gfs mean 90 resistance?

[prolife]

not sure if i have been sent dream 90's! how do i tell the dreams and means apart? i think pickup resistance may help. what are the resistances for neck and bridge? thanks.

[newey]

Coincidentally, I just happen to have a GFS Dream 90 neck pup NIB, awaiting completion of my travel guitar. It measures 8.47KΩ.

HTH

[prolife]

mmm... you know i'm sure i've been given dreams not means. from what i have just read they are meant to be hotter. the ones i have are 7.88 and 8.31.

i have a wesley jasper travel guitar. a bit battered but usefull.

[D2o]

Nov 5, 2008 7:32:18 GMT -5 prolife said:

mmm... you know i'm sure i've been given dreams not means. from what i have just read they are meant to be hotter. the ones i have are 7.88 and 8.31.

Prolife,

Resistance can vary to some degree, pickup by pickup. So can multimeter measurements, for that matter.

Also, are you measuring these in, or out, of the guitar?

While I also get the impression that there may be some difference in resistance, do you know if there is a big difference in the resistance of the Dreams and Means? Or is it more a case of the materials and methods used in their construction, which leads to tone differences between the two?

If it's materials and methods, DC resistance measurements aren't necessarily going to tell you much.

Is there a product code on any packaging so you can at least confirm what you've allegedly been sent?

D2o

[ChrisK]

D2o is correct. The only definitive thing that the resistance of a pickup coil tells you is the resistance of that pickup coil.

While pickups with higher coil resistances "generally" have more turns of wire, all wire is not the same gauge, and the individual gauges of wire from spool to spool (and within a spool) vary.

Subtle variations in the tension applied to the wire while winding also makes a variation in the resistance.


The best place to find info on the resistance of a particular maker's products is on their web site.

[ashcatlt]

Or you could email them. Their customer service is pretty good, in my experience.

[prolife]

i have just been sent what was meant to be a fat paf. it is not stamped gfs and has a resistance of 8.2k the fat paf is 10k. 8.2k is the vintage 59 resistance absolutely spot on 8.2k. they sent this in the fat paf box! this is why i questioned the mean 90's again. there are no other marks on it and it looks like a fat paf. but they have offered a refund for that.
i have just been told on another forum the resistance should be 8k and 8.8k. although they are supposed to be hotter than dream 90's which are officially quoted as 8.2k and 8.4k? anyway i did ask how i can tell them apart but had no answer. i also asked this before i bought them.
i will see how they address it now we have a dialogue going...

[D2o]

i have just been told on another forum the resistance should be 8k and 8.8k.
although they are supposed to be hotter than dream 90's which are officially quoted as 8.2k and 8.4k?

I also read some numbers on the gfs site, as well as through user reviews at Harmony-Central.

Resistance for both seemed relatively close, which is why I was asking you if you really want to be using resistance numbers as the benchmark when the Dreams and Means are close. By the way, pictures of the pickups on their site indicate that the Dream 90 and the Mean 90 look identical, so that's no help either.

Now they have sent you the wrong pickup in another box ... I don't blame you for questioning whether you have received the correct pickup.

However, bear in mind that the wire (and base plate, I think) in one of them allows more punch than the other ... I don't remember which is which, but I got the impression the difference is mainly in the tonal characteristics that each pickup of similar resistance has, not so much the actual resistance. The numbers above seem to verify my recollection.

We'll await further reports with interest.

By the way ... how do the Dream/Mean pickups sound?

D2o

[prolife]

the bridge is a little different about 8.4k and 8.8k but the neck ones would be very hard to tell apart. they should stamp an id on the base too. they sound good but they are in a strat i modded. they seemed lower output than the mini hums i have in a les paul copy i have but it may be the week strat tone. i did read mini hums were lower output than mini hums so this is why i questioned them in the first instance. i like there unique tone but they may be too "vintage" for some metalers...