A higher DC resistance means the pickup was wound more times or with thicker wire and generally indicates

a hotter pickup. A higher resonant peak means the pickup will be brighter sounding. Using a higher value pot raises the pickups resonant peak. Lower resistance and stronger magnets may be hotter than higher resistance weaker magnets for instance. Resonant peak does help you know about brightness but it doesn't tell you much about overall fre uency response.

Larry Di!ar"io doesn't give out too much information# but enough to compare with $eymour. And %'d imagine they'd be very close. &he Di!ar"io has '.() of of DC resistance using (*ga. wire on Alnico + magnets# while Duncan has '.,-)# using (*ga. on Alnico + magnets. &hat's the bridge model. Dimar"io won't do it# but Duncan offers a neck model# wound down to ..(-) of DC resistance. And the resonant peak goes up from /) to /.') with the neck pickup. $o you 'see' where the neck pickup doesn't lose a lot of output 0and that's still 1)# since the same pickups tend to sound louder in the neck position2# but gets some top end back 0the higher resonant peak2# and shouldn't sound muddy like high gain pickups in the neck position would. &he Di!ar"io would likely sound 3ust a little hotter# and their propaganda even has the 4A5 4ro under the '!edium 1utput' list. &hat's 3ust looking at numbers# but when you've swapped do"ens of pickups in the same guitar# you'll get a si6th sense of what you should like.

% think of the DC resistance as more of a tone guide. %n the 4A5 range you have about .#78,7k1hm. 9ere . is the brightest and ,7 is very bassy.

DC resistance and output does not have a reliable correlation %t is the number of winds and the strength of the magnet that are the ma3or reasons for the amount of millivolts generated.

Instruction and FAQ

How do I use this guitar pickup tone tool...

... if I'm a nontechnical guitarist?

Find a pickup in the left hand list that you are familiar with. Highlight it by clicking on it. Find a pickup in the right hand list you would like to compare the first one to and click on it. Click the Get Pickup Info!

button. Click the links beside the check boxes to hear how they compare.

... if I understand audio matters and some electronics?

Scroll through the two lists of pickups to find two that you are interested in, and select one in each list. Check the boxes that correspond to the cable setup you typically use. Click the Get Pickup Info! button. Listen to each pickup under a variety of cable and loading conditions by clicking the links beside the check boxes. !he links work whether the boxes are checked or not." !he graph shows a fre#uency response curve for each of the boxes you checked. Select the $expanded graph high end$ check box to examine the differences between pickups from %&H' and up, which is where most of the action is. (ore detailed technical information appears below. )ow pop open your favorite beverage and think about what you see.

Can I contact you about this page?

*f you are a pickup or instrument manufacturer, we would be happy to speak with you about testing your pickups. Click the Contact button to the left. *f you are an individual in pursuit of that killer tone, we regret we are not able to answer #uestions on individual pickups or what you should do to get that tone. !here are many discussion forums where you can air your #uestions and even discuss our data.

hen will you ha!e data on pickup "?

+e are sampling the pickups we encounter and cannot give any dates for having data on a specific pickup.

hat good is all this data?

,ur pickup comparison database lets you compare pickups technically and audibly. +e have measured the responses of many pickups for you, new models and old, and have compiled this information into a free database that you can use in pickup selection decisions. !here are some big problems related to pickup selection. !he first is that they are not cheap. -aying a hundred bucks or more for a single pickup is a risky venture. ,n top of that, it takes an hour or two to install pickups in an instrument. !hat makes it difficult to do a fast ./0/./0/./0 comparison. -ickups also sound different in every guitar, being affected by the type of strings and their age, the shape and construction of the instrument, the type of

wood, the temperature and humidity, and what the player had for breakfast. For more detail, see our article on !he 1uitar !one 2#uation. .nother problem is that pickup tone is described in the press using the most wishy3washy ad4ectives imaginable5 0rittle, strident, warm, gutteral, biting, smooth, etc. +hat do these terms mean6 !hat depends on the reviewer7s taste, or lack thereof. !he fact is, if two guitarists use the same term to describe two different sounds then they mean nothing. 2ven the less silly terms like darker less high fre#uency content" and brighter more high fre#uency content" are relative to the listener7s ear. Here are some of the retailers that kindly allowed us to test their instruments. Check out their great deals on instruments and pickups8 &elley7s (usic 9oanoke, :. 9ocket (usic 0lacksbu rg, :. Fret (ill (usic Co. 9oanoke , :. Lynchbu rg (usic Center Lynchbu rg, :. +estlak e (usic Smith (ountai n Lake, :.

