Please help me identify this pickup.

[allmektig]

A couple of days ago I found a pickup lying around in my mothers basement.
I believe my older brother intended to use it in a guitar he was building in the late 80s, but I have NO idea where it comes from.

I'm thinking about putting it in my squier strat to see how it sounds, but I'd like to know if it's possible to get any more info on it first.

Anyways.
This is what it looks like:
s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc117/absentidei/humbucker/

[newey]

Allmektig-

Hello and Welcome!

I take it there's no identifying marks or numbers on there (or you would have mentioned them)? That's going to make it pretty tough, there's a lot of humbuckers around and they all look pretty much alike.

The dual screw coils is not the norm, but not terribly uncommon either, so no help there.

Before we twist out minds around this mystery, and before you dismember your Squier to install this, have you tested it with a multimeter to see if it's still functional? If it doesn't work, it's sort of a moot point what it is.

[allmektig]

s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc117/absentidei/humbucker/?action=view¤t=R0010693.jpg


If you look at this picture you can see some kind of marking on the inside.
On one coil there is what looks like some kind of east asian symbol.
On the other coil it sais "BH" with latin letters.


Also.
I'm kinda new to all this electronics stuff.
I got a multimeter and a soldering iron as a christmas present from my younger brother, and I just want to get as much practice as possible...
So no, I haven't tested it since I don't know exactly what to test for.
I've checked the resistance of it, and it does conduct electricity, but with all the wiring touching I guess it would still do that if there was some breakage.
So, what's the easiest way to test a pickup for output?


Also, thanks for the very rapid answer!

[newey]

I've checked the resistance of it, and it does conduct electricity, but with all the wiring touching I guess it would still do that if there was some breakage.
So, what's the easiest way to test a pickup for output?

Well, I meant testing the resistance, which is not the same thing as "output", but it's good enough for seeing whether it's working or not.

Set your meter to the 20KΩ resistance range and connect the meter as follows. (If it's an auto-ranging meter, set it to auto):

If it's a single insulated wire plus a braided shield,those are your two connections.

If it has 2 insulated wires plus a bare or braided shield, test the insulated wires and ignore the shield.

If it has 4 insulated wires, test the various combinations of those 4 wires. If 2 of the 4 are already wired together, leave those be and check the other 2.

With a HB, you should get an overall reading of somewhere between 8K and 20K Ohms. If you get an "out of range" reading when set to 20K, move up a range and retest (Not applicable if it's auto-ranging).

A reading of significantly less than that implies an internal short; an out of range or infinite reading implies it's not connected internally. Either way, it's no good.

If you have 4 wires, you're testing each coil individually, and the overall resistance can be calculated. Post your results if that's the case. With 4 wires, 2 pairs should show resistance in the 5K to 10K range; the other possibles will show infinite (meaning you've got one wire from one coil and the second from the other. This is also how you tell the wiring scheme for an unknown 4-wire pickup).

Report your results.

And I can't see a "BH" in the photo, but those letters don't mean anything to me anyway.

[allmektig]

It has a single insulated connector in a shield.

I got a reading og 8.16K.

And I guess it's pretty close to impossible to find out where it's from.

[cynical1]

If I were to hazard a guess, perhaps BH stands for Bridge Humbucker.

HTC1

[allmektig]

My logic tells me that higher resistance means longer wiring means more windings means higher output?

Makes sense?

[D2o]

I'd be curious to hear it (the tone).

I'm purely guessing here, but since 8.16k is not high output, perhaps it may have been from some sort of ES-type knock-off ... or maybe a Les Paul knock-off ... does the thought of either of those conjure up any memories?

Cheers,
D2o

[allmektig]

No, unfortunately.
My older brother is 12 years older than me, and I was barely born at that time. So.
And I can put up some audio from it when I put it in my guitar.
Just need to wait for some parts to arrive in the mail.

[D2o]

Well, it could be from just about anything ... the good news is if it has these Asian markings it could well have come from a host of pretty decent guitars, rather than the recent infestation of cheap Chinese knock-offs. Maybe it's from an Ibanez or Samick or something like that?

Whatever it is, I hope you get it up and running - I suspect it should sound good for country / blues / jazz , rather than, say, metal.

Good luck,
D2o