Pickup output vs. volume

[Eric]

In my guitar journeys, I've had a few different types and sets of pickups. Some have been rated hotter than others, some have been single coils, humbuckers, etc. In general, I've found the ones with higher DC resistance to go into distortion on an amp or pedal sooner than pickups with lower DC resistance (actives notwithstanding). This makes sense. However, one thing that I still don't quite understand is how volume factors into it. The hotter pickups aren't always necessarily louder -- they're just dirtier, if that makes sense.

The one guitar that I have that seems loud is the Agile AL-3100, a Les Paul copy. The pickups in there are stock, and they're pretty mild, output-wise: somewhere around 8-8.5k for both the neck and bridge pickups. So they clean up if need be and aren't always distorted, but they seem to be louder than other humbucker guitars I've had. Why is this? Does it have to do with the pot values?

Sorry if this is a stupid question or there's not enough info. It's just something that has eluded me for awhile.

[otaypanky]

maybe the type of magnets used, or the distance from the strings?

[Ch0jin]

Not a stupid question at all! Without doing some research I don't have the exact answer, but I suspect it has something to do with the specific mix of winds, gauge and magnets.

The pickups with more winds (higher DC Resistance) are likely to pickup more energy from the vibrating strings like a power transformer with more secondary windings will produce a higher secondary voltage. If that was the only factor then more windings would equal more volume, but I suspect there is also some kind of core saturation going on. I'm really relying on some very old memories here, but I'm thinking as the transformer core saturates the output is compressed and clipped which would result in the signal being fed to the amp sounding more distorted rather than louder.