Help with a 78 SG Custom

[The Gibson Gough]

Hi Guys,

 

I'm new to this board, Been using my beloved 1978 Gibson SG Custom for a few years now, I switched to a Crate Tube Combi around 12 months ago, had nothing but problems with it, inc a severe volume drop...

 

I've also had this volume drop problem once lately on my practice amp a v,old BOX amp. I've just switched to a Marshall AVT150H and 1960 lead Cab. I've had the same problems again. On some research I've discovered that the wiring in a humbucker can cause this.

 

I've three on mine and not sure:

 

a: what the impedance should be on the pickups

b: what to look for on the wiring

c: if this is a common problem

 

I also use a tone works AX3000. If this helps

 

Any info would be much appreciated

 

Cheers

[L5Larry]

First try a different cable to the amp. If your problem still occurs:

 

It sounds like a wiring or solder joint problem, not a problem within a pickup itself. When pickups go bad they usually die a quick and permanant death, not an intermitant one.

 

Open up the control cavity and look for partially broken or frayed wires and questionable looking solder joints at all points. It sounds to me like you may have a piece of stranded wire that has frayed at a solder joint (usually at the jack connections), and is either making intermitant full contact, or brushing up against the other side of the circuit and partially shorting out. A thorough and careful visual inspection should confirm or rule this out.

 

In any case, it seems to be a bad connection somewhere. You can also try cleaning the contacts on the jack (where the plug actually touches) and the contacts on the pickup selector switch by lightly sanding them with some 400-600 grit emery cloth, or a fingernail emery board out of your wife's (or mother's, sister's, etc) make-up drawer. While your in the control cavity, give the pots a good cleaning and lube job. Radio Shack sell a "Control/Contact Cleaner & Lubricant" (part #64-4315), that works great for this purpose.

 

Gibson humbuckers impedence from that era should generally run in the mid 6's to high 7''s measured across the switch, pots or output jack, wherever you can get an isolated measurement for each individual pickup.

[The Gibson Gough]

Cheers, I'll certainly give that a go. I've changed the leads. Same problem.

 

I'll give it a good going over.

 

Thanks again