+hat we need is a way to compare the sounds of the pickups alone, apart from the guitar7s acoustic characteristics, and apart from your selection of cheap beer the night before. +e have done 4ust that. +ith our pickup database, the technical geek can compare fre#uency response curves, and the tone geek can compare audio samples. ;irectly. !his tool allows you to view all the curves we have collected for a each pickup, and listen to audio clips. <ou can easily compare two pickups and listen to the differences in how they sound and see the variations in the response curves. For each pickup, we tested seven or eight real life scenarios to determine the effect on the response of various lengths of guitar cable and various amplfier input impedances. So each pickup has a family of curves, and you can hear the effect of each of these scenarios with sound clips.

How are similar pickups chosen?

+e use a mathematical algorithm on the $%=ft low capacitance cable > ?==& ohms$ curves to select pickups that are similar to each other. !he similarity scores are computed such that the lower the number, the better the match. )ote that the other curves for similar pickups may be different, so look at all the curves and listen to all the sound clips to get a good idea of whether two pickups really sound similar. !o compare similar pickups, select a pickup of interest on the . side and click the Get Pickup Info! button. Look at the list of similar pickups below the picture. Find one of those pickups in the scrolling list on the 0 side and click Get Pickup Info! again. Compare the pickups using the graphs and sound clips. !he scores are arbitrary, but a lower number indicates a better match. . number less than %= is an excellent match. Higher numbers are not as closely matching, as you can see from the graphs. !he similarity is computed from @=H' to ?&H', so you might find that two pickups are indicated as matching while the extreme high end responses diverge. !his similarity tool really strips away a lot of the ambiguity regarding the numerous pickup construction factors, and finds pickups with similar output levels and fre#uency responses. *t is very interesting how two pickups can have almost identical responses while having different coil resistances, for

example. !his could be due to the winding method, wire gauge or magnet type. )ote that the pot resistance also is a factor, so two pickups may have different responses, but look similar due to the pot values in the instrument. Life is never simple, is it6

hat are the limitations of this tool?

,ur tool is designed to allow relative comparisons of pickups. !his tool can not tell you how a certain pickup will sound in a certain guitar, because that is determined as much by the guitar and player as the pickup. However, guitarists doing pickup research are forever asking this #uestion5 $* have 0rand A pickups in my guitar now, so how will 0rand < pickups sound6$ !hat is a #uestion that we can help with, by providing audible comparisons of how two pickups sound with the rest of the instrument taken out of the e#uation. !hat said, there are several considerations you should be aware of. First, the audio we used as our test clip was not recorded from an electric guitar, but rather from an acoustic guitar using an internal pie'o pickup. +hy6 !he pickup placement on a guitar affects the sound, of course, and using an electric guitar signal as a reference would have colored all the other pickups7 sounds. +e use a clean and wideband recording for a reference clip so you can hear the full impact of the pickup on the sound. *n one sense, we could have used any audio as a reference since the main purpose here is pickup comparison, but you are certainly more mentally familiary with guitar chords than Louie, Louie. Second, a pickup in an instrument is affected by its placement along the strings. !hat7s why the bridge pickup sounds different from a neck pickup, even if they are both the same model. !here are comb filter effects that have to do with the position of the pickup and the length of the scale. +e have not modeled this phenomenon. 1enerally, a relatively brighter pickup will sound brighter on any instrument, compared to another pickup that you 4udge to be darker with this tool. !he levels of the audio clips are consistent within one pickup7s family of measurements. However, we have not preserved the relative level between different pickups because there is such a range of levels that the lesser output pickups would be misrepresented, or you would have to be changing listening volume to hear all the detail. !he graphs do show the raw levels as measured

and can be used to compare pickup output. .bsolute output level is a factor, but more important is the tonal response of the pickup. !he pickup and pot resistances that were measured in the instrument are approximations. *t is difficult making those measurements accurately without disassembling the guitar. 0ut you do get a decent idea of the resistances involved and the fre#uency responses that result. <ou should consider the pot resistance when replacing pickups as it does have an effect on tone. *f pickup or pot resistances are not shown for a pickup then we were not able to measure them for various reasons.

hat measurements ha!e been made?

