Post by antigua on Jan 25, 2017 1:29:45 GMT -5
www.tonerider.com/vintage-plus
The Tonerider Vintage Plus Tele set is definitely on the low output side of any Tele set. I measured DC resistances of 6.80k on the dot for both the neck and bridge pickup; that's far lower than the average. The average neck DC resistance I've found based on ten of Fender's recent sets is 7.28k for the bridge and 7.33k for the necks, so these are well below the average.
The bridge pickup is lower wound. It's comparable to Fender's Pure Vintage '64 bridge, which is the brightest, lowest wound bridge pickup I've recorded from Fender. Only the Bill Lawrence Keystone bridge is brighter, and not by much. The 108pF capacitance I measured is way below the 152pF average I show for Fender. Another thing to note about this bridge pickup is that I show 1300 Gauss at the pole tops. That should be closer to 1100 for AlNiCo 5. The only other AlNiCo 5 poles I've seen with such high flux density were also from China, and one set that came out of a Fender Japan. These Vintage Plus bridge poles also have a "modern" stagger.
The neck pickup has an especially high loaded peak (with 470pF and 200k ohms) at 4.17kHz. Toneriders' website says "The neck pickup is wound with AWG42 gauge wire for a punchy, almost strat-like sound." and with a resonant peak that high, it should sound pretty Stratty. Furthermore, they do indeed use a nickel silver cover, so the loaded resonant peak amplitude is a healthy 5.2dB, which is just slightly below what is seen with Strat neck pickups, but way higher than what you see with brass covers, used on import models and most (all?) of Seymour Duncan's Tele neck pickup line, which come in around 0 dB peak resonance. However, it's pretty clear that this pickup does not use 42 AWG, it has to be 43 AWG like most Tele neck pickups, for you will never see an inductance as low as 1.9H with 6.8k ohms worth of 42 AWG and AlNiCo poles in the core. That sort of DC resistance would put you in Texas Special territory, and these are equivalent to CS 69's. The finer 43 AWG wire yields a higher resistance for that lower inductance. A final observation about the neck pickup, the 150pF capacitance is pretty low for a 43AWG neck pickup. The Fender average from what I have recorded is a shocking 236pF.
Tonerider has somehow ensured that their capacitances are very low, hitting the boutiques right in their value proposition. Combine that with the nickel silver covers and there is literally nothing that isn't boutique about these pickups aside from the country of origin. This set is a great value, as good as any boutique, and easily better than Fender's sets with respect to capacitances. I highly recommend Tonerider's Telecaster sets over other lower cost import Tele sets because of the near ubiquitous use of brass covers with import pickups, which destroy treble response.
I've created a viewer to look through all the data I've gathered to date www.echoesofmars.com/pickup_data/viewer/ , making it easy to see how this sets compares against the averages, and other specific sets.
Tonerider Vintage Plus Bridge
DC Resistance: 6.80K
Inductance: 2.935H
Calculated C: 108pF (118-10)
Resonant Peak: dV: 12.0dB f: 8.55kHz (black)
Loaded (200k & 470pF): dV: 5.4dB f: 3.68kHz (red)
Pole piece flux density: 1300
Tonerider Vintage Plus Neck
DC Resistance: 6.80K
Inductance: 1.982H
Calculated C: 150pF (160-10)
Resonant Peak: dV: 7.2dB f: 8.95kHz (green)
Loaded (200k & 470pF): dV: 5.2dB f: 4.17kHz (gray)
Pole piece flux density: 950
The Tonerider Vintage Plus Tele set is definitely on the low output side of any Tele set. I measured DC resistances of 6.80k on the dot for both the neck and bridge pickup; that's far lower than the average. The average neck DC resistance I've found based on ten of Fender's recent sets is 7.28k for the bridge and 7.33k for the necks, so these are well below the average.
The bridge pickup is lower wound. It's comparable to Fender's Pure Vintage '64 bridge, which is the brightest, lowest wound bridge pickup I've recorded from Fender. Only the Bill Lawrence Keystone bridge is brighter, and not by much. The 108pF capacitance I measured is way below the 152pF average I show for Fender. Another thing to note about this bridge pickup is that I show 1300 Gauss at the pole tops. That should be closer to 1100 for AlNiCo 5. The only other AlNiCo 5 poles I've seen with such high flux density were also from China, and one set that came out of a Fender Japan. These Vintage Plus bridge poles also have a "modern" stagger.
The neck pickup has an especially high loaded peak (with 470pF and 200k ohms) at 4.17kHz. Toneriders' website says "The neck pickup is wound with AWG42 gauge wire for a punchy, almost strat-like sound." and with a resonant peak that high, it should sound pretty Stratty. Furthermore, they do indeed use a nickel silver cover, so the loaded resonant peak amplitude is a healthy 5.2dB, which is just slightly below what is seen with Strat neck pickups, but way higher than what you see with brass covers, used on import models and most (all?) of Seymour Duncan's Tele neck pickup line, which come in around 0 dB peak resonance. However, it's pretty clear that this pickup does not use 42 AWG, it has to be 43 AWG like most Tele neck pickups, for you will never see an inductance as low as 1.9H with 6.8k ohms worth of 42 AWG and AlNiCo poles in the core. That sort of DC resistance would put you in Texas Special territory, and these are equivalent to CS 69's. The finer 43 AWG wire yields a higher resistance for that lower inductance. A final observation about the neck pickup, the 150pF capacitance is pretty low for a 43AWG neck pickup. The Fender average from what I have recorded is a shocking 236pF.
Tonerider has somehow ensured that their capacitances are very low, hitting the boutiques right in their value proposition. Combine that with the nickel silver covers and there is literally nothing that isn't boutique about these pickups aside from the country of origin. This set is a great value, as good as any boutique, and easily better than Fender's sets with respect to capacitances. I highly recommend Tonerider's Telecaster sets over other lower cost import Tele sets because of the near ubiquitous use of brass covers with import pickups, which destroy treble response.
I've created a viewer to look through all the data I've gathered to date www.echoesofmars.com/pickup_data/viewer/ , making it easy to see how this sets compares against the averages, and other specific sets.
Tonerider Vintage Plus Bridge
DC Resistance: 6.80K
Inductance: 2.935H
Calculated C: 108pF (118-10)
Resonant Peak: dV: 12.0dB f: 8.55kHz (black)
Loaded (200k & 470pF): dV: 5.4dB f: 3.68kHz (red)
Pole piece flux density: 1300
Tonerider Vintage Plus Neck
DC Resistance: 6.80K
Inductance: 1.982H
Calculated C: 150pF (160-10)
Resonant Peak: dV: 7.2dB f: 8.95kHz (green)
Loaded (200k & 470pF): dV: 5.2dB f: 4.17kHz (gray)
Pole piece flux density: 950