JB saves my life/ Custom Imposter interesting read

[benji657]

wow

looking forward to my b-day tomorrow

i thought i had some good luck on my side before starting to work on my guitar.

i originally planned to take the nickel cover off my custom/59n combo due to howling issues.

here is when things started going wrong..oed:

i was shocked as i saw the baseplate of the custom pickup labeled as SH-14, which if im not mistaken, is a custom 5. and all that time i thought it was a custom....no wonder i heard so much of the 59 in the custom..

it must have been a good 8 months since i bought it..

back then i had bought a new set from a local shop, had them install it..CHECKED that they had the right pickup box with pickups...

only conclusion i can draw is that
1. SD put the a custom 5 in a custom box
2. the tech might have made a mistake and installed a custom 5
3. or it may still be a custom with the wrong label..:14:

covers went off fine (bridge only)
so i installed the naked humbucker again.. only to find there is no signal...i checked the wiring lots of times...i had done this perfectly before..
no signal.. im feeling desperate now..

i got pissed. i yanked the 59n custom combo
and put in the old burstbucker pros again..
ya know what they say 'bout pickups?
"you come back to where ya started from.."
not so quick

just when i thought things couldn't get any worse...:scared:
both burstbucker pickups produced weak signals too...
not as weak as the naked custom..
more like a single coil, out of phase sound...

i feared i had burned up the pots...

so now i figured i had nothing to lose
i was going to try to save the paul tho..
i put the nickel 59 n back in.. when a brilliant idea popped in my head
my jb loaded fender strat was to be my sacrifice..

happily yanked the jb, stuck it in the paul bridge..

aha...yes this is it
different neck and bridge eq spectrums make for diverse tones..
and the great lead tone i had from the strat was still there!
you know i like it more than the custom, or custom 5, or is it still the custom?:sword:

chords 'blend in' more nicely than the custom or whatever..
and its noticeably THICKER.

and you know what. even for a high output pickup. it never sounds compressed. sounds just as open as the 59.

i concluded that the burstbuckers must have shorted out while i kept them in a small box..

i figured the custom got damaged while i took the nickel cover off.

at the end of the day i ended up with
2 shorted bb pros
1 shorted custom..or custom 5? still a mystery..

now i'm gonna buy a new JB and stick it in my strat for saving the day///

man, in soldering, one thing goes wrong and everything seems to fall apart...like an unstoppable domino effect..

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: JB saves my life/ Custom Imposter interesting read

i concluded that the burstbuckers must have shorted out while i kept them in a small box..

That's pretty much impossible. Pickups that die do so as a result of damage, not just sitting around.

i figured the custom got damaged while i took the nickel cover off.

This is far less unlikely. How did you go about removing the cover?

I would still bet that in both cases there was some wiring mistake that was easily overlooked. It's easy to do, and happens to everybody. Best thing to do when you're having a problem is to put it down for awhile, go do something else, and come back with fresh eyes. 9 times out of 10, if I'm having an issue, I'll spot it almost immediately when I come back.

 

[benji657]

Re: JB saves my life/ Custom Imposter interesting read

That's pretty much impossible. Pickups that die do so as a result of damage, not just sitting around.


This is far less unlikely. How did you go about removing the cover?

I would still bet that in both cases there was some wiring mistake that was easily overlooked. It's easy to do, and happens to everybody. Best thing to do when you're having a problem is to put it down for awhile, go do something else, and come back with fresh eyes. 9 times out of 10, if I'm having an issue, I'll spot it almost immediately when I come back.

hmm..i dunno JB..would it be that obvious?..

i taped red and white together
green and bare to ground, and black to the hold shaped lug or terminal...
for the single conductor all that was involved was grounding the braided wire and soldering the black to the hole..

thanks for the help though, i guess they haven't broken down yet?..

i'll take another look..

with the soldering iron, i made a small cut in the solder so that only the solder would divide..then the cover came out nicely..

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: JB saves my life/ Custom Imposter interesting read

If that's all you did to remove the cover, you probably didn't damage the pickup. There could be a slightly loose wire somewhere else. Do you have a schematic for what you're trying to do? I've found it helpful to print one out, and go through each wire individually, checking them off the diagram as you go.

The wiggle test is also invaluable.

 

[benji657]

Re: JB saves my life/ Custom Imposter interesting read

If that's all you did to remove the cover, you probably didn't damage the pickup. There could be a slightly loose wire somewhere else. Do you have a schematic for what you're trying to do? I've found it helpful to print one out, and go through each wire individually, checking them off the diagram as you go.

