Neck Pickup Significantly Quieter than Bridge

M

Mukobi

New member
Hi,

I just rewired a guitar (Dean EVO Special Select, like a Les Paul, but with 1 volume and 1 tone) with 2 3-way DPDT mini-switches so that each pickup has series/coilsplit/parallel options by following this schematic and the wiring codes for my pickups (GFS Brown Sound in bridge, Gibson 490R in neck). After I had done this, it sounded fine on my tiny test amp, but the middle pickup selector position had the pickups out of phase with each other, so I swapped the hot and ground of the bridge pickup where it connects to its mini-switch. Once again it sounded fine one my small test amp.

But when I plugged it in to my louder Hot Rod Deluxe later, I noticed that the neck pickup sounded significantly quieter than the bridge pickup in all settings of the series/coilsplit/parallel mini-switch. Also, the series mode on the bridge pickup is much louder than the split or parallel modes, as it should be, but the series mode on the neck pickup is just a tad louder than the other two modes for it. I tried adjusting pickup height already, but the problem persists. I measured the DC resistance of the neck and bridge pickups as 7.8 and 11.64 KOhms respectively which is within specifications, so I don't think it's the pickup, either.

Judging by the fact that this happened after I rewired the guitar, I'm fairly certain I screwed something up in the wiring. Should I try switching the hot and ground of the neck pickup at the mini-switch because I saw somewhere online someone said that fixed a similar problem? Should I rewire just the neck pickup's mini-switch? Should I try something else first? I wanted to see what you guys think the problem may be because I don't really want to have to go and redo the whole thing, just the bit that is messed up.

Thanks!
 
Re: Neck Pickup Significantly Quieter than Bridge

probably instead of swapping the leads, trying rotating the neck pickup as it magnetic north is opposite the north of the bridge. in other words the neck pickup is upside down. or vice versa. then wire it like you originally had wired it. that's my guess
 
Re: Neck Pickup Significantly Quieter than Bridge

Rotating pickups does absolutely nothing for out of phase.

you have to swap leads....or the magnet.

if one pickup is quiet in all settings, I'd be guessing something to do with the soldering of that pickup. Either a poor joint, or maybe a toasted pot.
 
Re: Neck Pickup Significantly Quieter than Bridge

AlexR said:
Rotating pickups does absolutely nothing for out of phase.

you have to swap leads....or the magnet.

if one pickup is quiet in all settings, I'd be guessing something to do with the soldering of that pickup. Either a poor joint, or maybe a toasted pot.
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking, but since this guitar only has 1 volume and 1 tone, if a pot was burnt wouldn't it affect both pickups?
 
Re: Neck Pickup Significantly Quieter than Bridge

Sorry to say, but thats some pretty messy stuff in there. You have burnt off insulation, too much wire exposed, a lot of solder used for the mini switches and what looks like cold or under heated solder joints on the pot housings for the ground circuit. Those mini switches are pretty delicate, so you could well have done some damage.
What iron wattage are you using?

You could probably do well here with a complete re do to be honest.
 
Re: Neck Pickup Significantly Quieter than Bridge

30 watts. Do you think that is too high, and is there any way to check if the switches are burnt out?

The previous owner was the one who actually first installed the 2 mini switches and tried to wire a series/split/parallel for each pickup, but it was a pretty crappy job. Several things didn't work because they wired both pickups as if they had the same 4-conductor color code despite them being from different brands that use different codes, so I tried to desolder and resolder stuff in the right place based off that schematic. Just wanted to get it out there that the mess isn't entirely my fault!
 
Re: Neck Pickup Significantly Quieter than Bridge

So I unsoldered and took out just the mini-switch for the neck pickup and then wired it in series like humbuckers normally are... and the problem is still there; the neck pickup is still substantially quieter than the bridge pickup.

I'm pretty sure this means my mini-switch may still be good, but the problem is probably in either the pickup (AHH!) or some of the 4 pickup conductor wires. I'll try hooking it up directly to the output jack next to see if somehow the PU selector or one of the pots is not working right, but do any of you have an idea of what might still be wrong?
 
Re: Neck Pickup Significantly Quieter than Bridge

Make sure both coils of that quiet humbucker are working by lightly tapping on the poles with a metal object when it is plugged in. My guess is that you accidentally shorted a coil somewhere.
 
Re: Neck Pickup Significantly Quieter than Bridge

Mincer said:
Make sure both coils of that quiet humbucker are working by lightly tapping on the poles with a metal object when it is plugged in. My guess is that you accidentally shorted a coil somewhere.
Click to expand...

I wish I could, but the previous owner who installed both pickups chose to get black plastic pickup covers for both of them, and while the GFS cover can come off, the 490r in plastic cover version has the cover attached to the rest of the pickup and it won't come off.

Is there any other way to test it?
 
Re: Neck Pickup Significantly Quieter than Bridge

Resistance readings of each coil separately if its a 4 conductor. The whole if its not. You'll need to find the pickup colour codes for the brand pickups with a search. You'll also need to find the typical ohm readings of the pickup fitted in your guitar to check against. Each coil should be approx half of the whole.
 
Re: Neck Pickup Significantly Quieter than Bridge

The whole pickup resistance is about 7.9 kOhm, which is near manufacturer spec, and each coil reads a resistance of 3.95 kOhm, so hopefully there is nothing wrong with the actual pickup.

I wired it directly to the jack, and it's the same volume as it was earlier when it was quieter than the bridge pickup. I'm pretty sure that means the issue is the pickup now.

The 490R I have is a weird one with a plastic cover that cannot be taken off to expose the coils, so I can't tap them to find out if one is shorted for some reason. That being said, I've messed around with the 4 conductors and am pretty sure that the Gibson color code, which I'm using, is in fact what the pickup follows. The pickup also sounds like a humbucker and not like a coil-split humbucker; the only problem is its pretty quiet.

I have the neck pickup height as high as I can get it without muting the strings and lowered the bridge pickup significantly, but the neck is still quieter. However, all I'm sure I'm raising on the neck is the plastic cover that won't come off.

I wonder if it's possible for the actual 490r pickup to have fallen down so that the cover is higher than the magnets. This would make it impossible to raise the pickup high enough to get a good signal. Have you ever heard of something like this happening, or is it even possible? And if so, could I safely fix it just by taking out the pickup assembly and pushing the pickup further into the cover?
 
Re: Neck Pickup Significantly Quieter than Bridge

Im wondering about those covers too, and how thick they are. Probably not your specific issue here, but if the plastic is way thicker than the typical metal cover then you wouldn't be able to adjust them the same way.
In this case though, a new pickup is your solution.
 
Re: Neck Pickup Significantly Quieter than Bridge

I took the strings off and took the neck pickup out... and I was right! Not only did the pickup slide down from the pickup cover, but it completely came out and was just sitting in the pickup cavity! I guess someone who thinks they may have a similar problem could diagnose this by shaking the guitar and listening for a pickup banging around inside.

I pushed it back in the cover with a good amount of electrical tape adding extra support, so hopefully it will stay in there and the problem will be all fixed. I'm going to rewire it anyway to see if I can try to clean up the insides a bit.
 
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