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A new LCR meter has popped up, and I wondered if it was any good for guitar pickups. My prior experiences with BK LCR meters was not good.
I finally got around to the local electronics retailer that sells to technicians, radio amateurs, et al. They carry the BK 879 for almost $300, and let me try it out on a pickup and an audio transformer (with 100K pot in series).
It did get the right answer on 1 KHz, and was not unduly sensitive to series resistance, down to Q=0.5, just like the specs say.
On 10 KHz, it said only "overload". This is to be expected, as 10 KHz is very high for such a transformer, and is in any case above the resonant frequency of most pickups. If you test an inductor above its self-resonant frequency, it appears to be a capacitor.
However, the 879 was very slow to settle down, making one measurement per second (it seemed), and taking many seconds before the value stopped approaching a final value, and merely dithered around the settled value.
Also, AC resistance is not displayed. Only Q and d (which is 1/Q). One can get AC resistance by switching to the Resistance range, but it should have been available without the detour.
So the 879 is workable, but there are better choices:
The Extech LCR meter (for $180 less and a far better unit for measuring pickups) is available from a number of distributors: http://www.mectronic.com/scripts/mfg...&PartNo=380193.
The lack of 10 KHz isn't a problem with pickups, because no pickup works at that frequency.
The BK 878A is similar, except it has only 100 Hz and 1000 Hz.
I finally got around to the local electronics retailer that sells to technicians, radio amateurs, et al. They carry the BK 879 for almost $300, and let me try it out on a pickup and an audio transformer (with 100K pot in series).
It did get the right answer on 1 KHz, and was not unduly sensitive to series resistance, down to Q=0.5, just like the specs say.
On 10 KHz, it said only "overload". This is to be expected, as 10 KHz is very high for such a transformer, and is in any case above the resonant frequency of most pickups. If you test an inductor above its self-resonant frequency, it appears to be a capacitor.
However, the 879 was very slow to settle down, making one measurement per second (it seemed), and taking many seconds before the value stopped approaching a final value, and merely dithered around the settled value.
Also, AC resistance is not displayed. Only Q and d (which is 1/Q). One can get AC resistance by switching to the Resistance range, but it should have been available without the detour.
So the 879 is workable, but there are better choices:
The Extech LCR meter (for $180 less and a far better unit for measuring pickups) is available from a number of distributors: http://www.mectronic.com/scripts/mfg...&PartNo=380193.
The lack of 10 KHz isn't a problem with pickups, because no pickup works at that frequency.
The BK 878A is similar, except it has only 100 Hz and 1000 Hz.