Bridge pickup problem with my 3 humbucker SG

phil_104

phil_104

Cheesesteakologist
Yeah, having issues over here with the SG I bought used.

Firstly, the guitar currently has Gibson 57s in it. I have the same pickups in my ES339, and although the neck pickup sounds like it should, the bridge pickup is super, super weak. I'm not talking the character of the pickup, I'm talking the volume. It's almost like it was only running one coil, and that's before I hit the coil tap. It sounds weak and brittle.

On top of that, the guitar has grounding issues. The wiring in the guitar is complicated, so that makes things difficult for me, considering that I have limited knowledge (the guitar has 2 separate coil taps and a 3 way switch that blends in the middle pickup).

So far, I've tried adjusting the high of the pickup, and that didn't work. I'm thinking I should just bring it to my tech and have him install a Custom-Custom.

Any ideas before I get to that point?
 
Re: Bridge pickup problem with my 3 humbucker SG

phil_104 said:
Yeah, having issues over here with the SG I bought used.

Firstly, the guitar currently has Gibson 57s in it. I have the same pickups in my ES339, and although the neck pickup sounds like it should, the bridge pickup is super, super weak. I'm not talking the character of the pickup, I'm talking the volume. It's almost like it was only running one coil, and that's before I hit the coil tap. It sounds weak and brittle.

On top of that, the guitar has grounding issues. The wiring in the guitar is complicated, so that makes things difficult for me, considering that I have limited knowledge (the guitar has 2 separate coil taps and a 3 way switch that blends in the middle pickup).

So far, I've tried adjusting the high of the pickup, and that didn't work. I'm thinking I should just bring it to my tech and have him install a Custom-Custom.

Any ideas before I get to that point?
Click to expand...


Make sure that you are not in an out of phase setting, when you think it is only your bridge pup on. Previous owned may have wired in his own tone preferences. when it comes to 3 humbucker guitars, there are many options and a whole lot of switches needed to get all the options. He might of settled on only the ones he liked or may have just wired something wrong. Hence the ground issue.
 
Re: Bridge pickup problem with my 3 humbucker SG

Maybe somebody monkeyed around in there and wired the coils in parallel. But before diving in to troubleshooting it, perhaps it would help to first sketch out how it is wired up, and examine the diagram to see if it even makes any sense. If the diagram makes sense, then you're just looking for some sort of simple fault, like a bad solder joint or something. But if something is theoretically screwy about the wiring schematic, then you're looking to correct it so that it's at least wired like it's supposed to be...then you can look for the faulty area/s, if there's still a problem.
 
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Re: Bridge pickup problem with my 3 humbucker SG

First task, clean all of the switch contacts.

Second task, check all of the solder joints on the coil split switches.
 
Re: Bridge pickup problem with my 3 humbucker SG

Break out the multimeter too. That will tell you quickly if you're running parallel.

On the upside, this might be a great opportunity to get a nice replacement. The 57's are really nothing special by comparison to some of the pickups available y'know.
 
Re: Bridge pickup problem with my 3 humbucker SG

Depends on what you consider "special".

If it's exactly the tone you're after, then it is very special.
 
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