Heat damage to pickup from soldering?

[GabenFreeman]

I removed a cover on a humbucker and am worried I may have heated it too much while I was struggling to unsolder it, and possibly damaged it. It's a Jazz neck and I noticed that it's noisier than the JB bridge I have in the same guitar. Would heat damage cause it to be noiser, or what exactly would it do it? And is there any way to check it or test it to make sure I didn't damage it?

 

[ICTGoober]

It might be noisier because you removed the cover, which provided some shielding.

 

[ehdwuld]

when removing the cover
you could have over heated the shield solder connection to the base plate

this would make it noisy

if you would like you can disassemble the pickup and re-flow that solder joint

 

[GabenFreeman]

when removing the cover
you could have over heated the shield solder connection to the base plate

this would make it noisy

if you would like you can disassemble the pickup and re-flow that solder joint

Ok that's a good idea, hopefully it's just because of that solder joint and not the pickup itself

 

[ehdwuld]

Probably simple

 

[freefrog]

And is there any way to check it or test it to make sure I didn't damage it?

To reply to this part of the question: a multimeter would help to check if the coils are intact or not, by measuring their DCR in series (expected to be around 7.5k +/- a few per cent).

 

[GabenFreeman]

To reply to this part of the question: a multimeter would help to check if the coils are intact or not, by measuring their DCR in series (expected to be around 7.5k +/- a few per cent).

Ok I measured it, it's measuring at about 7.6k which seems ok. Would you be able to tell if there was damage based on the DCR?

 

[Skarekrough]

Ok I measured it, it's measuring at about 7.6k which seems ok. Would you be able to tell if there was damage based on the DCR?

Absolutely.

A pickup is just wires wound around a magnet. If the value is the same on yours as a known good one then the pickup hasn't been damaged.

If the values are different or there's no value then you know it has been damaged.

 

[freefrog]

Ok I measured it, it's measuring at about 7.6k which seems ok. Would you be able to tell if there was damage based on the DCR?

See the lab test that I've shared in the post 8 of the following topic. The problem that it translates is explained in my first answer, post 2. The whole thread might be interesting to read as well...

https://marshallforum.com/threads/t...ithout-anyone-noticing-it.130785/post-2344373

If your pickup reads the expected DCR, it means that you've not facing this issue and that's a good thing. For the record, one of the pickups that I've repaired as explained in the topic above had been damaged while removing its cover... and the player has used it for years while finding it noisy (which was logical since his damaged humbucker was like a single coil + a capacitor in series). ;-)

 

[GabenFreeman]

See the lab test that I've shared in the post 8 of the following topic. The problem that it translates is explained in my first answer, post 2. The whole thread might be interesting to read as well...

https://marshallforum.com/threads/t...ithout-anyone-noticing-it.130785/post-2344373

If your pickup reads the expected DCR, it means that you've not facing this issue and that's a good thing. For the record, one of the pickups that I've repaired as explained in the topic above had been damaged while removing its cover... and the player has used it for years while finding it noisy (which was logical since his damaged humbucker was like a single coil + a capacitor in series). ;-)

Ok interesting, so it could just be the ground wire solder joint that's causing the noise if the DCR is reading fine? And if not is it something that would be repairable?

 

[freefrog]

Ok interesting, so it could just be the ground wire solder joint that's causing the noise if the DCR is reading fine? And if not is it something that would be repairable?

If the DCR is normal and the coils therefore intact, the noise can be caused only by what other members said above.

 

[ehdwuld]

test the ground wire to base plate

it should read as a straight connection no resistance