Single-Coil Pickup Research and Development

Pickups in General

Each artist has their own unique preferences for what their instrument should sound like playing their kind of music. Getting the right sound may become really involved as both the instrument and the amplification/effects chain plays part the end result. Personally, I am biased towards a clean, brilliant sound with plenty of headroom.

Guitar body acoustics and pickup design requires a fine balance; either can impart a range of tones, ranging from “warm” to “bright”. Ever since hearing the Fender Stratocaster as a teenager, I loved that magic tone and still do in spite of owning and playing several other style guitars.

Its not surprising then to hear how much money folks will spend during the quest for "their sound". On pickups, in particular, there are many choices these days, each with its believers and followers. In fact, there is quite an industry devoted to custom and special pickups.

For the moment, consider single-coil pickups:
Essentially, a single-coil guitar pickup is simply a crude inductor wound with thin insulated copper wire on a form. The form also contains a magnetic structure that senses vibration from the steel strings. By means of this electro-magnetic interface, a weak electric current is induced in the inductor in response to string vibrations. The actual arrangement of inductor and magnet assembly varies between pickups, also does the kinds and variety of materials and their specifications. These factors often play some role in the pickup's sound character in one way or another. Such an assembly has specific electrical properties: DC resistance, inductance, and capacitance (due to inter-winding capacitances).

These properties, i.e., inductance and capacitance results in the coil producing a natural resonance peak output. This frequency response of a pickup could be thought of as the "voice" of the pickup and is a big factor in what makes a certain pickup sound the way it does. This is where the art and science used by various pickup manufacturers comes in; how to engineer a pickup's electrical and magnetic properties, develop electronics to deal with impedance matching and tone shaping, i.e., the never-ending quest for "that" sound.

Single-Coil Pickup Research and Development

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Stratocaster Single-Coil Pickup Specifications

A tonal classification for various pickups (see the Table below), keep in mind the kind of body acoustics that the pickup is to be matched to. Don’t be misled by price; expensive, boutique pickups are hand-made works of art, so expect to pay accordingly. Beware, they may not sound any better than a cheap knockoff. Many cheap imports are actually quite good, usually reverse-engineered from the real thing. Rather, consider quality of workmanship, like for instance, potting and whether sufficient measures were taken for corrosion prevention (especially between windings and magnets), perhaps consider a nice-looking finish. It is OK to look for paper-based bobbins as those often allows closer proximity between wire and magnet, also promotes better potting. Often, plastic bobbins are not suitable. Except for shielded vs. plain, the type of unshielded hookup wire (Plastic/Teflon/Cloth) is of little importance, unless you are restoring a vintage instrument for its appearance. Be aware that pole spacing between pickup types sometimes differ, plastic covers are not always interchangeable for that reason.

Choosing a noise-canceling pickup is another story.

The table below is a summary of electrical/acoustical properties of a number of pickups as used on Stratocasters. These are single coil pickups, some that I have tried and tested on my guitars. Where indicated, measurements were taken with a HP4260A Universal Bridge. For magnetic field strength measurements, I use a simple home-made meter with a Hall-effect probe. Gauss meter.

The list is ordered by perceived brightness, (1) being the brightest, higher numbers being progressively "warmer" (bass).

  1. Fender CS ‘57/62 (specs as advertised) -------------- R=5.6K, L=3.0H
  2. Mighty Mite (Alnico V rods)Bridge ------------------- R=5.68K, L=2.3H (www.wb-inc.net)
    Mighty Mite (Alnico V rods)Middle ------------------- R=5.7K, L=2.2H
    Mighty Mite (Alnico V rods)Neck -------------------- R=5.32K, L=2.1H
    E-705,B-650,G-707,D-707,A-707,E-707 Gauss
  3. DragonFire Flashback (specs as advertised) ---------- R=6.0K (www.GuitarpartsOnline.com)
  4. ToneRider Pure Vintage (specs as advertised) Bridge - R=6.4K (www.EzraMusic.com)
    ToneRider Pure Vintage (specs as advertised) Middle - R=6.1K
    ToneRider Pure Vintage (specs as advertised) Neck --- R=5.75K
  5. Fender CS Texas Special (Vintage) Bridge ------------ R=6.7K, L=2.9H
    Fender CS Texas Special (Vintage) Middle ------------ R=6.18K, L=2.66H
    Fender CS Texas Special (Vintage) Neck -------------- R=6.0K, L=2.43H
  6. Seymour Duncan SSL-1Bridge ------------------------ R=6.43K, L=2.68H, Q=2.8
    Seymour Duncan SSL-1Middle ------------------------ R=6.47K, L=2.7H, Q=2.8
    Seymour Duncan SSL-1Neck -------------------------- R=6.43K, L=2.68H, Q=2.8
  7. Fender CS Texas Special (Modern) Bridge ------------- R=6.6K, L=2.98H
    E-708,B-600,G-709,D-709,A-708,E-709 Gauss, TOP->South
    Fender Texas Special (Modern) Middle ---------------- R=5.97K, L=2.6H
    E-845,B-652,G-782,D-792,A-626,E-723 Gauss, TOP->North
    Fender Texas Special (Modern) Neck ------------------ R=5.79K, L=2.5H
    E-708,B-573,G-708,D-708,A-708,E-708 Gauss, TOP->South
  8. ToneRider Classic Blues (specs as advertised) Bridge -- R=6.8K (www.EzraMusic.com)
    ToneRider Classic Blues (specs as advertised) Middle - R=6.5K
    ToneRider Classic Blues (specs as advertised) Neck --- R=6.2K