I've done a terrible thing...

posite63

posite63

New member
I destroyed a JB tonight. Well, half of it. I'm almost ashamed to confess this here.

I purchased a used JB off eBay that was only getting a reading on only one coil. "No problem, it's probably just a loose lead. That's an easy fix", I thought out loud. Wrong. It arrived today, and I confirmed pretty quickly that the leads were not the problem, and there was no obvious coil trauma in sight.

After unwinding wire with the intentions of finding a break, breaking the wire myself numerous times in the process, and losing my place enough times that it caused me to reach my cursing limit for the month, I finally gave up and angrily took a razor blade to the rest of the wire. I didn't just slice it nicely, I ripped the poor thing to shreds.

To make matters worse, this was my first real SD pickup (cause I'm cheap). My excitement at the time of purchase is now utter disappointment.

What can I do with half a JB (slug coil, to be specific)? Make a hybrid? I'd need another decent pup with which to mate it, and I don't have any other nice pickups (cause I'm cheap). I'm considering combining it with Duncan Designed hb102 despite the trembucker size. Any better suggestions?
 
Re: I've done a terrible thing...

Maybe working on pickups isn't your thing? LOL!

I'd say wait until you find another pickup with only one coil working. Don't tear into a working pickup.
 
Re: I've done a terrible thing...

DonP said:
Maybe working on pickups isn't your thing? LOL!

I'd say wait until you find another pickup with only one coil working. Don't tear into a working pickup.
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I'll agree on that second bit of advice. But I really don't think my lack of experience was to blame here. I took hundreds of winds off both directions and still never got current to pass through. The problem was obviously deeper in the coil. Don't get men wrong, I was VERY thorough in my work. But I lost my cool when it was clear that the only option left was to send it in for a rewind.

Or did I miss something important?
 
Re: I've done a terrible thing...

Put it in a squier and see what kind of clean tones you can get from half-JB. Low output pickups tend to have sparkle...
 
Re: I've done a terrible thing...

The repair costs more than buying a brand new JB lol, might as well just grab a new one in that case?

I thought the JBJ also had a rough cast magnet, is that true? So to have a JBJ you'd have to have them do a magnet swap AND a rewind, right?
 
Re: I've done a terrible thing...

daenius said:
I thought the JBJ also had a rough cast magnet, is that true? So to have a JBJ you'd have to have them do a magnet swap AND a rewind, right?
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Nope. Common misconception. The earliest JBs did. However, a good deal of the "JBJ"-era pickups that are gaining popularity now came with polished mags, even in the mid-'80s. I've seen as early as 1983-84 with polished mags in the JB, in fact...got an original one NOS in box here to prove it ;)
 
Re: I've done a terrible thing...

masta' c said:
Nope. Common misconception. The earliest JBs did. However, a good deal of the "JBJ"-era pickups that are gaining popularity now came with polished mags, even in the mid-'80s. I've seen as early as 1983-84 with polished mags in the JB, in fact...got an original one NOS in box here to prove it ;)
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The J in JBJ is Maricela Juarez, the Queen Bee in the Custom Shop. She made the legenday JBJs in the 80's and would be the one rewinding your dead JB today.

P.s. She can mag swap you to a roughcast if you want.

At that point it would cost a little me than a new one, but still a l less than an Antiquity or Anniversary JB...
 
Re: I've done a terrible thing...

I'm not great/experienced at being able to discern rough from polished, but my JBJ seems to be the latter?

For... $65 something I think, a re-wind isn't a terrible option. Still as mentioned, you can find a real JBJ for somewhat less than that amount. I do hate the idea of a wasted pickup, though... I might wait for another dead JB on eBay to repair it with... Then get tempted to send the two remaining dead coils back to Duncan anyway... Lol.
 
Re: I've done a terrible thing...

I've also found some polished mags in my older JBs, so there's no denying that they are out there.

Seems like there was an effort to make the roughcast magnets in the Ant JB and 35th JB not sound like marketing. https://forum.seymourduncan.com/sho...ith-the-JB-Antiquity-and-the-35th-anniversary

There were pretty specific commentaries to address how one was like taking a time machine and bringing a new-to-that-time JB back....and the other was as if you had found and old 80s, except it was just made.

And when I've asked the custom shop manager to make me JBs like she did in the 80s, they come with a RCA5.
 
Re: I've done a terrible thing...

You can also make a hybrid with another pickup. Or find another JB with a coil that doesn't work and use the good coil...and it would be super cheap. The problem would be finding one...
 
Re: I've done a terrible thing...

Is it an SH or a TB?

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk
 
Re: I've done a terrible thing...

Mincer said:
You can also make a hybrid with another pickup. Or find another JB with a coil that doesn't work and use the good coil...and it would be super cheap. The problem would be finding one...
Click to expand...
I did already build a hybrid with the only spare pickup I had on hand, a Duncan Designed HB 102. It did improve the tone a bit, especially the cleans. But it was a bit quacky sounding and I'm going to restore the DD to stock.

Now I think I'll just hold on to my half JB til I find another​ broken one. Since the screw coil on mine is faulty, would I need to replace it with another screw coil? Or could I use a slug coil, swap polarity and swap slugs for screws?

The cost of sending it in for a rewind is simply not justified, I could buy a working used JB for the same price. Unless they'd charge me less to simply rewind the coil, and let me reassemble it myself. Or are there any third party winders that could do this for cheaper?
 
Re: I've done a terrible thing...

Bummer. I have a TB-14 with one bad coil that I would love to turn into a JB/Custom hybrid. But I need a TB sized coil, obviously.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk
 
Re: I've done a terrible thing...

If you're not going to rewind your ruined coil, turn it into a Duncan pendant. Duncan even sells them. I got one at the last User Group Day.

Take gold string and wind it where the wire was, and add a chain.

SD_necklaces_105.jpg
 
Re: I've done a terrible thing...

I'll point out there's no guarantee that the next dead p'up you find will have the right coil shorted out. Bite the bullet, and send the survivor for repair...
 
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