Resistor on the bottom of a Classic Stack Plus?

[DrNewcenstein]

So what's the resistor do for the pickup?

[jmh151]

From what I heard, each pickup is tuned for noise cancellation before leaving the factory- that resistor is part of the tuning/noise cancellation

[frankfalbo]

Its the final tuning for zero hum. Each pickup is individually tuned. There are some that won't have the resistor too. That just means they passed test with no additional calibration. There's no tonal impact of it, it's tuning the bottom coil. I remember when I first got here I was like "What company the size of Seymour Duncan would care enough to individually tune each pickup for optimum noise performance?!"

[DrNewcenstein]

Cool. So it's not recommended to change that then

[ehdwuld]

hey
just one question on the same/similar topic

if I had say a vintage single coil with a DC resistance of say 5.5k
and I liked the tone but wish it were just a little bit louder in say the middle position

could I put a 1k resistor in series with the pickup and increase the volume without changing the tone?

cuz that sounds like what the jist of this post is?

I could be wrong

[trevorus]

hey
just one question on the same/similar topic

if I had say a vintage single coil with a DC resistance of say 5.5k
and I liked the tone but wish it were just a little bit louder in say the middle position

could I put a 1k resistor in series with the pickup and increase the volume without changing the tone?

cuz that sounds like what the jist of this post is?

I could be wrong

No, that will cut the output.

The resistance of a coil in a pickup is indicative of it's output level on a very general basis. Adding a resistor will just cut the output by resisting what is coming out of a pickup.

[ehdwuld]

hmm
I thought it was just the opposite
higher resistance higher output

as in the bridge pickup on your strat have higher resistance than your neck pickup because it needs more output where the string vibrations are least

if i put the resistor in parallel then the resistance would be lower and thus the out put is lower

for example the output of my humbucker in series is much higher than the output of the same humbucker in parallel

isnt this correct?

[trevorus]

hmm
I thought it was just the opposite
higher resistance higher output

as in the bridge pickup on your strat have higher resistance than your neck pickup because it needs more output where the string vibrations are least

if i put the resistor in parallel then the resistance would be lower and thus the out put is lower

for example the output of my humbucker in series is much higher than the output of the same humbucker in parallel

isnt this correct?

That is in a general sense correct. But resistance is indicative of how many windings are on the coil. More windings means more output. Adding a resistor to the pickup does nothing to increase the output.

The purpose of the resistor on this type of pickup is to balance the resistance between the coils, that's all. This is a sort of electrical matching, so the hum in each half of the pickup is equal but opposite, so it cancels out.

[ehdwuld]

awite then

[DrNewcenstein]

Actually I thought the vibrations at the bridge were more frequent than at the neck. Since you're closer to the end point, the actual number of oscillations is less but their total amount is more, like when you hold a ruler on the edge of a table and slap it then slide it onto the table more, how the vibration increases. Conversely, the oscillations at the neck follow a wider arc than the bridge, and are therefore fewer, thus lower in volume because they take more time to move air.


As for the resistor, it does what it's named for - resists. What you'd want is something that amplifies the pickup's output.

[SabbathFan0220]

Actually I thought the vibrations at the bridge were more frequent than at the neck. Since you're closer to the end point, the actual number of oscillations is less but their total amount is more, like when you hold a ruler on the edge of a table and slap it then slide it onto the table more, how the vibration increases. Conversely, the oscillations at the neck follow a wider arc than the bridge, and are therefore fewer, thus lower in volume because they take more time to move air.

I'm not positive, but I don't think that's right. The sliding ruler analogy doesn't hold up here.

Picture a ruler hanging off the edge of table, being hit, and just letting it vibrate without moving it. The portion of the ruler that is furthest from the table will be moving the furthest distance, but the number of oscillations will be the same. The part right up against the table will be moving a shorter distance on each trip. This is why, if two identical pickups were placed in the bridge and neck positions, at the same height, the NECK position would be louder. To get a perfect balance you would need a slightly higher output bridge pickup.

Here's a better analogy...think of a revolving record on a turntable. Imagine a point on the outer edge of the record and a point on the inner edge. The point on the outer edge will be moving farther and faster, but making the same number of revolutions. The string moves as one (except in the case of harmonics, but that's another story), so any point on the string will be making the same number of oscillations. The neck pickup position is like the outer edge of the record, it must travel farther to "keep up" with the inner edge (bridge position). Picture the pin in the center of the record as being like the bridge saddles or nut on the guitar.

Changing the number of vibrations would change the pitch of the note, so that would have to be consistent throughout the string. That's what a standard 440 "A" note is. 440 vibrations per second. When you slide a vibrating ruler closer to the table, like you mentioned, you raise the pitch by increasing the frequency, like sliding your hand up the frets while the string is moving.

I think I explained that right...can anybody back me up?

[jafo]

Easy to demonstrate. Just connect a loose pup to an amp and move it along the length of a plucked string. You'll immediately hear which spots are loudest.