!here are several measurements that have been made on each pickup. ,ur test e#uipment loads the guitars and pickups to simulate cables and guitar guts. Here is the breakdown5 #election $alues %sed &uring 'easurements 'eaning for (aw )ickup 'eaning for In* +uitar )ickup

10ft low BB= picofarads of !he pickup is loaded !he actual load on capacitance capacitance and a with the capacitance the pickup is ?==& cable + 00! ?==& ohm resistor and ?==& ohms, as if ohms in parallel with ohms the amplifier input the measured pot resistance listed on 1 ft low ?D= picofarads of impedance in parallel the graph. For capacitance capacitance and a with the guitar pot is example, if the pot cable + 00! ?==& ohm resistor ?==& ohms. !his resistance is at about measures CD=& then ohms the high limit of typical the pickup load is 10ft high %=== picofarads guitar/amp setups and %E%& using the capacitance of capacitance shows the effect of calculator below". cable + 00! and a ?==& ohm varying capacitance on ohms resistor the fre#uency response. 1 ft high %?== picofarads capacitance of capacitance cable + 00! and a ?==& ohm ohms resistor "#$%&'P ?==& ohm resistor !he pickup is loaded cable + 00! and a near 'ero with little capacitance ohms capacitance cable and the indicated "#$%&'P C?=& ohm resistor resistance. !his shows cable + ( 0! and a near 'ero the effect of varying pot ohms capacitance cable resistance on the !he actual load on the pickup is the indicated resistance in parallel with the measured pot resistance listed on

"#$%&'P %==& ohm resistor fre#uency response. cable + 100! and a near 'ero ohms capacitance cable

the graph. For example, if the pot measures B?=& and a %==& resistor was selected, then the pickup load is E@& using the calculator below". !he pickup is loaded with little capacitance and no additional resistance beyond the guitar7s pot.

"#$%&'P cable

)o additional resistive load on the guitar, and a near 'ero capacitance cable

)ot used for raw pickup tests since there needs to be some resistive loading of a pickup to get a realistic measurement.

)ote that we cannot measure the pot or pickup resistance on active pickups due to the intervening amplifier8

How does capacitance affect the tone?

+e7ve written a detailed article on this topic, !he 2ffect of Cable Capacitance on 1uitar !one. 0ut in general, take a look at this Fava applet we have written that shows the effects of resistance and capacitance. *f you cannot see the applet, Fava is not working correctly in your browserG please investigate this on your own as we cannot debug Fava .); test pickups8"

Slide the Capacitance and -ot 9esistance controls to see how they affect the fre#uency response of the pickup. <ou may have to 'oom the browser window in or out to use the applet8" +hen you add more capacitance, the response peak moves to the left, lower in fre#uency, and the sloping rolloff moves lower as well. !he peak also increases in amplitude. !he peak sounds like a pronounced increase in volume in the %&H' to ?&H' area. !hat7s what gives some pickups the nasal, midrange sound. !he capacitance slider above also shows how the tone control affects the pickup7s response. !he downward slope is a reduction in the high fre#uencies coming out of the pickup. !he more capacitance there is, the more highs you lose. *n this graph, moving from a low or 'ero capacitance guitar cable to a premium high

capacitance cable results in %=d0 or more loss of high fre#uencies. <ou can7t recover that with the treble control in your amp. ;ecrease the resistance and notice how the height of the peak drops. +ith the right combination of resistance and capacitance, a flat response can be had, but that7s not necessarily where the pickup sounds the best8 !he graph also hints at why some pickups sound like they have more low end than others. !he ear is more sensitive to fre#uencies in the %&H' range than the lower fre#uencies. +hen the conditions presented to the pickup change, the player resets the volume and tone controls on the amp to compensate based on what he hears in the most sensitive part of his hearing range, near %&H'. *f the pickup7s response peak is reduced, it sounds b) comparison like the pickup now has more low end. .nd in all the graphs we have seen during our testing, the pickup response at the low end is not affected whatsoever by loading or cable capacitance8

How do I select guitar pot resistance to get a certain tone?

