Dead Vintage Rail

[dystrust]

There seems to be issues with the neck vintage rail in my Strat. On the E, A, and D strings the pickup works fine. However on the G, B, and high E strings volume is decreased to about half of normal. Does anyone know what might cause this and how to fix it? Also any costs involved.
-Thanks

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Dead Vintage Rail

The two coils of the Vintage Rails are connected internally in parallel, so it's not easy to check the individual coils with an ohm meter, but you can do a simple test. Try tapping on the individual rails with something metal with the guitar pluged into an amp and the neck pickup selected. You should get an audible "pop" from each bobbin when you do that. I'm guessing that you have a short in the bobbin that has the rail beneith the g/b/e strings.

If that is the case and the pickup is new, you can return it using Seymour Duncans 21 day return policy for a pickup that is fully funtional.

You can also measure the DC resistance of the VR using an ohm meter across the black and white leads of the VR when it is disconnected from the guitar, and you should get a reading close to 2.67k ohms. It will only be a confirmation that the pickup is faulty, but the added information will be helpful for a proper diagnoses of the problem.

If the pickup is faulty and it doesn't fall under the 21 day return policy you can send the pickup directly to the Seymour Duncan factory for repair, but you ned to call the factory and get a R.A. number. The cost of repair should be minimal, but they can give you the exact cost over the phone.

The phone number is readily available off of the SD main site.

www.seymourduncan.com

 

[couchbro]

Re: Dead Vintage Rail

So if I get nothing when I check the resistance between the black and white lead, that means the pickup is dead? I've had this pickup since I bought this guitar (custom 8 string made by Wes Lambe) and it's always been dead on the higher strings. Luckily, it's the middle pickup, so I can do without for a while. http://www.youtube.com/mojorisingcoversongs

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Dead Vintage Rail

In order for the pickup to work correctly, both coils need to be in good order AND the blade polepieces need to be in firm physical contact with the bar magnet that runs beneath the coils.

 

[Artie]

Re: Dead Vintage Rail

The newer VR's come with 4-wires. So it should be easy to check each coil. Older ones were internally parallel.