Bridge Pickup Died...Well, Almost...

H

HighDeaf1080p

New member
This morning while playing, my bridge pickup (a SD 59/custom hybrid trembucker) crapped out on me. I first noticed a major reduction in volume. I have it wired for switching from single coil to humbucker...and in humbucker mode it now sounds slightly different but has no additional volume from the single coil mode...which also seems quieter. There is also, now, a strange static/white noise in the background when playing that pick up, either mode. If I kick on my treble booster I can hear it very distinctly, and it comes on suddenly when a note is struck, and dies off quickly when the note ends.

I opened the back up and everything looks normal in the wiring compartment, so I have no idea where to start. The pickup is only maybe 6-9 months old. Could the pickup have died? How can I tell if my problem is the pickup, the tone capacitor, the push-pull pot, or something more mundane like a cold solder joint?

When I tap on the poles with an allen, it taps quite loud into my amp...when I switch to single coil, the adjustable lugs turn off like they're supposed to...

If anyone with a lot of experience in this matter could offer some advice, I'd appreciate it. I really don't have the money or patience to drop it off at a luthier here in town, and wait until he gets around to it. I'm hoping it's something I can fix, or if it IS the whole pickup, that I can soon afford to get a new one.

Not looking forward to re-doing the soldering on the back of that push-pull pot. It was a nightmare to work on such tiny components down inside the back of a guitar.
 
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Re: Bridge Pickup Died...Well, Almost...

New info...I plugged the guitar straight into the amp, and verified the guitar is still doing it without pedals in-line with it.

The output from the bridge pickup is extremely low on both humbucker and single coil setting...very little difference in tone between the two, and the tone knob on that pickup no longer seems to have any effect...I can spin it and hear no discernible change in tone. That makes me think maybe something is wrong with the tone cap leading from the push-pull volume back to the tone knob on that side. I have a spare .022uf orange drop around here somewhere that I can swap in there tomorrow and see if that resolves things...
 
Re: Bridge Pickup Died...Well, Almost...

Les Paul controls (2V, 2T)? First thing I'd do is switch the hot wires from each pickup, that'll let you know if it's the pickup that's failing. If it's not the pickup then check each solder joint isn't dry. On what you've described, first place I'd start would be the switch, see if there's something causing a short. Best of luck.


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Re: Bridge Pickup Died...Well, Almost...

VinceT said:
Les Paul controls (2V, 2T)? First thing I'd do is switch the hot wires from each pickup, that'll let you know if it's the pickup that's failing. If it's not the pickup then check each solder joint isn't dry. On what you've described, first place I'd start would be the switch, see if there's something causing a short. Best of luck.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

No. That's not the problem. It's his soldering.
 
Re: Bridge Pickup Died...Well, Almost...

HighDeaf1080p said:
This morning while playing, my bridge pickup (a SD 59/custom hybrid trembucker) crapped out on me. I first noticed a major reduction in volume. I have it wired for switching from single coil to humbucker...and in humbucker mode it now sounds slightly different but has no additional volume from the single coil mode...which also seems quieter. There is also, now, a strange static/white noise in the background when playing that pick up, either mode. If I kick on my treble booster I can hear it very distinctly, and it comes on suddenly when a note is struck, and dies off quickly when the note ends.

I opened the back up and everything looks normal in the wiring compartment, so I have no idea where to start. The pickup is only maybe 6-9 months old. Could the pickup have died? How can I tell if my problem is the pickup, the tone capacitor, the push-pull pot, or something more mundane like a cold solder joint?

When I tap on the poles with an allen, it taps quite loud into my amp...when I switch to single coil, the adjustable lugs turn off like they're supposed to...

If anyone with a lot of experience in this matter could offer some advice, I'd appreciate it. I really don't have the money or patience to drop it off at a luthier here in town, and wait until he gets around to it. I'm hoping it's something I can fix, or if it IS the whole pickup, that I can soon afford to get a new one.

Not looking forward to re-doing the soldering on the back of that push-pull pot. It was a nightmare to work on such tiny components down inside the back of a guitar.
Click to expand...

The good news is...chances of your pickup dying are next to none. Your pup is probably just fine.

As much as you hate to hear this...You have a "cold" solder joint/bad connection. You need to redo all of your solder joints making sure your iron is hot enough to make the solder flow like water. A "blob" of solder does not necessarily mean a good connection.

Yes, it is tedious to solder a push/pull switch, even for someone experienced in soldering. If you don't think you have the skill for this, your only alternative is to take your guitar to someone who has that skill (obviously, more advice that you didn't want to hear).
 
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Re: Bridge Pickup Died...Well, Almost...

I'm pretty confident in my soldering skills (built a couple pedals, and this guitar that lasted many months), and have a very nice iron station with digital temp, so this should be do-able. Just a pain in the ass. But at least it's the cheapest of all options. Thank you for your help!!! Makes sense that it happened after a particularly cold night. Must have weakened one of my original solder joints. It's just painful trying to do it and not hit/melt any wires when there's so many down there. Growing a third hand would be a huge help too. Haha.

EDIT: any reason I can't do it with the guitar hooked to an amp, so I can test it after each joint I repair?
 
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Re: Bridge Pickup Died...Well, Almost...

That was it. First joint I resoldered. I knew that when I was soldering to the back of the tone pot back when I built the guitar, I was very paranoid about overheating the pot and ruining it, so I knew I had done that solder kinda quickly for my taste. That was the first one I reworked and bingo. Plugged it in, and it's back to normal.

Thank you so much Guitardoc, and VinceT for the advice and help. I'm really happy now. Gonna go play guitar.
 
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