How to Measure Pickup Resistance (and What the Numbers Really Mean)

How to Measure Pickup Resistance (and What the Numbers Really Mean)

by Nick Eldred

You’ve probably seen it before—“DC Resistance: 7.5kΩ” printed in a pickup’s specs—and thought, Cool, so higher number = hotter pickup, right?
Not exactly.

Checking a pickup’s DC resistance is a useful way to get a general sense of what’s going on under the hood, but there are a lot of things that can throw off your reading or make it misleading if you don’t know what you’re looking at.

Let’s walk through how to check your pickup properly, what can affect the measurement, and why DC resistance isn’t the end-all-be-all spec for tone.

1. Temperature: The Invisible Tone Gremlin

Copper wire expands and contracts with temperature. That means:

• Warmer pickup = higher DC resistance

• Colder pickup = lower DC resistance

You can see readings swing anywhere from 3–5% just from temperature alone. So, if your shop is 85°F one day and 65°F the next, your pickup might suddenly “lose” half a kilo-ohm—without you touching a thing.

Moral of the story: if you’re comparing readings, make sure they’re taken at roughly the same temperature. (Or at least don’t freak out when they aren’t identical.)

2. Where You Measure Matters

Think of your multimeter like a microscope—the closer you get to the source, the clearer the picture.

• At the pickup leads: The gold standard. This gives you the truest reading of the pickup itself.

• At the volume pot: Now you’re including the pot’s resistance in the circuit. Your reading will drift.

• At the output jack: Forget it—you’re measuring the whole wiring harness at that point. You’ll get inconsistent results and start chasing ghosts.

If you really want to know what your pickup reads, measure directly from the leads before it’s soldered into a guitar.

3. Meter Technique (and Human Interference)

Multimeters are great, but they’re not foolproof—especially when humans get involved.

• Don’t touch the probes with your fingers. Your skin adds resistance and will throw off the reading.

• Use a quality meter. Cheap meters or a low battery can give inconsistent or noisy results.

• Hold steady. If your readings are jumping around like a nervous cat, check your connections.

Basically: steady hands, good gear, clean contact points.

4. DC Resistance ≠ Output

This one’s a biggie. A pickup’s DC resistance tells you something about the length (and to a small degree, the gauge) of the wire wound on the bobbin—but it says nothing definitive about output, tone, or volume.

Here’s what actually affects output:

• Magnet type and strength (Alnico 3 vs 5 vs Ceramic 8, etc.)

• Number of turns on the coil

• Wire insulation and thickness (Plain Enamel, Formvar, Poly, etc.)

• Coil balance (especially in humbuckers)

• Pickup height and distance to the strings

So yes, a 9.5k pickup might be weaker than a 6.8k depending on how it’s built. Case in point:

A 6.8k Tele bridge pickup can easily sound hotter and punchier than a 9.0k vintage PAF humbucker.

5. The Smarter Way to Think About DC Resistance

Treat DC resistance as a reference, not a performance spec. It’s helpful when comparing pickups made on the same bench, using the same magnet style and coil geometry. But comparing a Tele single-coil to a PAF or a Filter’Tron by resistance alone? Useless.

In short:

DC resistance is a fingerprint, not a personality test.

It can tell you the pickup’s “identity” within a certain family—but not its entire story.

Final Tips for Measuring Your Pickup

1. Let the pickup reach room temperature before testing.

2. Measure straight from the leads.

3. Use a good meter (and a fresh battery).

4. Don’t panic over small differences—3–5% variance is normal.

5. Remember: DC resistance is a tool, not a tone rating.

At Mojotone, we hand-wind every pickup with care, consistency, and an ear for musicality—not just numbers. Because tone isn’t about chasing decimals—it’s about chasing feel.