Window Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Hi - this is my 1st post on my new R9: I purchased an otherwise excellent Benchmark Series R9 in BourbonBurst last week - acoustically / resonance-wise it is an amazingly well-made Les Paul. The aging, colors, and overall look is killer. But am concerned about what the -10% underwound Custom Buckers (known as Ebuckers I am told) were designed/based on ? I was hearing some unmusical grit using a Germino Club40 ('67 JTM50 bass circuit) into a vintage 55Hz G12H30 4x12 at higher volumes past 9:00 (into compression) so decided to check the pickup impedances - Bridge 8.51k (which is -10% of 9.46k ohms) Neck 8.25k (which is -10% of 9.17k ohms) So these are 10% underwound compared to what ?? My older Throbak SLE-101 sets are around 8.02k/7.55k for comparison. Even my strongest pair of Burstbuckers are 8.43k/8.17k. Did I get a correctly spec'd underwound pair installed ? Tks for as much detail as possible sirs - Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Congrats to your great purchase, Window. Sorry that you are in sorrow if it all is correct. Sadly I don't have a definite answer but only a few comments on pickups. - If 10% underwound meant 10 % of wire length, then it should have 90 % DC resistance compared to the reference we don't know, but had more than 90 % of the winding turns if the core of the bobbin has the same dimensions. - If 10 % underwound meant 10 % of winding turns, then it should have considerably less than 90 % DC resistance compared to the unknown reference since the missing outer winding turns would have taken more wire per turn than the average ones. - If the pickups are underwound by using a wire with a thicker enamel coat, there maybe is all good since the thinner copper core would have an increased DC resistance. - Since I don't have an LRC meter reading complex impedances, I am able to take DC resistance readings only, too. As for '57 Classics, '57 Classic Plus, Burstbucker 1, Burstbucker 2, Burstbucker Pro neck & bridge, 490R and 498T I can say that the DC resistance readings often seem implausible to me. Besides the 498T, none of them reads significantly "hotter" than the other. The readings of e. g. different '57 Classic and '57 Classic Plus PUs partially overlap each other. But however, PUs of the same type read all within less than +/- 2 %, mostly within +/- 1 %, and sonic results as well as output levels are absolutely correct. - DC measurements are not very significant if inductance and capacitance remain unknown. My Fender Noiseless stacked pickups have rather high DC resistance but sound very bright and, with the exception of the SCNs by Bill Lawrence, do put out relatively low voltage. Hope I didn't bore you, capmaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Posted August 9, 2013 Author Share Posted August 9, 2013 Congrats to your great purchase, Window. Sorry that you are in sorrow if it all is correct. Sadly I don't have a definite answer but only a few comments on pickups. - If 10% underwound meant 10 % of wire length, then it should have 90 % DC resistance compared to the reference we don't know, but had more than 90 % of the winding turns if the core of the bobbin has the same dimensions. - If 10 % underwound meant 10 % of winding turns, then it should have considerably less than 90 % DC resistance compared to the unknown reference since the missing outer winding turns would have taken more wire per turn than the average ones. - If the pickups are underwound by using a wire with a thicker enamel coat, there maybe is all good since the thinner copper core would have an increased DC resistance. - Since I don't have an LRC meter reading complex impedances, I am able to take DC resistance readings only, too. As for '57 Classics, '57 Classic Plus, Burstbucker 1, Burstbucker 2, Burstbucker Pro neck & bridge, 490R and 498T I can say that the DC resistance readings often seem implausible to me. Besides the 498T, none of them reads significantly "hotter" than the other. The readings of e. g. different '57 Classic and '57 Classic Plus PUs partially overlap each other. But however, PUs of the same type read all within less than +/- 2 %, mostly within +/- 1 %, and sonic results as well as output levels are absolutely correct. - DC measurements are not very significant if inductance and capacitance remain unknown. My Fender Noiseless stacked pickups have rather high DC resistance but sound very bright and, with the exception of the SCNs by Bill Lawrence, do put out relatively low voltage. Hope I didn't bore you, capmaster i tried lowering the pickup height in both - that has helped quite a bit to release more bloom & lower the grit. Wish Gibson would give me some feedback on the design intent/benchmark for these Ebuckers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjsinla Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 i tried lowering the pickup height in both - that has helped quite a bit to release more bloom & lower the grit. Wish Gibson would give me some feedback on the design intent/benchmark for these Ebuckers. I think you're on the right track by working with pickup height, that's usually the key for me in getting the sound I'm looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tentoten Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 Hi, I noticed your post regarding your underwound E buckers, I happen to like that sound, some people don't, It was initially made in 2004 with Gibson new Chambered guitar line, and they made them for about 10 years. some people like them, some don't, if you have an interest in possibly selling, or trading, let me know, for, I kinda like them.Be wellroadmail4me@gmail.comRick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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