Pickup ohm reading?

Comments

• AaronW

  October 2012

  ohm readings only tell you part of what is going on in the pickup. There is so much more you need to know in order to get a pickup sound: inductance, capacitance, magnet type and strength, wire size and much more. I remember talking to a very popular pickup builder once, asking him about the ohm readings. He told me something to the effect that he doesn't really know what his pickups ohm's are, because that doesn't tell you much, but he puts up ohm readings he said because so many people "have" to have that in order to make a decision.
  
  All that said, from what I've heard about Jim's pickups is they are stock '59 pickups that were rewound by Seymour Duncan. So any late 50's style Tele pickup will get you close. Late 50's have raised A & D poles. Fender at that time mainly used Alnico5 magnets, although they did use Alnico 2 & 3 magnets also. Generally 42gauge wire was used at that time, but again they did use 43guage wire.
  
  Talk to any of the reputable pickup guys, tell them what you are looking for, late 50's tele pickups, more bassy than treble sounding. I'd imagine that Jim's bride pickup is a strong pickup, higher output. But maybe Jim can chime in with some more specifics that aren't posted on his page
• JimCampilongo

  October 2012 edited October 2012

  Like Aaron - My experience is ohm readings are insignificant compared to how and where (and what) the string windings occur. Certain windings can focus on bass, treble etc.
  But I'm no expert, I just try to ascertain what "sounds good".
  It took Fender and me two years and dozens and dozens of pick up variations to come up with the Campy Signature pick ups. Unfortunately (to interested parties) Campy Signature pick ups are not sold individually.
  I don't believe my 59 pick ups are high gain. And in my experience those high "hot" gain pick ups sounded less "Tele" like.
  
  
• Simpe146

  October 2012

  Thank you for your replies, Aaron and Jim. I didn't ask about magnets because I just figured that being original 59's they would most probably be staggered alnico 5. Jim, your reply raised another question: Did you strive to reproduce the sound of the original 59 pickups when designing your signature pups, or did you just go for what sounded best to you?
• JimCampilongo

  October 2012

  A combination of both.