Complaints regarding Duncan products

[freefrog]

Re: Complaints regarding Duncan products

Since I was never a lucky guy, except for my wife, it could just happen that I got some duds out of thousands of pickups.

Bad luck is something that I've experienced too with guitar gear, so I sympathise with you (and greekdude) about such problems. Personally, I just tend to decorrelate bad luck from brand and shop names. It doesn't mean of course that all makers / sellers are equally reliable nor that QC is perfect everywhere.

Concerning the Lil'59, I pay with high gain amps, and have no noise while using parallel. Hence, it's not in single coil mode.

My best guess would be a broken coil wire, since the pickup worked fine for about two days after install. Then the volume dropped to almost nothing.

Yes, a coil wire can break without apparent reason. A pro musician with whom I'm friend was unlucky enough to have this problem twice in a few months, with 2 different humbuckers (a Gibson and... a Duncan). I've repaired both.

Now, an open coil should give no DCR reading. It's even possible to have a "capacitive broken coil" which is still working while exhibiting an apparently infinite DCR - in which case the series mode sounds extremely weak and the tone pot starts to behave like a volume control...

So, if I had your issue, I'd pull off the pickup and measure DCR directly on its unconnected wires. It should give what ArtieToo mentioned in his posts (4.9k per coil if we take in account the official series DCR for this model).

Good luck...

 

[orpheo]

Re: Complaints regarding Duncan products

Lol... And from whom did Thomann get those defective products, DiMarzio?

What a thoughtful hypothesis.

Gesendet von meinem ASUS_X00RD mit Tapatalk

It's not a hypothesis, it's EU consumer law. The vendor has the obligation to ensure the product is functioning properly, not the manufacturer (unless the manufacturer has sold directly to the consumer of course).

 

[greekdude]

Re: Complaints regarding Duncan products

oh man, I remember that horror story.

Hey thanks, however now the guitar is in top notch condition! Most stable and solid among all my axez!

 

[greekdude]

Re: Complaints regarding Duncan products

Since I was never a lucky guy, except for my wife, it could just happen that I got some duds out of thousands of pickups.

In Greece we say you can be lucky in gambling or in your romantic relationship never on both! I'd take the latter my self

 

[larryguitar]

Re: Complaints regarding Duncan products

In Greece we say you can be lucky in gambling or in your romantic relationship never on both! I'd take the latter my self

So what was the issue? Was it actually a defective pickup?

Larry

 

[devastone]

Re: Complaints regarding Duncan products

If it is a broken coil it would be open in series, not 1.5 kohms, the fact that it reads 5k in parallel and 1.5k in series makes me question the wiring, I would definitely pull it out and start over, I can't come up with a scenario that would give those kinds of results. Is it hooked to a 5-way switch? Maybe there is an issue with that and it is getting put in parallel with something else, like a low power single coil. Hard to diagnose over the interwebs, but those numbers really don't make sense.

 

[Synapsys]

Re: Complaints regarding Duncan products

In Greece we say you can be lucky in gambling or in your romantic relationship never on both! I'd take the latter my self

We have the same saying in Portugal! We seem to share a lot more than good food, good weather and breathtaking coastal lines

 

[cactus jack]

Re: Complaints regarding Duncan products

I can't help but cringe at the amount of wasted money and time I've spent on projects like this. I've paid techs to install the pickup, replace the pots, and switch, when all I need was a $5 multimeter and 30 minutes reading posts on this site. I've wasted hundreds (thousands) of dollars and weeks of time on projects that could have been solved for $5 and within 5 minutes.

My suggestion, investigate the guitar yourself. Learn how pickups are wired, how the electronics function, and get comfortable doing your own work. Jumping in and learning this stuff has given me a whole new appreciation for music and my instruments. If nothing else, take the measurements and you'll know exactly what's going on and what needs to happen.

 

[Synapsys]

Re: Complaints regarding Duncan products

If it is a broken coil it would be open in series, not 1.5 kohms, the fact that it reads 5k in parallel and 1.5k in series makes me question the wiring, I would definitely pull it out and start over, I can't come up with a scenario that would give those kinds of results. Is it hooked to a 5-way switch? Maybe there is an issue with that and it is getting put in parallel with something else, like a low power single coil. Hard to diagnose over the interwebs, but those numbers really don't make sense.

