Fender 2001 Affinity ceramic brief

[stratotarts]

This Squire Affinity Strat HSS sample I acquired was labeled "2001" so it may not be the same as the current issue

shop.fender.com/en/intl/squier-electric-guitars/stratocaster/affinity-series-stratocaster-hss/0310700505.html

I chose not to disassemble them and provide detail images because they don't differ significantly from most pickups of this type. The main idea is to examine the electrical characteristics to get an idea of tone, keeping in mind the fact that they use steel poles and ceramic magnets. The usual reason for those is cost cutting, but ceramics have a following for their tone among some players.

Compared with Alnico pole pickups such as original Strat pickups, steel poles and ceramic magnets generally have greater output, stronger magnetic string pull, and subdued loaded resonant peaks (due to eddy current losses that reduce the Q factor). The lower resonance is usually perceived as a diminished treble.

The set is composed of a humbucker having exclusively steel pole pieces and not screws, together with two single coil Strat type pickups with steel poles and ceramic magnets glued to the bottom. The pair of single coils are configured as RWRP (reverse wired reverse polarity) which makes them hum cancelling when they are selected together in position number 4 as presented on the Fender site above. The magnetic field strength is about 400 Gauss measured at the poles.

The single coils have a loaded peak of about 2.9dB at 3.31kHz which is similar to a 2016 Fender stock Mexico Ceramic, at 2.1dB and 2.93 kHz, as it was measured on this site:

www.echoesofmars.com/pickup_data/viewer

It is worth noting that these Fender ceramic Strat pickups have a much brighter response due to a much higher loaded resonant frequency, 3310 Hz as mentioned before, compared with the Fender Mexican Telecaster ceramics that hit an amazingly low 1920 Hz. Because this 3.3k response is also quite high compared with a typical humbucker or P90, that contributes greatly to the sound characteristic sometimes called "Strat Territory".

The humbucker has a loaded peak of 1.5dB at 2.31kHz which comes very close to the response of a Gibson 57 classic or Dimarzio Air Norton into a standard load. Because they all have different inductances and intrinsic capacitance, however, all three will behave slightly differently in the situation of different guitars, cords, and amplifiers. Furthermore, the Fender's ceramic magnet produces a whopping 600 Gauss at the poles, which will definitely affect the tone indirectly due to string pull, compared with Alnico pickups.

(loaded curve = green, unloaded = orange)

Bridge

Middle

Neck

[stratotarts]

Oops. I said that steel poles have a stronger magnetic field than Alnico poles. That's usually not the case.

[antigua]

Speaking of "Stratty" pickups, Ive noticed a lot of pickup companies will sett "vintage" and "hot" sets, and in theory they sound different enough to justify there being two different products. Most of the "vintage" Strat pickups Ive measured have loaded peaks around 4.1kHz, where as the "hot" sets are closer to 3.6kHz. The difference in terms of DC resistance with 42 AWG is 5.5k to 6.0k  for the vintage, and 6.5k to 7.0k for the "hot" pickups. IME, those hotter pickups do sound different, the "vintage" ones sounding "quacky" and brilliant, while the lower frequency "hot" sets have been described as "piano like", and I agree with that adjective. Even though the only thing changing is the frequency at which filtering occurs, the end result can be and often is described as a difference in timbre, even though that can't technically be true, but it goes to show why there can be a market place where filtering differences are presented to customers as through they will deliver a different timbre.

I believe the reason it has such a pronounced difference is because an electric guitar has such a bright transient, and dark decay, that a filter which has a great effect upon that bright transient, but little or no effect on the dark decay, is not perceived as having a filtering action, its perceived as actually changing the content itself. A filter which diminishes the transient seems too make a pickup more "punchy" because the what remains of the attenuated transient seems to sustain longer than the unfiltered transient. I think that "punchy" filtered transient gives way to the "piano-like" sound, as pianos literally use felt covered hammers to strike the strings, which gives them a punchier attack than, say, a harpsichord, which was a precursor to the piano, and used stiff plectrums.

These steel ceramic pickups with peaks below 3.5kHz put them in the area of "hot" Strat pickups, even though they're not marketed that way, and maybe not coincidentally, I don't often see people describe them that way. To my ears though, they sound like hot Strat pickups, with a piano-like attack and a relatively emphasized mid-range. 

[dirocyn]

Dec 6, 2018 22:01:16 GMT -5 stratotarts said:

This Squire Affinity Strat HSS sample I acquired was labeled "2001" so it may not be the same as the current issue

The single coils have a loaded peak of about 2.9dB at 3.31kHz which is similar to a 2016 Fender stock Mexico Ceramic, at 2.1dB and 2.93 kHz

The humbucker has a loaded peak of 1.5dB at 2.31kHz which comes very close to the response of a Gibson 57 classic or Dimarzio Air Norton into a standard load. 

Thank you for testing these pickups!

For clarity's sake, these pickups came from a Squier Affinity Strat, the guitar's serial number begins CY01 so the guitar was built at the China Yang factory in 2001.  I perceived these pickups as being uncomfortably bright, particularly when paired with the stock 500k pots.  In stock form the humbucker is not connected to a tone pot, which certainly contributes to its brightness.

I note that the loaded frequency peak of the single coil pickups is 0.8dB and 497Hz higher than the 2016 Stock Mexico Ceramic--which is not known for being a dark pickup.  Perhaps a closer comparison would be to the 2014 stock Japan ceramic, 3.1dB and 3.17kHz--this pickup is .2dB quieter and frequency peak is 140 Hz higher.  It's also very close to the DiMarzio Twang King tele bridge.  Or, the same loaded frequency peak as a Seymour Duncan Antiquity II bridge, but with a loaded peak 0.6dB lower.  

