Mystery: Neck Pickup suddenly becomes darker ??

S

Stratosphere

New member
I have an Epi LP I rewired with new wiring and the 50's mod and it has a Duncan SH1N in the neck position. It's a little bassy, so I usually roll the volume down from 10 to 9 and it would cut out some of the bass. This used to sound really nice. Then the other day I was playing and when I hit the pickup selector switch I realized it didn't sound right right, so I checked all the the joints and redid the wiring on it. It looks good now, checks out with a MM, but the neck pickup is darker than it was before. It doesn't clean up in quite the same way when I roll down the volume slightly. I can't figure out what changed...? Any ideas?
 
Re: Mystery: Neck Pickup suddenly becomes darker ??

just the neck pickup too dark?
the 50's mod is on just the neck?
 
Re: Mystery: Neck Pickup suddenly becomes darker ??

Yes just the neck pickup. The 50's mod is on both pickups.

What I've partly been wondering is if for the last couple of years the switch was shorting the neck and bridge together without me realizing it even though I had it on the neck position...(could I be that clueless???) Then I think that can't possibly be so. This thing has driven me a bit batty as you can see...
 
Re: Mystery: Neck Pickup suddenly becomes darker ??

got a multimeter?
insert guitar cable
turn volume all the way up
set switch to neck position
with meter on OHMS
one lead to tip of guitar cable and one to sleave ( the part just below the black ring on the guitar jack )
what does it read?
in the middle positon ( both pickups? )
what does it read?
in the bridge positon
what does it read
if you have a coil splitter or any other switches
one at a time
what they are and the reading that goes with

and you wonder why the doctor runs all those tests when you just have a cold?
 
Re: Mystery: Neck Pickup suddenly becomes darker ??

Thanks for the checklist - that was helpful. I think everything seems normal.

Neck positition: 7.9k
Bridge position: 7.4k
Both together: 3.8k

(BTW I'm aware the neck has more output that the bridge...this SH1N I bought used is just weird that way and had more output that normal.) I think I'm going to replace it with something lower in output (7.2k or so).

I've come to the conclusion that before this happened, the lousy wiring I previously did on the switch (or the switch playing up) allowed the neck and bridge to be on together even when the switch was in the neck only position. This happened without me noticing and I grew used to that tone...then when it stopped happening all of a sudden the neck sounded a lot darker...but I was just the hearing the actual neck pickup by itself for the first time.




ehdwuld said:
got a multimeter?
insert guitar cable
turn volume all the way up
set switch to neck position
with meter on OHMS
one lead to tip of guitar cable and one to sleave ( the part just below the black ring on the guitar jack )
what does it read?
in the middle positon ( both pickups? )
what does it read?
in the bridge positon
what does it read
if you have a coil splitter or any other switches
one at a time
what they are and the reading that goes with

and you wonder why the doctor runs all those tests when you just have a cold?
Click to expand...
 
Re: Mystery: Neck Pickup suddenly becomes darker ??

im not sure if you solved your problem but the necks pickup should read lower than the bridge
neck 7.43k
bridge 8.13k for a 59
 
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Re: Mystery: Neck Pickup suddenly becomes darker ??

lower the pickup height to reduce the volume

or raise it to make it louder

lower the pickup and adjust the screws out to pickup more or less of individual strings ( its a bit of over kill for me, but some like it )
 
Re: Mystery: Neck Pickup suddenly becomes darker ??

Epi switches are nortorious for going south-and gettin all weird.
I'd try and replace it with a better quality one.
 
Re: Mystery: Neck Pickup suddenly becomes darker ??

Stratosphere said:
I've come to the conclusion that before this happened, the lousy wiring I previously did on the switch (or the switch playing up) allowed the neck and bridge to be on together even when the switch was in the neck only position.
Click to expand...

On any variant of the Switchcraft three-way toggle selector switch, what actually happens is that the unwanted pickup is de-selected by separating the sprung leaf contacts for that pickup within the switch.

For you to get both pickups on in the "neck PU only" position, your soldering would have to be phenomenonally bad.

The only other explanation would be one of those dirt cheap selector switches with the hidden contacts and just three terminals showing on the outside of the metal screening case.

EDIT: Silly question, I know, but have you tried cleaning the contacts of your selector switch?
 
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Re: Mystery: Neck Pickup suddenly becomes darker ??

Funkfingers said:
The only other explanation would be one of those dirt cheap selector switches with the hidden contacts and just three terminals showing on the outside of the metal screening case.
QUOTE]

That would be the same switch found on most Epi's especially in the recent years.
Click to expand...
 
Re: Mystery: Neck Pickup suddenly becomes darker ??

Funkfingers said:
On any variant of the Switchcraft three-way toggle selector switch, what actually happens is that the unwanted pickup is de-selected by separating the sprung leaf contacts for that pickup within the switch.

For you to get both pickups on in the "neck PU only" position, your soldering would have to be phenomenonally bad.

The only other explanation would be one of those dirt cheap selector switches with the hidden contacts and just three terminals showing on the outside of the metal screening case.

EDIT: Silly question, I know, but have you tried cleaning the contacts of your selector switch?
Click to expand...


It was pretty bad solder job actually I did a while back, I'll admit it flat out. I also had some trouble with that vintage-style cloth wire becoming frayed making it hard to inspect for shorts. (Possibly a wire strand came loose and was touching something it shouldn't.) The switch itself was a Switchcraft replacement, but one of the metal leaves became bent. It seems good now after redoing the switch wiring.

Contact cleaner is a good idea - I have some of that and I'll give the switch a little spritz.

I've decided I'm also going replace the SH1, and go for something with lower output. The sticker definitely says SH1N but it measured close to 8k when I received it...I think perhaps it's really a SH1B with the wrong sticker on it.

FWIW I posted about this pickup's weird DC res. reading a while back here:

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=119762
 
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Re: Mystery: Neck Pickup suddenly becomes darker ??

Sounds as if you have the problem licked. Two final words on this topic - Pearly Gates.
 
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