el_duberino
New member
I've got a Pearly Gates in the neck of my SG Standard. It's been there for years. Recently I swapped out the bridge pickup with a new custom job from JS Moore, and I decided to take the opportunity while the pickguard was off to add a chrome cover over my ostentatious red Pearly Gates. Also, this pickup had a short lead so it was installed backwards (this is the two-conductor type with the grounded sheath and hot core). I took a couple of spare wires and used them to extend the lead so that I could flip the pickup around, which I think is purely aesthetic. Anyway, after this the sound from the neck pickup was just weak and tinny. Everything else was fine, the bridge pickup sounded great, but the PGn was anemic.
I lived with it for a while, but last night I decided to try fixing it by reversing my previous work. I opened it up again, removed the extension wires on the lead, flipped it back around, took off the cover to add some extra tape around the bobbins and over the slugs, then reinstalled the cover (with solder) and put her back in. Still weak and thin. After reading up online, I got out the multimeter and, lo and behold, it only read about 3.5-4k ohms. So I'm thinking that I'm only getting output from one coil. I swear everything looks fine, and I don't see how I could have damaged the wire (it is still protected by the factory tape).
What can I do? Is the pickup ruined? I really like this one in the SG, so if it's shot then I might replace it with the same. I see that the newer PGn comes with 4-conductor wiring, so I could do the coil split if I wanted, but I definitely miss the sweet humbucking sound. Or maybe I should try a Gibson '57 Classic. The PGn came as a matched set with a JB, both with bright red bobbins. They look ridiculous, but the price was right!
I lived with it for a while, but last night I decided to try fixing it by reversing my previous work. I opened it up again, removed the extension wires on the lead, flipped it back around, took off the cover to add some extra tape around the bobbins and over the slugs, then reinstalled the cover (with solder) and put her back in. Still weak and thin. After reading up online, I got out the multimeter and, lo and behold, it only read about 3.5-4k ohms. So I'm thinking that I'm only getting output from one coil. I swear everything looks fine, and I don't see how I could have damaged the wire (it is still protected by the factory tape).
What can I do? Is the pickup ruined? I really like this one in the SG, so if it's shot then I might replace it with the same. I see that the newer PGn comes with 4-conductor wiring, so I could do the coil split if I wanted, but I definitely miss the sweet humbucking sound. Or maybe I should try a Gibson '57 Classic. The PGn came as a matched set with a JB, both with bright red bobbins. They look ridiculous, but the price was right!
