National New Yorker Pickup - What is Normal

[Travis G. Johnson]

I have a 1950 National New Yorker lap steel. It sounds pretty good, but the pickup seems a little weak.

The DC resistance on my steel is 1.62 K. This seems low, but I don’t have access to another New Yorker with the same pickup, so that I can compare. BTW, I do realize that DC resistance is not the only determinant of pickup sound and output.

I would really appreciate it if any of you that have this same steel, and have a meter to check it’s DC resistance, could check your steel and tell me what reading you are getting. For clarity, my steel has the large, rectangular, nickel-covered, single-coil pickup. If you have any other style of pickup, your readings wouldn’t be relevant. Though thanks in advance if you considered helping.

Anyway, I would appreciate any feedback I could get on this.

Thanks!

[Jeff Highland]

Mine is a 50 with that big nickle plated cover incorporating the bridge saddle. I'm reading 20K or so measured at the jack, but it was rewound by Jason Lollar maybe 15 years ago.
Despite appearances it is actually a humbucker with 2 coils for 3 of the strings side by side. Mostly open space under the cover

[Frank James Pracher]

I've had a couple of Nationals (not New Yorkers) and they all had resistance values near that. I think it's normal.

[Travis G. Johnson]

Thanks to Jeff and Frank. Hopefully, I’ll get a few more responses, and then I can sort of average the results. Then go from there on whether to seek out a rewind, or not. I know that many would probably say, “forget about the DC resistance and other such technical stuff. Do you like the way it sounds?” Of course, the sound is the bottom line, but I’m still curious to know if I’m getting what I could out of this pickup.

So bear with me.

[Eric Dahlhoff]

National used several different pickups on New Yorkers over the years. Post a picture of yours.