Need help with '59 neck

[jughead]

A couple of days ago I installed a '59 neck and a Distortion bridge. It's my first experience with installing pickups, and I'm afraid I have done something wrong. Here's the problem:

The Distortion bridge functions normally, I can get a killer distortion with it, and it's a huge improvement over my stock pickup. But the '59 seems have an issue as its output is a lot less lower than the Distortion and the stock pickup. I know it should have a lower output than the Distortion, but I'm talking about 6-8 dBs lower when I compare it to a recording with my stock pickup (this stock pickup has about 9k DC resistance), with the same amp settings and pickup height. I almost couldn't hear anything when playing clean, and I couldn't get any decent overdrive without cranking the drive of the amp to almost full. Even then, the tone is still unusable to my taste. Very, very muddy and lifeless. And the tone knob doesn't seem to make any difference in sound when I move it.

My question is, does the '59 suppose to have a lot less output when compared to a 9k, Alnico V pickup? Or have I made a mistake with soldering? I've checked the pots, they function just fine. Is it possible that I made a mistake by soldering the cable jacket to the ground for too long that I accidentally melt the ground and hot together? :smack:

Can you guys give me some tips on how to check the ground and hot cables so that I'm assured that they do they job properly? As I stated, I've already metered the pots and they are working fine.

Thanks for your help, I really really appreciate it.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Need help with '59 neck

Because the string moves alot more over the neck pickup, even though the 59N has a lower DC resistance than the Distortion it should be very strong and full sounding. Sounds to me like you have a problem with the wiring or else the pickup is to far from the strings.

Is this a four conductor 59 or a single conductor with the vintage style braided cable?

Lew

 

[jughead]

Re: Need help with '59 neck

It's a single conductor with braided cable. I tried raising the pickup height, even to abnormal position. It did help to some extent, but the output is still very very low.

Wiring the Distortion with four conductors were done by me as a first timer without any problems. But grounding 59's braided cable was a hassle, so I'm worried that that's where the problem lies. Any ideas on how to confirm this?

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Need help with '59 neck

i would support the wrong wiring theory since the sound should be that low and without highs. Check the wiring: does the tone pot work properly?

 

[Curly]

Re: Need help with '59 neck

it definitely sounds like a problem with the wiring, and yes, grounding is often the culprit

if you have access to a meter, you can confirm this by plugging in a cord, and placing the ground lead of the meter on the shaft, and the hot lead on the tip of the cord, and turn up the volume. The reading won't be totally accurate since it's in the circuit, but you are looking for a reading that's close to spec

also, check the interaction of the other pickup, and the other volume to get a better idea of what's going on

the braided cable shouldn't be hard to ground, but it's best to scuff the back of pot with sandpaper and add a drop of solder, then tin the end of the braided cable, then solder

 

[jughead]

Re: Need help with '59 neck

Okay, so I de-soldered the wires and took the pickup out and measured the resistance between hot and ground, just to be sure...

My initial reading is 4k, and then it goes up slowly en then maxes out at 6.4k. If I detach the meter and reattach it, it will show the same result (4k, and then rises slowly to 6.4k). If I switch the meter cables (black to red and vice versa) I only get 3k.

Isn't this weird? My other pickups don't do this and they give directly the exact resistance according to specs.

If I accidentally short-circuited hot and ground during soldering I would get almost no resistance, am I right? Is it possible that I have a bad pickup?

 

[stich]

Re: Need help with '59 neck

Is it possible that I have a bad pickup?

Yup! that puppy should measure aprox 7.43 k.

 

[Artie]

Re: Need help with '59 neck

Did you, by any chance, replace the tone cap? What you are describing sounds like a cap charging. If you accidently used a 47uf instead of a .047, that would occur.

If you didn't change the cap, then it shouldn't be an issue.

Let me expand on that a bit. When a meter is in its "ohms" mode, it applies voltage to the circuit. A cap will charge up when you measure it, causing the resistance reading to slowly climb. Thats why I wonder if you replaced the cap. An ordinary guitar cap won't do that. It needs to be fairly large.

 

[jughead]

Re: Need help with '59 neck

Nope, I didn't change the cap. I also took the pickup out of the circuit when I metered it.