a solenoid that picks up the changes in the magnetic field that is created by the magnet(s) of the pick up, directed by the poles, and disturbed by the vibration of the strings, made of ferrous metals. That said, you should check the pick up with some ferrous metal thing (something like A GUITAR STRING), and not with the sound of a ringin' phone. If your pickup have microphonic capacities (it captures acoustic sound) that means the coil is loose, then vibrating, and then that becomes a microphone. That's why coil in a magnetic pick up is always dipped in wax, epoxy or anything like this. |
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| Author: | mdubs712 [ Sun Jan 23, 2011 9:50 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: the fancy way of checking pickups |
haha... seeing how we all know that the pickups are magnetic, why would you be sticking your electronic phone next to it. Glad you didn't report phone problems. Next time do what other recommended like strumming some strings next to it. |
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| Author: | D Tester [ Sun Jan 23, 2011 1:41 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: the fancy way of checking pickups |
for what it is worth the above book is a really good thing to have -- Harbor Freight has meters that are as good as my Fluke for about 30-40$ -- When or if my Fluke dies I will go and get one -- If you are going to be working on alot of electric gits a meter is really priceless |
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| Author: | Brett L Faust [ Sun Jan 23, 2011 5:39 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: the fancy way of checking pickups |
Resitance readings of pickups will vary with room temperature. Don't believe me? Hold one in your hand after measuring the first time as a cold pickup, then measure again after handling a while. Fun at parties  Also, all pickups are not potted, old Gibson PAF and P90 pickups are not potted at all but are tightly wrapped with tape. This follows for many repros and variants made by boutique builders as well. A tap with a screwdriver always worked for me to see if a pickup was live. I hope that helps.FWIW |
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| Author: | Ti-Roux [ Sun Jan 23, 2011 5:50 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: the fancy way of checking pickups |
Brett L Faust wrote: Also, all pickups are not potted, old Gibson PAF and P90 pickups are not potted at all but are tightly wrapped with tape. And those pickups are a bit microphonic, too. Scream in face of those when plugged, and you will ear your voice in the amp. That one reason why the sound of old pickups is so wanted. Sometimes the wax begin to dry out and cracks, or the coil get loose a bit, that brings to the pick ups microphonic capacities, so it captures a bit of the SOUND of the strings, too. I have observed that on a ES335 from the 60's, recently. Francis |
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| Author: | the Padma [ Mon Jan 24, 2011 9:59 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: the fancy way of checking pickups |
skankstro, you plug the suckers in, turn the volume up to 10 and start bashing them with a hammer or better still a mallet. When you no longer can hear anything from your amp, you know they are fried. 
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| Author: | Ti-Roux [ Tue Jan 25, 2011 11:07 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: the fancy way of checking pickups |
Filippo... You DO have ruler? dang, I guess you're richer than me. |
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| Author: | Ian Cunningham [ Tue Jan 25, 2011 8:18 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: the fancy way of checking pickups |
That bit about the unpotted pickups is interesting. To test if my pickups are hooked up I just crank up the reverb, delay, or gain on my amp (what's today's flavour?...) and tap it with something metal. Sometimes my finger works too. If you feel you need to know your pickups have the specs you're looking for, get a multimeter. But the caveman technique works fine for us amateurs. I'd definitely keep your phone away from magnets too BTW. 
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| Author: | Ti-Roux [ Wed Jan 26, 2011 2:04 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: the fancy way of checking pickups |
Makes sense. |
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