<ou can use the tested resistances to determine the effect on the pickup. . higher pickup load resistance results in a higher output level and a high fre#uency peak. Lower resistance results in a flatter response with less gain. !he Fava applet above shows this clearly. !he resistance of the pot in the instrument and the resistance at the input of the amplifier combine using a standard formula. For example, a C?=& pot in the guitar combines with a % megohm million ohm" amp input resistance in the following way5 C?=& H %(" / C?=& > %(" I C==&. So the pickup sees a load of C==& ohms and that helps to determine the tone. )ote that the resistances do not 4ust add or subtract. !his formula is called $product over the sum$ and is a standard formula that technicians use to compute the resistance of two resistors in parallel. Here are a couple simple calculators to help5 Computing pickup load resistance: Pot Resistance (K ohms) Amp Input Resistance (K ohms)

Resulting Pickup Load (K ohms)

Computing pot value: Desired Pickup Load (K ohms) Amp Input Resistance (K ohms) Pot Value (K ohms)

<ou can find amplifier input resistances or input impedances" in the spec sheets or on amp schematics. For example, the input resistance of most tube amps is simply the resistor value connected from the grid to ground of the first tube. Here7s a snippet of a (arshall schematic showing this resistor, %(, or % million ohms. ,-ample ./ <ou have a B?=& pot in your Fender guitar, and it7s connected to the (arshall shown above with a % megohm input resistance. +hat is the pickup load resistance6 2nter B?= in the $-ot 9esistance$ blank, and enter %=== in the $.mp *nput 9esistance$ blank, then press Compute. !he result is about C?J&. !he C?=& selection for pickup loading will be a good approximation for this level of loading, to compare sound clips between pickups. ,-ample 0/ * like the sound of a certain pickup with a load of %==&. (y amp has an input resistance of E?=& ohms. +hat pot value should * use6 2nter %== in the $;esired -ickup Load$ blank. 2nter E?= in the $.mp *nput 9esistance$ blank, then press Compute. !he result is %%?&. !he closest common pot value is %==&.

&o you ha!e more detail on the pickups you tested?

+e have listed all the information we have about the pickups we have tested. Some pickups we cannot identify beyond what7s implied by the make/model, serial number and year of the guitar. !here are books that give more detail regarding the history of each manufacturer and instrument. !he true tone freak will use our database as only one source in his #uest for the ultimate tone. ,ur intent is to present as many pickups as we can and let you find something close to your needs and tastes. (any guitars are loaded with two or three identical pickups. ,ur data is marked with $bridge$, $middle$, or $neck$ to indicate which pickup was tested.

*n most cases this information is of no conse#uence, but some manufacturers load different but identical looking pickups, and this may help you sort that out.

hat about guitar tone controls?

)ote that all the tests we did on in3guitar pickups were performed with the tone controls on 7%=7. +e tested one pickup at a time using the switching in the guitar. +e ignored coil tap switches and tested humbuckers only as a complete two3coil pickup. *f you are modifying a guitar, you can easily try various capacitors on the tone controls to get the response you like.

hy is there such a big difference between single coil and humbucking pickups?
. humbucker has twice the wire, twice or more" the inductance, and twice the interwinding capacitance of a single coil pickup. !his results in greater high fre#uency rolloff. *n fact, the internal capacitance is so great that cable capacitance has less of an effect. However, due to the dual coils, humbuckers have Dd0 to %=d0 more output than single coil pickups, which e#uates to more drive for your amplifier. Compare a humbucker and single coil pickup on the graph and you7ll see the difference. !his also means that single coil pickups are more 7tunable7 by ad4usting the cable capacitance, tone control capacitance, and volume pot resistance.

hat's with the upward hook in some response cur!es around 012H3?
Some pickups have a secondary resonance peak around C=&H'. ,thers may have an even higher fre#uency secondary resonance that is not seen because we only measure the response out to C=&H'. Since guitar amplifiers and speakers have little response at C=&H', we feel this is a negligible effect. However, tone hounds pardon the canine reference" may want to explore this near ultrasonic phenomenon and compare pickups with and without the resonance. *t7s more likely that this is a result of interwinding capacitance 33 so there7s your next weekend pro4ect.

hy didn't you use a distorted reference sample?