The guitar had a three-way blade switch, and a push-pull pot does the series/parallel switching.

I'm working abroad for a few weeks , probably will have the guitar in shape by the end of March, a bit after I get back.

Thanks for your input and patience! Nothing like SD forumites to help me keep the faith in the brand.

Quick note: after playing a few of my guitars with Duncans, I'm definitely not switching brands.

Either I had just plain bad luck, or some faulty wiring, but Duncan tones are definitely where my heart and ears lie.

 

[Synapsys]

Re: Complaints regarding Duncan products

But what's even cheaper is if you can tell us what those two readings were. Were they both in the 4.5k to 5k range? If not, then swapping anything else won't help.

I'm currently abroad for a few weeks, GuitarDoc, and left the note with the measured results in the case. Will get back to you on this when I get back.

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Re: Complaints regarding Duncan products

It's not a hypothesis, it's EU consumer law. The vendor has the obligation to ensure the product is functioning properly, not the manufacturer (unless the manufacturer has sold directly to the consumer of course).

How in this case? By testing the pickups beforehand?

What possible scenario do you think that would render the pickups defective since they are sitting on the shelf the whole time (I have had pickups sent in makeshift cardboard package no problem). And again, how in the world should Thomann determine if the pickups are working properly without breaking the seal?

I know you have a working relationship with SD and your opinion is biased (and Thomann is German ), but right now you are being ridiculous.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Complaints regarding Duncan products

i dont think he is saying that thomann did anything to break the pup, just that they need to make it right for the customer then deal with duncan. the customer shouldnt have to deal with duncan at all.

as far as the pup, the readings you are getting are pretty odd. im curious to see what you get once you are back

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Complaints regarding Duncan products

I'm thinking there is a problem with the wiring at the p/p pot. A short or cold joint, or too much solder blob shorting to another lug or even internally in the switch. In any case, I still don't think there is anything wrong with the pup, just the tech.

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Complaints regarding Duncan products

Yeah, back-to-back issues sounds more like a wiring/tech problem than a pickup manufacturer problem. I have my suspicions

 

[orpheo]

Re: Complaints regarding Duncan products

How in this case? By testing the pickups beforehand?

What possible scenario do you think that would render the pickups defective since they are sitting on the shelf the whole time (I have had pickups sent in makeshift cardboard package no problem). And again, how in the world should Thomann determine if the pickups are working properly without breaking the seal?

I know you have a working relationship with SD and your opinion is biased (and Thomann is German ), but right now you are being ridiculous.

I fear you are misconstruing my words.

Jeremy is interpreting my words correctly. To quote him: 'just that they need to make it right for the customer then deal with duncan. the customer shouldn't have to deal with duncan at all'.

That is exactly the gist of what I was saying. Thomann is required by law to sell to the consumer a proper product and if that proves to not be the case, they have to rectify that problem, not the manufacturer (unless the manufacturer is the seller, for example like Aristides or Kiesel or Bareknuckle, who all sell directly to the consumer). .

So, if the pickup sold by Thomann was broken directly out of the factory, or it broke during transit, it doesn't matter: the consumer has a broken product sold to him by Thomann so Thomann has to either replace it, refund it or repair it. Since repairing a pickup is way outside of Thomann's forté, it will have to be either refunded or replaced. The fact that SD might have made a screw-up (can't say that with 100% certainty since I do not have the pickup right here in my hands but I can assume it was their mistake) should not matter to the seller/consumer relationship.

 

[Synapsys]

Re: Complaints regarding Duncan products

Since the pandemic struck, I've been working from home, and since rehearsals on my band are still on hold, so i decided to take a chance a get a,new Little 59, and dropped my LTD MH-1000HS at my tech, so it was indeed a faulty pickup I had earlier. The new one works flawlessly both in series and parallel wiring.

Completely fogot to ask the values he was getting before, though...

Side note: got the pickup again from Thomann. Too bad for me the first one was a dud, but sometimes that can happen, even on a quality brand as SD.

Faith restored!

 

[jeremy]

Re: Complaints regarding Duncan products

glad things got sorted out!

 

[Mincer]

Re: Complaints regarding Duncan products

I am happy it turned out ok in the end!