Measuring the ohms and DC resistance of pickups

[metalchurch]

I have a Fluke multi-meter, but dont know how to do this. What setting should the multi-meter be on? And which 2 wires do I use? Is it the Lead and the ground? The pickups I am testing all have a 4 wire lead on them. I know that most pickup companies have those specs stated, but they are nominal and not all are the same. Thanks for the help.

[lonewolf]

On the meter, you need to connect the leads to the proper inputs, usually labelled 1. DC-Ohms (or a Greek letter OMEGA) and 2. Common (or Ground). For the meter range, set it to 20Kohms. There are only one or two pickup models out there that exceed 20K.

If it is a 4 conductor pickup, twist the two coil-tapping leads together.

All you have to do is measure the two remaining leads. The reading you get is in Kohms.

This is only a DC resistance measurement. The actual impedance of the pickup will be more because of the inductance of the coils and the capacitance of the wire. There is no easy or cheap way to measure this.

[RamRod 1]

I've checked the ohms of pick-ups in a guitar by taking a guitar cord out of the guitar jack and just hooking it up to the multi-meter. Just use the pick-up switch to select the pick-up you want to test but MAKE SURE that you have the volume knob up the whole way. I'd make sure that the tone is up too.