+e used a clean reference because the distortion is produced entirely by the amplifier and speakers and not the pickup, and we cannot control or predict how the pickup will be used.

hat is the reference for the le!el measurements?

!he level measurements use a reference that you cannot reproduce without our e#uipment and thus are arbitrary for your purposes. +e have scaled the measurements such that single coil pickups measure roughly =d0. ,nce again, this information is good for relative measurements only.

How and why did you collect this information?

+e designed a custom device to measure these pickup responses, and it works whether the pickup is in or out of the instrument. !his does not consist of a vibrating string rig, as we have seen several of those in use by others. ,ur measurement techni#ue measures the pickup response only, and totally ignores the acoustic nature of the instrument itself, which would color the results. 0eyond that, our methods are being held as a trade secret, so please do not ask technical #uestions about the measurement methods. +e became interested in this matter while testing our K29,C.- guitar cables, which have very low cable capacitance and open up the sound of the guitar in an ama'ing way. *n doing some testing to #uantify and understand the technical reasons for the improvement in tone, we reali'ed that we could plot pickup responses under a variety of conditions and that this information would be valuable to guitarists.

I wind pickups and your cur!es look different from mine.

!here is ), standard regarding the testing of guitar pickups. +e7ve designed our test e#uipment to conform to good engineering practice. )o doubt you have, too. However, there are numerous selectable conditions under which each pickup is tested, whether on your rig or ours. !hose conditions affect the resulting data, as well as any post processing such as compensation for the human hearing response. ,nce again, the power of this tool is relative comparison of various pickups, using the same testing method to measure each. <ou can do the same comparisons using your methods, as long as )ou use the same metho* to measure ever) pickup.

hich pickup is best?

!here is no such thing8 2ach pickup in the universe has a purpose. *f you play metal, you might want a pickup with less high end, which will sound tighter and cleaner after being processed by distortion pedals and clipping amplifiers. *f you play country, you may like a flatter response with more top end. !he ob4ective here is to allow you to compare what you have with other pickups. &nowing what you want more highs, less mids, etc.", you can select possible replacements.

Can you include 4%( pickups in your database?

<es8 *f you manufacture pickups, you are welcome to send us samples for testing. +e7ll test them and promptly send them back to you in new condition assuming they were new8", and make the data available here with a link to your web site.

Can you e-clude our pickups from your database?

*f it7s for sale, it7s fair game for inclusion here. +e7re sampling as many different pickups as we can get our hands on. +e7re not inclined to remove data that we have taken time to add.

Can I notify you of an error in notation or description?

<es. -lease send a polite email to us using our contact page.

hat is the detailed history of a certain guitar that you tested?

Sorry, we don7t collect that information.

+awd5 I cannot belie!e that pickup " sounds so much 6different from 7 the same as8 pickup 95 hat are you guys smoking?
Lighten up8 !his tool gives you a little free information about pickup behavior and sound. !here are many, many tone factors that cannot be meaningfully measured. !he final arbiter of pickup sound is how the pickup actuall) soun*s in the guitar. !his database does however provide information that should have been available for the past ?= years. Loudspeaker manufacturers do it, so why not do it for pickups as well6 Lse this information as you like, and then we7ll see you on the cover of the next issue of Guitar Gaw*.

Can I play my .:;< =es )aul Cowpatty #pecial into my i)hone and send you a sound clip to use?
),8 +e only are using the one reference audio file at this time. !hanks, anyway, pardner.

hat kind of pickups should I be using if I want to play like >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>?

Sorry, we cannot help you with that one, either. !hat7s really not a pickup #uestion8

.ll data and presentation formats C"C==J3C=%% .tlantic Muality ;esign, *nc. .ll trademarks are the property of their respective owners, with whom we are not affiliated. !his data is only to be used by guitarists for the purposes of pickup selection. )o warranty is offered regarding this information. +e reserve the right to maintain this data as we see fit. !his technology is patented.