Taking apart humbuckers

[Jonny C]

It seems as though my neck seth pickup is tapping off one of the coils. It's not a four conductor model, and the wiring inside the guitar is fine.

Should I remove the insulator tape and have a poke around inside? I'm confident with electronics, and I think I know what I should be looking for, but taking apart pickups is new to me.

Bearing in mind I'm a student and don't want to have to pay for a tech (for what could essentially could be a 10 minute job), is this a good idea? It's been this way since it was bought, but warrenty won't help as I've probably voided it by removing the cover.

Any suggestions? Perhaps some sites that have good info?

[HolyDirt]

taking apart a pickup is really easy, and if your confident with electronics, more the better. to disessemble a pickup unscrew the smal screw on the buttom of the pickup. then, take off the metal bottom plate and, at that time, you can see the insides or fiddle around and do what you need to do, good luck

[Robert S.]

Easier yet, just remove the cover and the cloth tape from around the exterior edge of the bobbins. You should see 2 small wires where the two coils are connected. There should be a small piece of tape covering that connection but it has most likely moved and left some uninsulated wire making contact with the pickups cover, shorting out one coil. A little more tape to insulate that connection should fix you up, but test the pickup uncovered (by installing it) and tap on both coils (screws and studs) with something metalic and listen for an audible "pop". This will indicate that both coils are active.

If everything is good, re-install the tape and cover.

[Jonny C]

Cool, thanks. Hopefully I'll have two coils a-go in no time!

[Gearjoneser]

Follow all that advise. Also wet all the solder connections to make sure you don't have a cold solder joint weakening your signal.