498T Output Resistance Questions

[nleavitt]

I have three 498T pickups, one from 1997 (original from my 97 LP Standard), One from 2015 and one from 2018. I was measuring their resistance recently and interestingly, the 97 and 18 both were the same at about 13.4 Ohms (the expected value for these), but the 2015 one was lower at 12.8 or so. All seem to work. The 97 sounds hotter to me than the others for some reason. Question is, is a 498T reading at 12.8 within the normal tolerances or does it indicate some possible problem internally? It seems to work and sound OK. Also, Can "identical" pickups, say the 498T as in this case, sound and behave differently from one another due to manufacturing differences, etc. or should they all sound the same if working properly? Since my older one sounds a bit louder (and better) in my opinion, were older ones made differently back in the 90's or it is luck of the draw to get a hotter one? Thanks in advance for any input.

[NighthawkChris]

I don't believe that is an issue with the lower resistance pickup.  The resistance is a function of number of winds and resistivity of the wire used.  And over the years, I would imagine that different wire was used when we are talking nearly 20 years difference. 

Overall, I would worry about if you measure and read literally no resistance or infinite resistance (i.e. open load signifying a broken wire or connection most likely).  Just like not all guitars are created equally, I would have to believe this is true about pickups to some extent.  It would be difficult to answer questions about the assembly process regarding the pickups over the years.  Since you are still reading 12.8kOhms, that still sounds like a pretty high output pickup.  Typically the "vintage" pickups are about half this give or take a couple kOhms.