Matching pups... Is it really necessary?

oolu · Post by **oolu** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 3:35 am

I recently got a GFS Fat Mini Humbucker pup in a trade a little while back and I've just ordered a GFS lipstick pup for tele, cuz I just love the sparkle of lipstick pups... I plan to install them into my project tele.

My question to you guys is this: How important to you is it that the output of the pups match? In my soon-to-be-current setup, I'll have about 7.5k in the neck with the mini and (I think) 8k in the bridge. In my Jaguar, I've got a really old SuperDistortion in the bridge that probably only measures around 9 - 10k at this point and the stock jag neck pup, whatever that is. Personally, I don't really notice a significant volume difference between the two.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 3:43 am

usually bridge pickups should be a little higher output than the neck to match in actual output level. this is because the strings vibrate most freely in the neck position inducing hotter output. the strings barely vibrate at all by the bridge so you need a higher output pup to match the neck.

some vintage guitars where the neck and bridge pickup output actually match (like les pauls for example) you have to jack the bridge pup all the way up and neck all the way down to accommodate. and still the neck will usually be a little hotter.

Jahsoul · Post by **Jahsoul** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 7:10 am

It's all up to you really. Some people might like the bridge to be loud and rude and the neck to be soft and smooth.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 9:23 am

mage wrote:usually bridge pickups should be a little higher output than the neck to match in actual output level. this is because the strings vibrate most freely in the neck position inducing hotter output. the strings barely vibrate at all by the bridge so you need a higher output pup to match the neck.

some vintage guitars where the neck and bridge pickup output actually match (like les pauls for example) you have to jack the bridge pup all the way up and neck all the way down to accommodate. and still the neck will usually be a little hotter.

This is spot on.
If you look at calibrated sets for a pickup company you will generally notice a difference in output.
For example, BKP Mules (based on Gibson PAFs) are: 8.4K, Neck 7.3K. With Single coils you can get away with a bigger difference.