How does a pickup die or turn microphonic?

[Dave Locher]

I have now read a few references to a pickup dying and at least two about a pickup going microphonic.
My question is, how? Other than spilling something corrosive into a pickup or damaging it with a tool I did not know a pickup could die or go bad? I have seriously abused some guitars in my time, I have sweated all over them like a dripping hose, I have put the same pickup in and out of multiple guitars, hell I have even smashed a guitar to bits in a concrete floor then picked up the pickups and used them in other guitars. In all those years I have never had a pickup die. Switches and pots, yes, but never a pickup. Old, new, U.S., mij, all just keep on putting out.
So what makes some go bad?

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: How does a pickup die or turn microphonic?

Agreed. It seems like the kind of thing that can't go bad on its own. No moving parts to wear, no materials that are prone to degradation (with the possible exception of wax?) :dunno: Seems like it would have to be damaged somehow in order to change.

I don't have any answers for ya, but I'm curious about what others have to say.

 

[Aceman]

Re: How does a pickup die or turn microphonic?

When the lights on stage are hot, and the licks are just scorching, and you are burning up the fretboard the wax can melt right out of the covers....

That can make them microphonic

 

[Mincer]

Re: How does a pickup die or turn microphonic?

Leaving a guitar in the car in Florida in the summer will certainly melt the wax...if it is microphonic, you can re-pot it, or have Seymour Duncan do it for you.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: How does a pickup die or turn microphonic?

I've read where John Frusciante mentions that all pickups eventually die and that's why he has SSL-1s in his vintage Strats. To be honest, I never really understood that...

 

[GilmourD]

Re: How does a pickup die or turn microphonic?

Blood, sweat, and beers.

 

[ToastyMagician]

Re: How does a pickup die or turn microphonic?

Putting a cover on badly can make it go microphonic (which is why we solder them to the plate) as well as messing with the coils. Pretty much if any of the parts move or vibrate in a way that it can pick itself up then it's microphonic. Also before wax potting was a thing all pickups were microphonic.

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[ToastyMagician]

Re: How does a pickup die or turn microphonic?

That said piezoelectric pickups rely on being microphonic to work.

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[freefrog]

Re: How does a pickup die or turn microphonic?

I've read where John Frusciante mentions that all pickups eventually die and that's why he has SSL-1s in his vintage Strats. To be honest, I never really understood that...

Corrosion of AlNiCo rods attacks the insulation and creates a short cut in the coil.

http://www.mk-guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/corroded-strat-pickup.jpg

Unless a pressure on the rods make them move and rips the inner side of the coil.

Regarding humbuckers, reasons are less clear but I've already repaired several of them because a coil was dead. In each case, the coil with slugs was fine and the dead one was the coil with screws, FWIW.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: How does a pickup die or turn microphonic?

Actually I could see his flailing right hand eventually smacking a pole piece hard enough to move it, and with the corrosion on the magnet nicking a wire.

 

[freefrog]

Re: How does a pickup die or turn microphonic?

Actually I could see his flailing right hand eventually smacking a pole piece hard enough to move it, and with the corrosion on the magnet nicking a wire.

LOL. Frusciante is probably more cautious and/or respectful with his instruments than the average guitarist. Or he has a guitar tech to take care of his instruments.

Now, I work for a touring pro and I've been surprised more than once to see how his guitars were mistreated: if an instrument has a pickguard make of breakable plastic, you can be sure that it has been or will be broken... And on his instruments only, I've already replaced or repaired not less than 3 dead pickups. Life is hard for a guitar belonging to a gigging musician...

That said and AFAIK, corrosion can kill a pickup apparently intact and sleeping on a shelf. All comes down to the chemical interaction of the environment with the wire insulation (formvar tending to degrade with time much more than PE or poly, AFAIK).

 

[Davii]

Re: How does a pickup die or turn microphonic?

I've only ever had to re-pot a set of pickups once, and that was the ones on my first electric guitar. I only ever used it live twice, but I'd play it just bumming about in front of the TV/tinternet pretty much every day, and it probably gets knocked about a fair bit. Other than that, a pickup has only headed south as the result of my being an idiot

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: How does a pickup die or turn microphonic?

Regarding humbuckers, reasons are less clear but I've already repaired several of them because a coil was dead. In each case, the coil with slugs was fine and the dead one was the coil with screws, FWIW.

That's the thing, I know it does happen but it has never happened to me, even when I was playing out 2-3 nights a week and sweating all over them. Uncovered, too. And I have never been gentle to them.
But it has always been humbuckers and I don't tinker with the screws once I have them where I want them. Maybe I am just lucky!

 

[AlexR]

Re: How does a pickup die or turn microphonic?

Plenty of people have sweated over guitars and been ok, others just have to look at a set of strings and they're rusty. I think Angus' first SG had to have some wood replaced as it had gone rotten.

But corrosion and physical movement over time are the keys.......straws that break the camel's back.

 

[Aceman]

Re: How does a pickup die or turn microphonic?

Leaving a guitar in the car in Florida in the summer will certainly melt the wax...if it is microphonic

$h!t - never thought of that!

 

[Mincer]

Re: How does a pickup die or turn microphonic?

$h!t - never thought of that!

Yeah, I avoid keep any gear in the car at any time, but I am really crazy about it in the summer. I mean, that heat can kill humans, so pickup wax doesn't have a chance.

 

[Demanic]

Re: How does a pickup die or turn microphonic?

Not to mention the thermal stress that it places on the wood.

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[Jacew]

Re: How does a pickup die or turn microphonic?

Yeah, I avoid keep any gear in the car at any time, but I am really crazy about it in the summer. I mean, that heat can kill humans, so pickup wax doesn't have a chance.

We had a few hot days around here last weekend ~23C°. I was away for a couple days, and forgot heating up in my apartment... It was +34C° in there when I got back!

I doubt that's enough cause any trouble, but just thinking: Do you have any estimate how much that might require?

 

[Orville]

Re: How does a pickup die or turn microphonic?

I had a JB that died a long time ago. I had taken it out of a guitar and stored it in a drawer safely. A year later I went to use it and it was dead. I gave it to a guitar tech I knew to do as he wished with it, but never did find out what happened. I know I kept it stored safely.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: How does a pickup die or turn microphonic?

Some pickups are sensitive to dropping (Jazzmaster pickups.) The bobbin is huge and moving it/mishandling it can snap wire.