Fender Aerodyne Special stock pickup electrical values

[antigua]

Ever since FMIC became more closely involved with Fender Japan, more of MIJ Fenders have been sold domestically, and they've most recently released Aerodyne Stratocasters and Telecaster www.fender.com/en-US/aerodyne-special-stratocaster/0252000322.html . I really like them and own more than a few, but they are essentially Fender copying Super-Strat ideas from smaller domestic makers like Suhr, which for whatever reason has been 98% exclusive to Japan for the past two decades. This particular new model called the Aerodyne Special is also unique for having a 12" radius neck, instead of the usual 7.25 or 9.5.

These are my measured values of the of the pickups:




Fender Japan Aerodyne Special



Bridge

- DC Resistance: 6.345K ohms

- Q @1khz: 2.47

- Measured L: 2.629H

- Calculated C: 109.33pF

- Gauss: 1050G (AlNiCo 5)



Middle

- DC Resistance: 6.615K ohms

- Q @1khz: 2.32

- Measured L: 2.558H

- Calculated C: 99.92pF

- Gauss: 1050G (AlNiCo 5)



Neck

- DC Resistance: 6.260K ohms

- Q @1khz: 2.37

- Measured L: 2.475H

- Calculated C: 106.46pF

- Gauss: 1050G (AlNiCo 5)




The middle pickup has a higher DC resistance than the neck and bridge, but the inductance is about the same as the neck pickup, which just goes to show that the DC resistance doesn't very precisely infer the inductance of Strat pickups.

These pickups are probably machine wound, and it's unusual to see such an anomaly with machine made pickups. They probably have rather precise turn counts, and the layering of the wire is probably uniform. The coils are taped over but they look flat. The fact that all three pickups have similar inductances probably means the coils have about the same numbers of turns.  The capacitance is reasonably similar between them, too. My best guess is that the middle pickup has a notably higher DC resistance due to the wire being thinner than nominal somewhere within that coil. This is why I hope the price of good LCR meters like the DE-5000 will come down in price, so that guitarists will know what they have in hand, even in cases where the DC resistance would otherwise be misleading. 

[frets]

Hi Antigua😸😸😸,

I have a question not related to the analysis, I was wondering how you like the feel of the Alpha pots in the guitar? I’m a big fan of the same Alpha pots you have in the guitar. However, I rarely get to build with them. I just thought you might have an opinion with regard to a comparison to CTS and Bourns.

[antigua]

Oct 24, 2022 12:42:02 GMT -5 frets said:

Hi Antigua😸😸😸,

I have a question not related to the analysis, I was wondering how you like the feel of the Alpha pots in the guitar? I’m a big fan of the same Alpha pots you have in the guitar. However, I rarely get to build with them. I just thought you might have an opinion with regard to a comparison to CTS and Bourns.

I almost never replace stock pots unless it's to put in a push pull pot or a difference value, and I'm not picky about how they feel, I usually have to but whatever is available on Amazon or eBay. The Alpha pots feel very smooth though, with some mild resistance. With the smooth chrome knobs, it's a little more difficult to do a volume swell with my pinky than if the pots had a looser action or the usual plastic knobs. 

Almost all of the previous Aerodynes had dime sized pots, so these Alpha pots are another unique feature of this current production run.