Pickups?

I have alot of questions about pickups

1.what does the amount of resistance mean and have to do with the guitars tone?

2. What does "hot" mean and whats the hottest pickup

3. what makes pickups distorted like Angus Young signatures?

4. how do i tell if a pickup is would be good on a custom in the neck position or bridge position?

5.lets say i was going to have an Angus young signature humbucker. Would i need one in the neck and one iin the bridge or could i use an Angus Young and another one (like and eddie van halen or or custom)?

thnx

1.what does the amount of resistance mean and have to do with the guitars tone?
Resistance is another way to say, in effect, how 'wound' a pick up is. The more wound it is, the more output (hot) the pick up will have. When you read resistance, you would probably notice that single coil pick ups have less resistance that humbuckers and that pick ups made for higher output will also correlate to a higher resistance. For tone...see the next question

2. What does "hot" mean and whats the hottest pickup
Jumping from the last question, a pick up that is more wound is 'hotter' and give more output. What this does is essentially send more signal to the amp than a less hot pick up. Hot picks are key to getting a more natural sounding overdrive and make it easier to do so.

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'Hottest' pick up depends...non-active versus active pick ups. Active picks (with batteries) theoretically put more sound to the front of the amp because it's using a little extra powered boost from the active circuitry. Example is an EMG 85. For metal, I'm a fan of powered EMG's.

Non-active is something like Seymour Duncan Dimebucker (Dimebag Darrell). I've never heard it and only ran across it recently in looking at new pick ups but I read a little and it's pretty hot.

3. what makes pickups distorted like Angus Young signatures?
Lots of stuff comes in to play for an Angus tone but specific to pick ups, see the previous two questions. It's likely the overwound pick up but can also be the type of magnet used too (ceramic versus Alnico). Alnico is said to have a beefier output. I think the Angus has an Alnico V. Other things go in to it such as wax sealing (to protect from pick up 'microphonic' issues etc). An overwound pick up with a 'beefy' magnet is going to push the amp a little more and make it easier to get that warm 'butter' tone with overdrive.

4. how do i tell if a pickup is would be good on a custom in the neck position or bridge position?
What will be good depends on what you want. This is not so much a science that as a matter of personal preference. For me, I have a Gibson ES333. So, I'm replacing the current pick ups with a Gibson '57' in the bridge position and a '57T' (Plus) in the neck position. The '57' gives a warm, mellow tone for cleaner playing like in some jazz or less to non-distorted playing. It's cleaner but warm. The '57T' is more wound and give a classic overdrive sound like an early AC/DC (Malcom) or most any other classic rock sound.

So, it's a matter of what you want from the pick ups. You may not even know that now but it isn't a bad rule of thumb to have a less wound pick up in the neck position.

5.lets say i was going to have an Angus young signature humbucker. Would i need one in the neck and one iin the bridge or could i use an Angus Young and another one (like and eddie van halen or or custom)?
Pick ups are mix and match so you can do whatever combination you desire. You can break the 'rules' if you like if that serves your tone needs. Whatever 'rules' there are, you need to get out of your pick ups what it is you want to hear. A few things I said above are rules of thumb that I've picked up over the years but there really is no single path you have to follow.

In the 80's, I spent more money on pick ups that I practically did food (ok, not really...) so finding what you want to hear can often be a little journey of experimentation. Then again, if ya know what you want to hear, folks can guide you to the pick up that will do that.

....what I've said above is, I think, reasonably accurate but others may have more input to give. Still...A little bit of info to work with.

I also had some questions regarding the position of pickups (neck vs bridge). I get that it depends on what sound you want, but will a pickup sound different if it is in a different position? So will pickup A have a certain sound if installed in the bridge position and a different sound if installed in the neck position?

JeffS rocks, man. I have learned to respect the Jeff. Go with it.

Originally Posted by: hunter1801I also had some questions regarding the position of pickups (neck vs bridge). I get that it depends on what sound you want, but will a pickup sound different if it is in a different position? So will pickup A have a certain sound if installed in the bridge position and a different sound if installed in the neck position?[/QUOTE]

Yes and no. How's that for definitive? ;)

Yes: End result is that the same pick up will sound different in each position. No matter the pick up, the neck position will, invariably, have a softer, 'rounder' sound than the bridge, which would have a more driven and brighter sound. The bridge pick up, I think, is also going to drop off the lower frequencies more quickly as the string resonates.

Frequency response notwithstanding, the pick up is going to maintain its core characteristics because of it's construction. If it's a hotter pick up, it's going to still want to drive the front of the amp more that a 'less hot' pick up.

For me, this means that I'm going to get less differentiation in sound between the two if, for instance, I had the same pick up in both positions. My first guitar was a Les Paul Deluxe that was routed for standard sized pick ups. When I bought it, it had Duncan Distortions in both positions. I was always unsatisfied because the sound difference wasn't enough that I cared to really ever use the neck pick up. The neck did have a little more of the round 'woofy' sound but not so much, because of the pick up, that it sounded appealing to me. I think this is why I've since gone to less wound pick ups in the neck position.

[QUOTE=Razbo]JeffS rocks, man. I have learned to respect the Jeff. Go with it.

Awwww man, now ya got me all 'dude-blushing' :D

Originally Posted by: JeffS65A few things I said above are rules of thumb that I've picked up over the years but there really is no single path you have to follow.

What if I was going to make a Jimmy Page Replica. Apart from the extreme wiring with the pick/pull pots or whatever they are called, how can I find out what pickups he uses?

Originally Posted by: shahnenWhat if I was going to make a Jimmy Page Replica. Apart from the extreme wiring with the pick/pull pots or whatever they are called, how can I find out what pickups he uses?

I don't seem to remember that Jimmy changed out pick ups from his '59 Les Paul. That would make the pick ups the Gibson PAF's (standing for 'Patent Applied For' which was a name derived from a sticker on the underside of the pick up). Comparable pick ups are the 57 or 57T's from Gibson. That is to say that if you are going for that Les Paul tone. Thing is, Jimmy used all kinds of guitars and funky amps when he recorded so trying to replicate him is kind of a tough job. At least in my opinion.

However, as a standard good, classic rock tone; I think 57's would be hard to beat. Thus why I'm getting them (...at some point).

I do want to say that I have been putting out lots of info in this thread. I don't want to make it look like I'm an expert on this. I have been playing for a long time and read lots so I'm only sharing what I know. I imagine the site tech would crush me in what he knows about this stuff. So, I didn't want to be all 'I'm an expert' or anything. Just sharing the nuggets of stuff I know. :D

Thanks. I think that's all my questions. Thanks again

Originally Posted by: JeffS65
Awwww man, now ya got me all 'dude-blushing' :D

Sorry, man it was the beer talkin' :eek: