Ter Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Hey guys, I'm new to the forums so first off I just want to say hello. I do have a problem so that's why I wanted to join and see if maybe someone can help me out. I recently bought new pickups for my 1999 Gibson Les Paul Custom. I put a PRS Tremonti Treble in the bridge and a Gibson 57' Classic double black pickup in the neck. The problem is that the neck pickup was bought from ebay and was supposed to be brand new and apparently is not because the height adjustment holes are slightly stripped and the lead wire was very short. The guy wont respond to my email and I didn't realize it was not new until after the 45 days because I was still gathering parts to hot rod the guitar so I got screwed. I had a tech extend the lead wire and we got it wired up and mounted but the pickup isn't working for some reason. The bridge sounds great but as soon as I switch to the neck it loses all output. If I put my amp on the distortion channel and really crank it you can barely hear a sound coming from the 57 Classic. I thought maybe it was a wiring problem so I put the old one back in and it works great. Any idea what would cause this to not have any output, I checked string height and all that stuff so it must be something internal in the pickup. Do you guys think I should just scrap it and buy another or is there a way to fix these? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 I had a tech extend the lead wire and we got it wired up and mounted but the pickup isn't working for some reason. Testing the pickup for a "shorted" or "open" coil takes an ohm meter. There are a few possibilities as to when/where/how/why your pickup doesn't work, including having bought a blown pickup, a problem with the wire extension, the installation, the selector switch, a bad potentiometer, etc. Take the pickup (or the entire guitar) back to your "tech" to have him sort it out. Edit: after a re-read, if your "tech" was involved in the installation and doesn't know why it doesn't work, you need to find a new or "real" guitar technician. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FarnsBarns Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Edit: after a re-read, if your "tech" was involved in the installation and doesn't know why it doesn't work, you need to find a new or "real" guitar technician. Here here! There must be continuity if you can just hear it at very high amp levels to it is probably a short in a coil. You could try taking a few windings of each as if you can only just here a signal at full tilt on your amp then any short must be fairly near the beginning of the coil. The other thing that comes to mind is that your ebay man might have been a bit thick and rewound it with uninsulated coper wire meaning you have, in effect, got one turn. That would also explain the slight signal at very high volumes. A pick up is, in principle, really simple. This might be your opportunity to try pickup winding! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Just an educated guess that if the lead was replaced, that is the problem. Coated wire can easily look like it is making a connection when it isn't, and it is not the easiest solder connection to make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FarnsBarns Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Just an educated guess that if the lead was replaced, that is the problem. Coated wire can easily look like it is making a connection when it isn't, and it is not the easiest solder connection to make. Agreed! Look at that first. try cutting the lead off, trimming the coil wire back to good clean wire, then pinch the end of it with some fine grade sand paper and pull the sand paper off the end, do this 2 or 3 times to clean the clear coating of the coil wire and re-solder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 You can tell if the connections are good or not with a meter. No need to start reworking solder joints that might not be the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fringe Lunatic Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 With some tape, you could temporarily connect the pickup leads to the plug of a guitar cable (polarity doesn't matter), and plug it directly into your amp, bypassing all of the other electronics. Might tell you a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.