Anybody ever receive a new pickup that did not work? **Long Post**

[OUTLAW1969]

I have owned probably 20-30 SD Humbuckers in the last 20 years, and had my very first problem with one today. I had a buddy recommend a shop here that stocks SD pickups, and has a fairly impressive selection. The business is not your typical musical instrument store, per se, but evidentally they are a Duncan authorized dealer.

Anyway, I went inside for the first time today looking for an SH-6B and a Alnico II Pro neck pickup. Walk over to the display case, and like magic, they were in stock. When the lady asked if I needed assistance, I asked her to remove them from the shelf, and ring them up. As she was doing so, the store's tech (and also her husband, I think), walked over and asked if I ever installed a set of pickups. My response was a very humble "yes sir, a few times", and then I proceeded to pay for the pickups. Mid transaction, he asked me "So you know about in phase and out of phase?", I once again answered politely in the affirmative, and left the store after the transaction was completed.

I get home and discover that the pickups are without the stamped logos on the tops of the bobbins, but are definitely Duncans due to the embossed base plate. This was definitely not a problem for me, because the guitar (early 70's Gibson Custom) actually looks better without the logos showing. The next thing that stood out for me, was that the boxes had the taped "seals" broken. Still not an issue for me, because somewhere along the line people had probably asked to see the pickups out of the box.

Fast forward to the install (done it more than a few times, just for the record), and the neck pickup sounds awesome. The bridge (SH-6) has a very low output, no "grit and dirt", and twangy like a stock single coil in a Strat. Removed pickup completely five separate times, each time double/triple checking my solder joints, etc. Nothing. The tone and sound each time was consistent, and that makes me think that it was installed correctly each time, but maybe the pickup is bad somehow.

Plan on asking the business to swap it out for me tommorrow, but am a little worried that the owner/manager will not be there, and the person will deny the exchange because they think I screwed it up,removed the logo, or something silly like that.

Hopefully I am worrying for nothing, but has anybody had a similiar experience with a bad pickup right out of the box?

 

[I_M_Ken]

Re: Anybody ever receive a new pickup that did not work? **Long Post**

so far all duncan pups i bought were in working condition.
i hope they rectify it for you, if not maybe you can send it back to seymour duncan since u have the receipt and proof it was bought today.

 

[OUTLAW1969]

Re: Anybody ever receive a new pickup that did not work? **Long Post**

Very true, and hopefully since they are an authorized dealer they will accept the return.

I was just reading a few things on the SD homepage about the "21 day return policy", and it does not mention any issues that would prevent the dealer from just swapping it out for another identical model, no questions asked. They should remember me, and with a receipt, there should be no doubt about the legitimacy of my request. I think I will leave the pickup installed, and have them listen to it and verify for themselves that it was properly installed, before I request the exchange.

I also cross referenced some other information that I found on another website, with something else on the front page here. I suppose sometimes pickups could erroneously get shipped with a flipped magnet, so maybe I should change the "ground" and the "hot" wires around, prior to driving 20 miles back to the store in the morning. But if that were the case, the pickup would only sound bad (out of phase), when used in conjunction with the other SD in the neck position......so that is probably not it, either.


Thanks.

 

[larry_emder]

Re: Anybody ever receive a new pickup that did not work? **Long Post**

Check it with a multimeter

 

[Imp]

Re: Anybody ever receive a new pickup that did not work? **Long Post**

if you havn't got a multimeter handy, unscrew the ends of one of your leads, wrap the pickup wires around the corresponding wires in the jack, and move the pickup towards a vibrating string with the amp on..

(just thought i'd share, i've been caught without a meter before)

tom

 

[jmcorey]

Re: Anybody ever receive a new pickup that did not work? **Long Post**

It may be out of phase.

I once had a Duncan Classic Stack Stk-s1 that had the wires for one coil on the opposite ends of where they should have been.... Only when I tracked it down carefully, by following each colored lead, did I figure out what happened. In order to get it wired right, I had to wire it differently from the wiring on the directions....

That was my first or second Duncan pup. The rest have been fine

 

[RW James]

Re: Anybody ever receive a new pickup that did not work? **Long Post**

I bought a JB and Jazz from Musicians Friend as "Scratch & Dents". The Jazz had short leads, but I made it work, but when I played it, it just sounded dull. I checked around here everyone said to return it, so I did - expecting a problem since they clearly say they wouldn't accept returns of pickups after they were installed. But they not only accepted the return, but sent me a new one for the reduced price.

I suspect something like this may have happened to you - that is someone tried to install it and botched it up somehow.

Take it back.

 

[CodeTitan]

Re: Anybody ever receive a new pickup that did not work? **Long Post**

Yes, I just bought a brand new Antiquity Custom Bridge Stratocaster pickup and it had a dead pole piece. I could'nt get any sound out of the D string. SD is sending me a new one. The SD customer service rep said that occasionally an Antiquity pole piece will become completely demagnitized during the process in which they age the magnets to make them weaker.

 

[OUTLAW1969]

Re: Anybody ever receive a new pickup that did not work? **Long Post**

All good advice , Thanks guys.

I was able to speak with the guy at the shop today. He stated that, "I have been doing this type of work for forever and a day, and never seen a dead pickup, you just installed it wrong". I gave him the guitar, and then he back pedaled a little bit saying, "Well it is a clean install job, everything is where it should be.......you must have a cold solder joint". He clipped the leads and re-soldered all of the connections. I stood there very patient and humble, as he plugged it in to an amp. Still sounded horrible, so he then became a little friendlier, and asked if I would prep the guitar, while he prepared a new pickup. With a little bit of teamwork on the install, I was out of there in 10 minutes with a great sounding guitar, and he was on the phone getting a return authorization number from the shop.

No problems, and all is well now. It turned out that the humbucker had a "dead coil" , and was only running on one coil ( very bright,harsh, and non-musical sounding).

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[I_M_Ken]

Re: Anybody ever receive a new pickup that did not work? **Long Post**

thats great. enjoy the pup

 

[H8Red442]

Re: Anybody ever receive a new pickup that did not work? **Long Post**

I had a situation about 2 years ago when I bought a Distortion I believe and it would work for a few minutes before dying. Sometimes it would go as long as a half hour before it died. It resulted in me joining this forum. Ended up being just a bad pickup. i had everyone here stumped!

 

[stangme01]

Re: Anybody ever receive a new pickup that did not work? **Long Post**

yep! I was just gonna say i had a dead coil duncan custom that did exactly the same thing!

So how do you like hte sh-6? What have you used before?

 

[OUTLAW1969]

Re: Anybody ever receive a new pickup that did not work? **Long Post**

I have used a bunch of other pickups, and whole bunch of other Duncans, in various guitars over the years. But I finally found out that the SH-6 sounds best to me in a Les Paul. It gives me the tone that I have been looking for out of a Les Paul, but this tone may not be what someone else is looking for out of a Les Paul. It is merely my preference.

I honestly did not try the SH-6 for a few years, because I simply dismissed it thinking that it would give me horrible tones like that of a bad distortion pedal.

Man, was I ever wrong!!! I have used them in the bridge positions of all of my LP's for awhile now.