It is interesting that Squier chose a bridge humbucker that is significantly quieter than the single coils.  Most Strat sets choose a louder pickup for the bridge.  Even so, getting the classic switch pos. 2 "Strat quack" usually works better if the middle pickup is slightly lower than the bridge.  I could not get that sound at all with this set but I didn't try raising the bridge pickup as high as I could.

[reTrEaD]

Hi dirocyn

From your post, I gather you sent the pickups to stratotarts for testing? Thank you.

*like*

[antigua]

Dec 21, 2018 10:57:14 GMT -5 dirocyn said:

For clarity's sake, these pickups came from a Squier Affinity Strat, the guitar's serial number begins CY01 so the guitar was built at the China Yang factory in 2001.  I perceived these pickups as being uncomfortably bright, particularly when paired with the stock 500k pots.  In stock form the humbucker is not connected to a tone pot, which certainly contributes to its brightness.

I note that the loaded frequency peak of the single coil pickups is 0.8dB and 497Hz higher than the 2016 Stock Mexico Ceramic--which is not known for being a dark pickup.  Perhaps a closer comparison would be to the 2014 stock Japan ceramic, 3.1dB and 3.17kHz--this pickup is .2dB quieter and frequency peak is 140 Hz higher.  It's also very close to the DiMarzio Twang King tele bridge.  Or, the same loaded frequency peak as a Seymour Duncan Antiquity II bridge, but with a loaded peak 0.6dB lower.  

When comparing these specs, keep in mind that they're effectively a lot more alike than the numbers indicate. First, when it comes to amplitude, humans can perceive a minimum of 1dB difference in isolation, but as high as 2 or 3dB when there is other noise present, and so if you see a loaded peak vary by 0.6dB, that's likely not perceptible. That peak height also varies depending on the pot values in the guitar, whether they're 250k or 500k, and I know a lot of HSS Strats keep 250k pots while most HH guitars feature 500k pots. Also pots tend to drift in value, Im not sure what the official tolerances are, but IME they're often off by as much as 25k.

Then, when looking at the resonant peak, the test parallel capacitance load is set at 470pF, but guitar cables in practice can be as low as 200pF if the run is short and the insulation is good quality, but as high as 1000pF if the run is long and the insulation is thin, and that will move the resonant peak up or down by several hundred hertz. IMO, if the loaded resonant peaks of two pickups are less than 300Hz, it will be hard to tell them apart in practice.

Dec 21, 2018 10:57:14 GMT -5 dirocyn said:

It is interesting that Squier chose a bridge humbucker that is significantly quieter than the single coils.  Most Strat sets choose a louder pickup for the bridge.  Even so, getting the classic switch pos. 2 "Strat quack" usually works better if the middle pickup is slightly lower than the bridge.  I could not get that sound at all with this set but I didn't try raising the bridge pickup as high as I could.

I don't know that this sort of thing is ever on purpose, but the interesting thing is that those steel ceramic single coils are a lot louder than traditional AlNiCo single coils, because even though permanent magnetic field is weaker overall, the degree of magnetic coupling between the guitar strings ans the steel pole pieces (and hence the coil) is a lot stronger, due to the fact that steel has a permeability that is orders of magnitude greater than AlNiCo.

[dirocyn]

Dec 22, 2018 19:48:22 GMT -5 antigua said:

When comparing these specs, keep in mind that they're effectively a lot more alike than the numbers indicate. First, when it comes to amplitude, humans can perceive a minimum of 1dB difference in isolation, but as high as 2 or 3dB when there is other noise present, and so if you see a loaded peak vary by 0.6dB, that's likely not perceptible. That peak height also varies depending on the pot values in the guitar, whether they're 250k or 500k, and I know a lot of HSS Strats keep 250k pots while most HH guitars feature 500k pots. Also pots tend to drift in value, Im not sure what the official tolerances are, but IME they're often off by as much as 25k.

Then, when looking at the resonant peak, the test parallel capacitance load is set at 470pF, but guitar cables in practice can be as low as 200pF if the run is short and the insulation is good quality, but as high as 1000pF if the run is long and the insulation is thin, and that will move the resonant peak up or down by several hundred hertz. IMO, if the loaded resonant peaks of two pickups are less than 300Hz, it will be hard to tell them apart in practice. 

A difference of less than 1dB--I agree is likely not audible in a direct comparison.  But we may be able to hear artifacts of tube distortion, and this difference would effect where on the gain knob that distortion begins.


Also this is 1dB prior to all gain stages.  A loaded peak of 3.0dB (the loudest of the pickups in this set) is actually played at 120dB (at 1 meter) or louder, for live performance.  When you're multiplying by 40, a difference of 1 dB at the input stage might be a big deal after all.  

Most pots these days are within about 10%, so a 250k pot that's off by 25 is no big deal.  The pots Fender was using in the 50s & 60s had a tolerance of 20% so a 250k pot could measure anywhere from 200 to 300k.  When I still had these pickups, I kept the stock 500k pots but added a 220k resistor and switch to ground (the rough equivalent of switching between 250k and 500k pots).  It made a pretty big difference.  

[dirocyn]

Dec 22, 2018 12:45:05 GMT -5 reTrEaD said:

Hi dirocyn

From your post, I gather you sent the pickups to stratotarts for testing? Thank you.

*like*

Yes, it was me.  I'm pleased to do a small part of advancing pickup swap knowledge.  And also I removed these pickups from a guitar and no longer have a use for them.