TCI video on YouTube

Now, my question is how different are the TCI pups for the SE different from those of the Core line?
 
Simple, the process is similar, but the SE pickups are made in Asia. The core pickups are made in Stevensville.
 
dogrocketp said:
Simple, the process is similar, but the SE pickups are made in Asia. The core pickups are made in Stevensville.
Click to expand...
Just wondering because we have all seen the A/B videos of the overseas vs core pup comparison. The clones are really good, but they are a little different as far as tone. Just wondering if that made any difference in this video because he used an SE instead of a Core for the disection.
 
Yeah. I've watched ALL the videos PRS published, read ALL Bill Lawrence's articles, read up on LC circuits, did my own calculations for peak frequencies of different pickups, I even modded my McCarty using a form of TCI to use one coil of the pickup to filter out hum frequencies in single coil mode.

I've also watched a ton of this guy's videos and I think he has the basic understanding of how all this works but doesn't understand what PRS is actually claiming they use TCI for.

And I hate it too because he's usually really on point with a lot of stuff but this seems less than informed.
 
This is what this video feels like to me:

"Here we have a computer with Intel's 9th generation Core processor with their new 'out of order speculative branch prediction' technology. I'm going to open it up and look at the cpu and see what the big deal is. ...Well, it looks just like the 486 processor I had in college, so it must not really be any different."
 
Domingo Lantigua said:
If it was me , I would've done a ton of research and had all my ducks in a row. He was very ineffective in his presentation.
Keep in mind I still want to know how it works, will probably go to my grave with PRSh whispering "Rosebud" lol
Click to expand...

When you're on your death bed, PRSh will wheel into your room, come right up next to, lean over and whisper in your ear, "You wanna know how TCI works? Got a credit card?"
 
I love how Paul has a way of packaging and selling well-known physical phenomena. He has an uncanny knack for it. The TCI process is not new. It is used when designing resonant circuits all of the time. That is why resonant circuits are called tuned circuits. For example, in radio transmission, an antenna is tuned to be resonant at the broadcast frequency, which results in the maximum electromagnetic energy being released from the antenna.

What a lot of guitarists do not realize is that impedance is not a synonym for resistance. Impedance is a two-part value that is frequency dependent. Impedance consists of a real part (resistance) and an imaginary part (reactance). Resonance occurs when the imaginary part equals zero and the circuit becomes purely resistive. Reactance robs signal because reactance is out of phase with signal voltage. With respect to voltage, reactance works kind of like a phase shifter (it is not a perfect analogy). A phase shifter works with two different signals that are summed to produce an output signal. One signal is the signal coming from one's guitar. The other signal is the signal coming from one's guitar where the phase has been shifted by a number of degrees (it usually lags the original signal). With the shift on the shifted phase at 0, there is no signal loss. As the phase shifted signal approaches 180 degrees, there is a loss in volume. At 180 degrees, the two signals sum to zero and there is no output (if you have ever wondered how the cut control on an AC30 works, here is your answer). Beyond 180 degrees, the summed signal increases in amplitude until after 360 degrees.

Anyway, in pickup terms, the resonant frequency is the frequency at which the voltage produced by a pickup is at its peak (i.e., the frequency at which a pickup is loudest). There is another value that affects how sharp the rise and fall the amplitude is with respect to the in resonant frequency. This value is known as the quality factor (q-factor). The q-factor is the ratio of inductance to resistance. Stock Fender single coil are examples of pickups with a relatively high q-factor, which is why they have a sharp peak frequency around which the amplitude of the signal drops quickly. On the other hand, most overwound pickups have a lower q-factor because inductance does not grow as fast as resistance due to the use of thinner wire.

