BKP Strat Sets.......... Why the BIG gap in output ?...............

[Tone Junkie]

I dont understand the massive gap in output in the Strat range ?.

Slow Hand= 7.6 / 6.5 / 6.5  ( Fender Texas Specials = 7. ? / 6.5 / 6.2 )

Trilogy   =  15.5 /11.2/11.2
 
Personaly, i would like a set  in the region of....... 10.5/9/9  (ish) OR am i missing the point somewhere ?.

[Ian Price]

I'm a self confessed non-technical person. I suspect that there is a pretty damn good reason for this though. Tim is a master at making pickups so this is what I am basing my suspicion on! One of our more technically proficient forum members (Denim n Leather, Philly Q etc etc) will be in a better position to answer this.

[Antag]

For starters, DC Resistance is not an absolute measure of output - it's simply a measure of the amount of resistance from the winding.  In other words, it's only a relative measure of output: for 2 pickups using the same magnet & the same wiring type/gauge the one with the higher DCR would have more power & top end, but as a figure on its own it doesn't take account of the different types/sizes etc of magnet & wire.

Secondly, the difference in output between an Irish Tour (which is more powerful than the Slowhand) & a Trilogy isn't huge.  In fact, I estimate that the difference in power between the lower output Sultans' & the Irish Tour is probably greater.

As far as I can tell, BKP have the entire power spectrum pretty well covered... :)

[Philly Q]

Thanks for the props Ian, but I don't think I'm clever enough to explain it!  :lol:

As I understand it, the DC resistance depends on (1) the gauge of the wire in the coil, and (2) the number of turns of wire. Vintage-styled pickups generally use thicker (42 gauge) wire, and of course there's a limit to the amount of wire that will actually fit on the coil.  Once you get up to about 7-point-something the coil is full.

For higher output pickups, you need more turns of wire and therefore thinner wire to fit the coil.

Now, this is where I don't quite know what I'm talking about... I think that once you switch to a thinner wire, there's a big jump in DC resistance (per length of wire).  So you suddenly go from 7-point-something to 11-point-something, even if the pickup has the same total length of wire.  This doesn't mean there's a big jump in output or volume.  If you look at the specs for, say, Seymour Duncan's range, there's a similar jump from the vintage models to the hotter ones.

So, I don't think there's a "gap" in the range - it's just due to the physical construction of the pickups.

[Tone Junkie]

Brilliant !, my whole way of thinking regarding pickup technology, tone and output has just changed, thanks guys and i shall continue to watch for more on this subject.
                 

[Lazy_McDoesnothing]

I used to think the same as the OP.  Thanks for clearing that up Antag and Philly!

[jms8250]

A lot of this makes sense.  My Sinner is rated at like 20 ohms but it balances well with my Mothers Milk neck and middle pickup.  This is actually my favorite single coil set.



BKP's Have Peerless Tone
www.peerlesstone.com

[dave_mc]

the one with the higher DCR would have more ... top end,

i thought higher output pickups had less top end (all things being equal)?

[PhilKing]

Another thing to look at is the magnets.  Different magnets have different strengths.  The range BK uses goes (low to high), AIII, AII, AIV, AV, Ceramic.  What this means is that the same coil DC with a different magnet will have a different output.