guitar pickup

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scripted13

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what is the maximum Vrms output of a single coil guitar pickup? others say that it is 1V Vrms and others say that +/- 5v Vp. what is the real value of the max output of guitar pick up in terms of Vrms and please include your reference site, i really need to prove this to my professors.
thanks in advance.
 
Get a guitar and a scope and measure it - peak to peak is what you need to measure, as it's that which will cause clipping - as it's not a sustained note, the RMS will be a LOT lower.
 
Or google:
https://www.muzique.com/lab/pick.htm

Of course different setups give different outputs. So, maybe you should get a guitar with two humbuckers with the possibility to switch the coils in series, parallel, humbucking, non-humbucking etc. configurations and measure the output.. like Nigel already said.
 
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It varies a lot from pickup to pickup, I have some "hot" humbuckers for heavy rock that have big solid magnets in them and make a much higher output, and humbuckers make higher outputs than single coil pickups. And a lot depends on playing style and how close you have adjusted the pickups to the strings.
 
I think a plucked guitar string produces a louder tone (higher output voltage) than a strummed string.
The loudness and output voltage might be even higher when a few strings are strummed hard.
 
im working on the needed frequency to compute for the capacitor on my pocket guitar amplifier so i need the minimum and maximum range of a single coil guitar pickup. thanks for all the answers.
 
scripted13 said:
im working on the needed frequency to compute for the capacitor on my pocket guitar amplifier so i need the minimum and maximum range of a single coil guitar pickup. thanks for all the answers.
Click to expand...

You're over thinking this - you DON'T limit the frequency response to that of the PU, that would make a really crappy sounding amp.

You design it for full audio range, 20Hz to 20KHz (or higher) - there are harmonics and sub-harmonics from and instrument, so you need a full range to amplify them - you can then use tone controls to alter the sound as you wish.
 

what do you mean by full range? please emphasize im still an amateur in this field. what frequency should i use in solving the capacitors for my amplifier and what is the correct formula in solving the value of the capacitors.
 
Those SeymourDuncan figures look generally low to me, but a lot depends on the agressiveness of the "picking", the distance of the pickup from the strings and even the gauge of the guitar strings. 1v to 2v p/p is not uncommon in rock style playing.
 
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