dead spot?

[junior]

A student of mine has a real nice strat, and when you bend the 3rd string there is a obvious dead spot when the string passes between poles. None of the other pups do it, and none of the other strings. Is this a bad pup?
Thanks again y'all

 

[SpiderVenom]

Re: dead spot?

Sure it's not just the string choking? Or, more particularly, does the sound die just at that spot (ie, if you hold the bend, bend to that point, then release it slightly, does the sound reappear?)

 

[junior]

Re: dead spot?

No- it doesn't do it acoustically or on the other pups. And it does it on all the way up the neck

 

[junior]

Re: dead spot?

(bump)
anyone have any ideas?

 

[tone4days]

Re: dead spot?

just off the top of my head here .... is the neck pup raised fairly high (close to the strings?) ... it kinda reads to me to be string pull where the pole magnets dampen the vibration ... lower the neck pup down a little bit and see if it gets better ... if the string is going between poles, the pickup can also lose it's 'focus' on the string and not be able to 'pick up' the vibration

just a thought

 

[junior]

Re: dead spot?

I tried to raise and lower the pup, all to no avail. Ever heard of this before?

 

[Amateur]

Re: dead spot?

To test the pickup and see if all the poles are working correctly, you can put the tip of a steel screw driver onto each pole and see if you can get the sound coming out from the amplifier. Just don't turn the volume up high though, it gets pretty loud. The poles should give a "Pop" of the same noise level. If the pole in question gives a weaker sound, then you know the pickup may have a problem. It's not a scientific test, but is a quick and dirty way to find out.