How do you match pickups?

[J.D.]

I have two Standard Series Squier Fat Teles. One will keep the humbucker and one will get a P-90 from an Old Kraftsman guitar made in the late sixties. The question is, how do I match the bridge pickups to the neck pickups.

Here's what I've got for my neck positions: Squier Alnico II humbucker, Old Kraftsman P-90.

Here's what I've got for the bridge positions: Am. Standard, Duncan Designed w/brass base plate, two stock Squier bridge pickups.

All the bridge pickups are Tele style pickups.

Do I measure the resistance of each pickup and use the one that is the closest to the neck pickup?

Any help is appreciated.

[Mark Davis]

I just install them and adjust heights so they match in volume.

The ohms isnt always a good indicator of how loud a pickup is gonna be.

[Michael Murphy]

The past few years I have been using Esquires pretty much exclusively so it hasn't really been an issue...


-Michael
Charter Member S. Texas He-Man Emoticon Haters Local #316

[starjag]

Originally Posted by Mark Davis

I just install them and adjust heights so they match in volume.

The ohms isnt always a good indicator of how loud a pickup is gonna be.

One thing to have in mind is that the magnet is indeed a good indicator for volume.

I installed a SD vintage (Alnico 5) P90 in the neck of my CV Tele. It overpowered the stock bridge pickup (Alnico 3) even at the lowest height. I now have an Alnico 3 P90 with 8,000 winds (no idea what resistance) that matches the stock bridge pickup nicely.

If you are going for a hot neck pickup, either humbucker or P90, maybe the 250K pots are not going to be a good match anyways.

If you are going with a neck P90, it is also important to verify that the middle position will hum bucking... so you should at least test for polarity with a compass. The usual appears to be south-up with CCW for the bridge position and north-up with CW for the neck position, but some companies do things differently.

[J.D.]

Both guitars came stock with 500K pots, so I'm good there. The humbucker sounds good with the stock Squier bridge, but I hate not to use one of the better pickups.

For what it's worth, the Duncan Design bridge is a TE-101 B that is rated at 6.75 ohms. Any experience with these?

What does CCW/CW stand for?

[Mark Davis]

Originally Posted by J.D.

Both guitars came stock with 500K pots, so I'm good there. The humbucker sounds good with the stock Squier bridge, but I hate not to use one of the better pickups.

For what it's worth, the Duncan Design bridge is a TE-101 B that is rated at 6.75 ohms. Any experience with these?

What does CCW/CW stand for?

counter clockwise and clockwise