This reality brings me around to the use of DC resistance (DCR) as a measure of pickup output. In reality, DCR has very little to do with a pickup's output. Inductance and the strength/shape of the magnetic field determine a pickup's output. A pickup is what is known as a magnetic transducer. An alternating current is induced into the coil(s) when ferrous (steel) strings cut magnetic lines of force. The greater the number of magnetic lines of force, the more that can be cut when the strings vibrate. The greater the number of coils of wire, the more that force can be induced into the coil; hence, the term inductance. The reason why most overwound pickups have higher DCRs is because the geometries of off-the-shelf bobbins determine how many turns of wire can applied for any given gauge of wire. Beyond a certain number of turns, the pickup winder has to resort to using thinner wire, which has a higher per foot resistance, which is the reason why DCR is a poor measure of pickup output.

Now, the interesting part occurs when we place two strands of wire next to each other without touching. The space between the wire forms a capacitance. The thinner the insulation on a wire, the higher the capacitance when two strands are laid side-by-side. The thinner the insulation on the wire, the more turns of wire can be placed on any given bobbin for any given wire gauge as well, which also means that we can create more inductance with the same gauge of wire on any given bobbin. We then have to deal with the reality that old Fender bobbins were hand wound, which means that women guided very fine gauge wire onto spinning bobbins by hand (women have been instrumental in bobbin winding at Fender since the 50s). This practice results in what is known as scatter winding. Scatter winding results in a coil with a different self-capacitance than a coil that is precisely wound by a machine. The reality is that no two scatter wound coils are the same. I suspect that what PRS has developed a pseudo-scatter winding pattern that produces a coil with a relatively consistant DCR, inductance, and self-capacitance with the desired q-factor at the desired resonant peak. I also suspect that this coil has a lower resonant frequency than a modern Fender single coil, but that is only speculation given Paul's comment on JM's pickup having more bass. More bass more than likely means that the resonant frequency is lower. It can also mean that the q-factor is lower, resulting in a pickup with a less sharp resonant peak and more even frequency response.
 
Last edited:
Just because it looks the same on the outside does not mean that is actually IS the same.....

For me - if Paul says they do this thing to make it even more consistent and better I believe him. I have found many PRS and other major manufacturers pups inconsistent, ie 5708's and Suhr Aldrich's. I would love to get THE SAME PUP EVERY TIME when buying one.
 
Em7 said:
I love how Paul has a way of packaging and selling well-known physical phenomena. He has an uncanny knack for it. The TCI process is not new. It is used when designing resonant circuits all of the time. That is why resonant circuits are called tuned circuits. For example, in radio transmission, an antenna is tuned to be resonant at the broadcast frequency, which results in the maximum electromagnetic energy being released from the antenna.

What a lot of guitarists do not realize is that impedance is not a synonym for resistance. Impedance is a two-part value that is frequency dependent. Impedance consists of a real part (resistance) and an imaginary part (reactance). Resonance occurs when the imaginary part equals zero and the circuit becomes purely resistive. Reactance robs signal because reactance is out of phase with signal voltage. With respect to voltage, reactance works kind of like a phase shifter (it is not a perfect analogy). A phase shifter works with two different signals that are summed to produce an output signal. One signal is the signal coming from one's guitar. The other signal is the signal coming from one's guitar where the phase has been shifted by a number of degrees (it usually lags the original signal). With the shift on the shifted phase at 0, there is no signal loss. As the phase shifted signal approaches 180 degrees, there is a loss in volume. At 180 degrees, the two signals sum to zero and there is no output (if you have ever wondered how the cut control on an AC30 works, here is your answer). Beyond 180 degrees, the summed signal increases in amplitude until after 360 degrees.

Anyway, in pickup terms, the resonant frequency is the frequency at which the voltage produced by a pickup is at its peak (i.e., the frequency at which a pickup is loudest). There is another value that affects how sharp the rise and fall the amplitude is with respect to the in resonant frequency. This value is known as the quality factor (q-factor). The q-factor is the ratio of inductance to resistance. Stock Fender single coil are examples of pickups with a relatively high q-factor, which is why they have a sharp peak frequency around which the amplitude of the signal drops quickly. On the other hand, most overwound pickups have a lower q-factor because inductance does not grow as fast as resistance due to the use of thinner wire.