The wiggle test is also invaluable.

yup thats what i always do..
i have a copy of the 2 volume 2 tone 3 way diagram handy..

maybe i'll try those 3 pickups in my strat tomorrow..

 

[Rowan]

Re: JB saves my life/ Custom Imposter interesting read

wow


i originally planned to take the nickel cover off my custom/59n combo due to howling issues.

What do you mean by howling issues?

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: JB saves my life/ Custom Imposter interesting read

Wire them straight to the jack. If they work that way, your problem is elsewhere. That's another good thing to try if you think a pickup is malfunctioning.

 

[benji657]

Re: JB saves my life/ Custom Imposter interesting read

oh yea, with those burstbuckers i found that the tone control didn't smooth out the high end but rather functioned as a second volume control..weird..
and both were lower output that my 6k single coil pickup in my fender strat

 

[benji657]

Re: JB saves my life/ Custom Imposter interesting read

Wire them straight to the jack. If they work that way, your problem is elsewhere. That's another good thing to try if you think a pickup is malfunctioning.

thanks for the tip,
since my les paul is functioning properly now and i don't wanna mess with it
i'll try that trick in another guitar tomorrow

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: JB saves my life/ Custom Imposter interesting read

Ok, there's definitely an issue somewhere. For starters, your tone control is messed up.

 

[benji657]

Re: JB saves my life/ Custom Imposter interesting read

What do you mean by howling issues?

something like a g-note howl that was present on the nickel custom..
depended on the direction i faced too..but it was more often than not..
microphonic would have been the proper word to describe it i guess..

i dont have those issues with my old black jb now..

 

[benji657]

Re: JB saves my life/ Custom Imposter interesting read

Ok, there's definitely an issue somewhere. For starters, your tone control is messed up.

i don't think so..
with the 59n / jb
the tone controls function normally now..
it was only with the burstbuckers

maybe as you said, i overlooked one aspect of the wiring..and didn't notice..

the burstbuckers sounded like split hb's really..very sparkly..but then how could you split a single conductor hb in its stock form..you can't..

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: JB saves my life/ Custom Imposter interesting read

something like a g-note howl that was present on the nickel custom..
depended on the direction i faced too..but it was more often than not..
microphonic would have been the proper word to describe it i guess..

i dont have those issues with my old black jb now..

You were getting microphonic feedback from the pickup covers. They weren't potted properly, and would vibrate at a certain frequency, causing the feedback.

 

[Rowan]

Re: JB saves my life/ Custom Imposter interesting read

I see, I see. I ask because I recently got a guitar with nickel covered jb/59's. Everything sounds great and works properly, but when Im not playing anything at band practice I'll get a real low toned feedback sometimes instead of the high pitched whine we're all accustomed to. Would that go away by removing the covers? Ive never had that problem with uncovered pickups before.

 

[benji657]

Re: JB saves my life/ Custom Imposter interesting read

I see, I see. I ask because I recently got a guitar with nickel covered jb/59's. Everything sounds great and works properly, but when Im not playing anything at band practice I'll get a real low toned feedback sometimes instead of the high pitched whine we're all accustomed to. Would that go away by removing the covers? Ive never had that problem with uncovered pickups before.

if you bought them new they should be fine i think, since that it's coming from SD

i installed the covers by myself..

the 59n came out fine, but the custom didn't

 

[skyydogg01]

Re: JB saves my life/ Custom Imposter interesting read

hey, stick your custom/custom 5/whatever into your sacrificial strat. you may have something you like.

 

[benji657]

Re: JB saves my life/ Custom Imposter interesting read

hey, stick your custom/custom 5/whatever into your sacrificial strat. you may have something you like.

you know what, thanks for the advice

because i just did that, and its functioning properly now:14:

i'll believe it's a custom 5 for now..according to the labels...

it sounds great too in my strat..

surprisingly i like the jb in my les paul
and the custom 5 in my strat..

 

[skyydogg01]

Re: JB saves my life/ Custom Imposter interesting read

you know what, thanks for the advice

because i just did that, and its functioning properly now:14:

i'll believe it's a custom 5 for now..according to the labels...

it sounds great too in my strat..

surprisingly i like the jb in my les paul
and the custom 5 in my strat..

congrats, now you have 2 pickups that you really like instead of one you like and one you kinda like. different pickups react differently in different guitars.

 

[kjrocks]

Re: JB saves my life/ Custom Imposter interesting read

I was going to suggest putting them on a meter but it sounds like one works already, cool.