Best way to measure pickup output.

[Achiles]

How do you measure pickup output?

[Mike Sulzer]

How do you measure pickup output?

This is a very difficult thing to do. Are you interested in a single number (so many mv)? Or are you interested in looking at the frequency response of the pickup?

[Achiles]

Just mV to have an idea of pickup volume.
Maybe a signal injector and a MM.
Signal Injector for Pickups

[CRU JONES]

Just mV to have an idea of pickup volume.
Maybe a signal injector and a MM.
Signal Injector for Pickups

The signal injector gives a fluctuating magnetic field. The field is then magnetically coupled to your pickup. Among a few problems this device has, is that the magnetic fields will couple and induce an output current even if, for instance, you forgot to charge your magnet.

The way I test my pickups is by playing into my sound card with a dedicated pre-amp I built that has a fixed gain. My pre-amp has always had the same gain, and it cannot change. I use a smashing pumpkins song to demo my pickups, a song I have known since the 90's. Almost every pickup I own, have owned and almost every pickup I have wound has a track in that file. I use Ableton live. Additionally, when you normalize, some software will tell you how much gain it took to reach -1 dB. Possibly useful.

some sort of calibration routine:
You could input a 1Vpp signal for comparison. Or compare the waveforms of a track using the Dimarzio Super Distortion, for instance, to a specimen and make a relative comparison to the 420mV that Dimarzio states. Admittedly I have never done this, but I will look up pickups that my customers are using and advice them to whether my pickup is "slightly higher output" or "slightly lower output". If they want to hear my crappy playing, I will from time to time cut a mix for comparison

Maybe some useful ideas

Cheers,
Ethan

[Joe Gwinn]

How do you measure pickup output?

There are many ways. What will you do with the answer? This determines how one measures.

[Achiles]

Just for reference,to campare a "super distortion" to PAF.
To know about hi,medium and low gain pickups.

[Steve Conner]

Just out of interest, which Pumpkins song is it?

[David Schwab]

Bartolini once made a mechanical string picker to help measure pickup output. Seems like a better idea that the signal injector, since that might have more output than a string would.


Choosing Pickups

[Chuck H]

I was thinking the same thing. The notion is getting a little convoluted. If we want to know what a pickup puts out, don't we want to know what it puts out when it's being used as a guitar pickup and not some other sort of transducer? When I was young I use to check my guitars output just for the heck of it. I used an analog meter since obviously a digital meter can't react fast enough to get the peak. Just picked the strings myself. My results always seemed consistent with manufacturer claims if you averaged several results. My test gear was a $15 meter, a cord with one end cut off and some electrical tape.