This reality brings me around to the use of DC resistance (DCR) as a measure of pickup output. In reality, DCR has very little to do with a pickup's output. Inductance and the strength/shape of the magnetic field determine a pickup's output. A pickup is what is known as a magnetic transducer. An alternating current is induced into the coil(s) when ferrous (steel) strings cut magnetic lines of force. The greater the number of magnetic lines of force, the more that can be cut when the strings vibrate. The greater the number of coils of wire, the more that force can be induced into the coil; hence, the term inductance. The reason why most overwound pickups have higher DCRs is because the geometries of off-the-shelf bobbins determine how many turns of wire can applied for any given gauge of wire. Beyond a certain number of turns, the pickup winder has to resort to using thinner wire, which has a higher per foot resistance, which is the reason why DCR is a poor measure of pickup output.

Now, the interesting part occurs when we place two strands of wire next to each other without touching. The space between the wire forms a capacitance. The thinner the insulation on a wire, the higher the capacitance when two strands are laid side-by-side. The thinner the insulation on the wire, the more turns of wire can be placed on any given bobbin for any given wire gauge as well, which also means that we can create more inductance with the same gauge of wire on any given bobbin. We then have to deal with the reality that old Fender bobbins were hand wound, which means that women guided very fine gauge wire onto spinning bobbins by hand (women have been instrumental in bobbin winding at Fender since the 50s). This practice results in what is known as scatter winding. Scatter winding results in a coil with a different self-capacitance than a coil that is precisely wound by a machine. The reality is that no two scatter wound coils are the same. I suspect that what PRS has developed a pseudo-scatter winding pattern that produces a coil with a relatively consistant DCR, inductance, and self-capacitance with the desired q-factor at the desired resonant peak. I also suspect that this coil has a lower resonant frequency than a modern Fender single coil, but that is only speculation given Paul's comment on JM's pickup having more bass. More bass more than likely means that the resonant frequency is lower. It can also mean that the q-factor is lower, resulting in a pickup with a less sharp resonant peak and more even frequency response.

Now, to demonstrate the effect of q-factor, we only need to look at a Strat in positions 2 and 4. In those positions, two pickups are wired in parallel. With equal resistances pickups wired in parallel, the inductances sum and the resistances halve. What this circuit topology does is increase inductance with respect to resistance. When we increase inductance with respect to resistance, we increase the q-factor of a circuit. That is why the in-between settings quack. That quack is a sharp resonant peak with a rapid drop off in amplitude around the peak.
Click to expand...

I normally zone out reading long posts, I feel a little smarter after reading that. Thanks!
 
I watched the video and didn't think he made a good case for "gimmick". After reading the great post Em7 (post #11) it's pretty clear the video did not go far enough to present a case. He really didn't do anything other than read a few values off the pickups. All his readings are able confirm is that the pickups are functional. I think this is for views and cash...he kinda looks like he needs it right now. Unfortunately this is mis-information this guy is spreading and lots of guitarists will be mis-lead by that video.

Basically what i got from this video is that PRS has a formal way to tune/wind their pickups and get increased consistency in pickup tone quality with the TCI method. It's just another new way of PRS guitars continually evolving guitar building.
 
I’m going with marketing, in the sense that it’s normal everyday technology being overhyped as something new and magical with one purpose in mind... selling guitars. It’s clever because it’s playing on people’s desire to “have the latest and greatest” which is Paul’s whole angle and target audience. I’m not bashing, I’m calling a duck a duck and giving credit where credit is due... to Paul’s marketing savvy and not some kind of creative genius at work.

Beat me, sue me, ban me, kill me, whatever I don’t care. I’m a huge fan of PRS guitars but a duck is a duck :)
 
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