HELP! Texas Special pickup sounds dark and muddy

[Richard]

So I have a set of Texas specials in a musician silhouette and the neck and bridge positions sound perfect. But when I’m in position 2, 3 and 4 it’s really dark and quiet. I went through the wiring 3 times. Re soldered all the connections. Nothing has fixed it. I thought it might be the switch so I replaced it. Did not fix it. I’m guessing it’s the actual middle pickup. When I put it on a meter it reads around 7k. Can a pickup be broke and still showing an ohms reading? Any help is appreciated!!!

 

[Chistopher]

Does either tone control act like a volume control when you're in those positions? If so the pickups broken

 

[jeremy]

so sss with mv/mt? normal n/nm/m/mb/b switching?

 

[Richard]

so sss with mv/mt? normal n/nm/m/mb/b switching?

Yes

 

[Richard]

Does either tone control act like a volume control when you're in those positions? If so the pickups broken

Only 1 tone and it’s acting like a tone should.

 

[Mincer]

Can you temporarily wire the middle pickup to the jack? This is one way to test if it is the pickup itself.

 

[jeremy]

i assume the issue must be with the middle pup since it sounds off on its own. for giggles, you could try swapping the middle and bridge pups to see if the issue follows the pup

 

[Richard]

i assume the issue must be with the middle pup since it sounds off on its own. for giggles, you could try swapping the middle and bridge pups to see if the issue follows the pup

That’s a good idea. I didn’t think about that. I’ll try it tomorrow.

 

[Richard]

It was in fact that middle pickup. I found someone on reverb that had a middle texas special for sale so I picked it up. sounds great now.

 

[jeremy]

sweet, glad it all worked out. sucks to have a bad pup, but these things happen

 

[Mincer]

I wasted a few days trying to diagnose a wiring problem only to figure out in the end that it was a bad pickup. I thought to myself 'it has to be my wiring, it can't possibly be the pickup...it is new'. But indeed it was.