Full Output Low Volume

O

oldteles

New member
Hi
I bought a Duncan TB-4 a few months ago used from a fellow Ebayer
I put it in a working Kramer Imperial with all new CTS 500 k pots and Crl switch
It only had a low Volume compared to the Neck pickup
This a 2 conductor pickup made in the 2000's
Put anther new CTS pot in and sounded the same
Put in original pickup and it sounded fine
Tried again in a Kramer Baretta ( single pickup and only Volume pot )
Same thing
The pickup reads 17. Ohms but has a bout half volume
Both coils are working
I have checked Ohms and coils many time
Always the same
Been a luthier for 37 yrs and haven't run across this situation after wiring hundreds of guitars
ANY Ideas
Gordon
 
Re: Full Output Low Volume

Start and finish for 1 coil could be mixed up. That same thing happened to me.

1 start could be going to 1 lead and 1 finish could be going to the other lead. Then a start and finish are connected in series. That will make it go out of phase.
 
Re: Full Output Low Volume

Checked that also
A out of phase pickup will give you a lower ohm reading also
Gordon
 
Re: Full Output Low Volume

Did you go in and make sure that each of the 4 leads of the coils were connected properly to the main hookup leads? I had a hb that was sounding out of phase but read full.
 
Re: Full Output Low Volume

Checked that also
White to black to each
White and black output from each
I quess no one really knows
Duncan's Tech Reps have never replied
The pickup has been played enough to get wear on it
That's what I don't understand
 
Re: Full Output Low Volume

Wait. How did this pickup wind up with two conductors? A JB should be four, so either it's a custom shop job or someone switched it to two lead (meaning it's been tampered with.) When you say "white to black" are you saying you've dismantled the pickup, or are you referring to the hookup hot/ground?

Out of phase should not affect resistance; wiring in parallel would drop the resistance but phase relates to the direction of the wind and the magnet. You're still dealing with two long strands of wire, so resistance should be the same out of phase vs. in. As mentioned above, one 'tell' is that you will not get hum cancelling and I'm not certain whether you've touched on that. Have you tried flipping the way the coils are wired to each other and seeing if that helps? Even if the wire color seems on, there's a chance it was reversed somehow.
 
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Re: Full Output Low Volume

It's wired incorrectly. I'm not talking about the 2 hookup wires. I'm talking about the start and finish leads that connect to the coil wire itself. To make it 2 conductor: connect the black start wire from the slug coil to your hot hookup wire. Connect the black start wire from the screw coil to your ground hookup wire and solder both to the baseplate. Then solder together both whites. That should work.

The same thing happened to me. I mixed up start and finish to only 1 coil and that made it sound out of phase but read full.
 
Re: Full Output Low Volume

What about the magnet? I've heard they can be demagnetized, vaguely remember a story about a subway motor demagnetizing a magnet in some artists pickup and it was weak the next time they played.
 
Re: Full Output Low Volume

KNUCKLHEAD said:
It's why the ebayer sold it - most likely
Click to expand...

If it's re-listed with the problem indicated I'd pick it up :D I scored a $15 Jazz because someone had mis-wired the coils in probably the same way, and a $12 Classic Stack + advertised as broken, when the problem was that the guy assumed the red/white would be tied together like a humbucker, with black/bare as hot/ground. Lots of user error out there.

Agree with Clint... Don't bother paying attention to the lead colors at this point, use a multimeter to validate the polarity and re-wire it.
 
Re: Full Output Low Volume

Never has been messed with
Factory wired pickup
Still has Duncan factory tape on it sealed
I did take it all apart and checked each coil and checked lead and finish wires
Both put out 8 plus
This a 2 conductor pickup and the ground is soldered to the body
This all factory
No one fooled with this
Still wax coated
I don't know who said these were all 4 conductors
But they are not The first ones for many years were 2 conductors a for Les Paul
Jeff Beck played a Les Paul and had Seymour develop a higher output and little brighter tone pickup for his in the 70's
2 CONDUCTOR
They have offered this for years
I have many 2 CONDUCTORS JB's
I thank you all for your things to check
I guess I got a bad pickup
Like I said , The bobbins have a lot play wear
Just one of those strange things
Duncan has made most of there reputation out of this pickup
 
Re: Full Output Low Volume

You can buy pickup wrapping tape. You can buy wax.

If I wanted to I could change a 4 conductor to 2 or vice versa and NOBODY could tell the difference to a factory pickup. So there is no guarantee at all.

As to the hookup wires, even from the factory they could come out wrong.....its not utterly impossible.

As to Duncan has made most of there reputation out of this pickup.......I have no idea why this is relevant to this discussion at all and why you would bother to mention it.
 
Re: Full Output Low Volume

My 1st. thought would be that it's running on 1 coil but You state it's reading 17k <- that's the wierd thing .

Guitar Doc would have the Hunch on it or Frank , I suspect
 
Re: Full Output Low Volume

Were any old JBs white/black/two conductor from the factory, as OP states his is? I have an old Jazz bridge, it is 'two conductor' in the sense that there is a single lead and a ground shield like a '59 . A lot of old Duncans I've seen are like that, but I've never seen white/black (on a humbucker.)

it's reading 17k <- that's the wierd thing .
Click to expand...

Phase issue, or it needs a new magnet. Cheap.
 
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Re: Full Output Low Volume

seymourduncan.jpg

Each coil individually and the whole pup in series reading full is irrelevant if the pup is wired in series out of phase. You probably have a start and finish connected to each other as the series connection when you're suppose to have 2 finish leads connected as your series connection and north start to the hot hookup wire and south start to the ground hookup wire.
 
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Re: Full Output Low Volume

oldteles said:
Never has been messed with
Factory wired pickup
Still has Duncan factory tape on it sealed
I did take it all apart and checked each coil and checked lead and finish wires
Both put out 8 plus
This a 2 conductor pickup and the ground is soldered to the body
This all factory
No one fooled with this
Still wax coated
I don't know who said these were all 4 conductors
But they are not The first ones for many years were 2 conductors a for Les Paul
Jeff Beck played a Les Paul and had Seymour develop a higher output and little brighter tone pickup for his in the 70's
2 CONDUCTOR
They have offered this for years
I have many 2 CONDUCTORS JB's
I thank you all for your things to check
I guess I got a bad pickup
Like I said , The bobbins have a lot play wear
Just one of those strange things
Duncan has made most of there reputation out of this pickup
Click to expand...
If the coils and wiring check out fine it suggests the magnet has demagnetised some how. Have you got one you can swap into to it to see if that changes the output ?
 
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