Post by antigua on Feb 25, 2019 21:12:40 GMT -5
This is another pickup set I bought around the same time as this set www.tdpri.com/threads/lytc-control-hp5-humbucker-set-analysis.929203/ , sold on Amazon www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NBOF5MD/?tag=tdpri-20 , I bought both not knowing which set I was going to install, but they were so cheap at $37 for the set that I thought I'd just get both and figure it out later. What's really impressive about both of these sets is that they have AlNiCo pole pieces and nickel silver base plates. The Donlis / GuitarMadness humbuckers are going for a similar price, but they have brass base plates. The base plate has a very small effect on the resonance, it's more a matter of quality for quality's sake. The AlNiCo 5 bar appears to be good also, the magnetic strength at the slug and screws tops is typical of any other AlNiCo 5 PAF knock-off.
The inductance of the bridge and neck pickups being 5 and 4 henries respectively makes them very typically "PAF". The Lollar "high wind" Imperial bridge and Lollar Imperial neck have near identical inductance values, based on specs that Lollar has since remove from his website.
Even though the "LYTC Control" coils have an unusual feature, grounded copper shielding around the coils, they have a minimal influence on the electrical properties of the pickup, as evidenced by the bode plots which show an average PAF-like transfer function. In theory the shielding makes them quieter than they otherwise might be, since there is no cover, but in my experience, humbuckers already have a great signal to noise ratio, so I'd just as soon not have that shielding there. But if you're the kind of person who shield't the inside of their guitar cavities and uses shielded hookup wire, this might be a welcome feature. It's funny to think that not only are these some of the lowest price humbuckers are the market, but they also feature what some might consider (certainly the manufacturer does) a technical upgrade over the more expensive pickups it copies.
The good news is that if you dislike the copper shielding, the shielding can be easily removed with soldering iron, or if you prefer, simply cut top to bottom, so that it doesn't have electrical continuity around its perimeter.
Aside from that shielding, everything else that sets these pickups apart from vintage PAF's are inert features, such as a plastic spacer instead of wood, some sort of gold enamel on the wire instead of red "plain enamel", and non-butyrate plastic bobbins. These come out to $16.50 per pickup and should sound no different than similar pickups being listed for well over $100 apiece, provided they share similar electrical values.
LYTC Control HZ5 Humbucker Set
Bridge
- DC Resistance: 8.630K ohms
- Measured L: 5.070H
- Calculated C: 259pF (269 - 10)
- Gauss: 350G slug, 300G screw
Bridge unloaded: dV: 6.1dB f: 4.31kHz (black)
Bridge loaded (200k & 470pF): dV: 2.4dB f: 2.50kHz (blue)
Br Split unloaded: dV: 3.3dB f: 9.48kHz (red)
Br Split loaded (200k & 470pF): dV: 1.3dB f: 4.52kHz (green)
Neck
- DC Resistance: 7.37K ohms
- Measured L: 4.070H
- Calculated C: 250pF (260 - 10)
- Gauss: 350G slug, 300G screw
Neck unloaded: dV: 4.6dB f: 4.89kHz (black)
Neck loaded (200k & 470pF): dV: 2.0dB f: 2.83kHz (blue)
Nk Split unloaded: dV: 2.8dB f: 10.7 kHz (red)
Nk Split loaded (200k & 470pF): dV: 1.5dB f: 5.12kHz (green)
Shielded coils:
The "LYTC Control" logo is easily removable with metal polish and a Q-tip.
