What are the specifications for the Strandberg OEM pickups?
The .strandberg* OEM pickups found on our Standard, RESQ:D and some Classic series guitars are manufactured by PSE Pickups in Indonesia to our exact specifications.
6-string pickups
The neck and bridge humbuckers measure 50/53 mm E-E and are both equipped with Alnico 5 magnets. DC-resistance reads 10,6/18,2K respectively. The bridge humbucker yields a midrange-focused tone with a tight bass and fluid sustain while the neck humbucker is wound for clarity with focus on sparkly treble and higher midrange.
The neck/middle single coils both share the same basic properties and come equipped with Alnico 5 magnets and measure 6,4K each. This corresponds to a typical slightly-hotter-than-average 60s pickup with a balanced tonal response. The midrange is strong but not nasal and the treble is brilliant but not piercing. The middle single coil is RW/RP for noise cancelling operation when used in combination with the neck single coil or bridge humbucker (switch position 2 & 4 on guitars with 2 single coils and one humbucker).
7-string pickups
The neck and bridge humbuckers are both equipped with Ceramic 8 magnets and measure 11,7/16,8K respectively. The bridge pickup yields a deep sound with high end definition for a broad and percussive sound. The neck humbucker is wound for the same basic tone with less output and better note definition.
The pickups are made in two different housings. The covered plastic housed (soapbar) humbuckers are mounted in an angled position equal to the angle of the frets and bridge which makes the pickup pick up each string at the same relative distance from the bridge. This makes for a balanced sonic delivery across all 7 strings. The plastic housed humbuckers are equal in size to many popular pickups on the market designed for 7-string guitars.
The open coil humbuckers are mounted in a traditional straight fashion which in conjunction with the multi scale fret system makes the pickups “angled” in tone instead of appearance. This means that the low strings will sound fatter and the high strings will sound snappier.
8-string pickups
These pickups are designed for the same basic tone as the 7-string pickups but will display other DC-Resistance readings due to differences in size.
The 8-string pickups share the same differences in construction, design and placement as for the corresponding 7-string models except in size. The plastic housed (soapbar) humbuckers are equal in size to many popular pickups on the market designed for 8-string guitars.