Can anyone recommend a meter for basic guitar-related testing?

[surfguy13]

Hi guys

I think I need a meter to test things like pickups etc - never even used one before so I have absolutely no idea what I should buy. I really only need it for testing stuff relating to pickups and electrics on guitars.

Once I get one what should I set it to to check the output of a pickup for example? Or to see if a pickup is dead/alive?

Thanks in advance!

[Guitarmonkey]

Even the most basic £10 multimeter will do that.

[octatonic]

Any of the maplins ones should work.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/digital-mult...etector-626110

[ianpdq]

Set it to the lowest Ohms scale to measure the resistance of the pickup with the pickup disconnected so as not to get any feedback through the rest of the circuit good luck

[TheGuitarWeasel]

I got mine from Screwfix ... its yellow

[John_A]

I've had a few from China via ebay, the fact I've had a few tells you something, next time it stops working I'll get a decent one!

[TheGuitarWeasel]

Yellow ones are good ... big yellow ones!

[Basher]

I have an almost comically cheap model (in yellow) from Maplins. It would seem to work OK but the probes are just two needle type things which is a bit awkward when trying to keep them on pickup leads etc.
I would prefer some kind of clips but when I bought Maplins' after market ones they didn't fit into the multimeter lead sockets on my model.

[PonchoGreg]

Testing pickups and pots? An uber-cheap one from Amazon or Maplin will do the trick.

Testing an amp circuit? Probably go for better quality. I should know, I've just tested a DIY amp with the cheapest Maplin yellow jobbie and it was painful at times (takes ages to find a stable reading, no continuity test, not sure about the accuracy of some of the readings, etc.)

[surfguy13]

Thanks for all the help....great stuff! As I won't be doing anything too in-depth I'll go for a Maplin jobbie as they may not be great but if you have a problem they're normally reasonably helpful.