P90s quit working — why?

[Frogman]

P90s quit working — why?

Got 3 Wilkinson P90s in a strat.

Everything was working fine until all of the sudden two of them quit working.
Middle still works perfectly.

All my solder joints look fine.

If a string is touching one of the pole pieces, they work.

What gives?

Blue is bridge
Black is middle
Red is neck
Small black is bridge ground wire

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[Mincer]

Re: P90s quit working — why?

Re: P90s quit working — why?

If 2 of them died at the same time, I'd think it was the switch. Can you confirm that the pickups are working on their own, either by wiring them to the jack or using a meter to test?

 

[Frogman]

P90s quit working — why?

P90s quit working — why?

They’re registering where they should be on the multimeter.
Except one of them only registers if I’m touching the ground ON the pickup. If I touch ground at the pot, nothing. But the middle pickup registers just fine on the pot’s ground.

Something wrong in the lead wire or bare?

 

[VinceT]

Re: P90s quit working — why?

Re: P90s quit working — why?

In the picture of the pickup, does the blue wire have a shield around the white wire? And, if so, is it connected to the black grounding wire coming out of the pickup (and/or the pickup base)?


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[VinceT]

Re: P90s quit working — why?

Re: P90s quit working — why?

Second question - what was happening when they quit working? Typically, once a guitar is wired up and working, it’ll stay fairly stable - for two to quit at once is weird without something happening (an impact, or you were in there trying something different, adjusting the pickups, etc.)


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[Artie]

Re: P90s quit working — why?

Re: P90s quit working — why?

Your pic of the bottom of the pickup clearly shows the ground/shield broken free. Having it work when the strings touch confirm this. Fix the grounds. Problem solved.

 

[Frogman]

Re: P90s quit working — why?

Re: P90s quit working — why?

In the picture of the pickup, does the blue wire have a shield around the white wire? And, if so, is it connected to the black grounding wire coming out of the pickup (and/or the pickup base)?


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Yes inside blue wire is bare wire that goes to ground and the hot white wire to switch.
Black wire out of the pickup goes to the pickups ground on the baseplate.


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[Frogman]

Re: P90s quit working — why?

Re: P90s quit working — why?

Second question - what was happening when they quit working? Typically, once a guitar is wired up and working, it’ll stay fairly stable - for two to quit at once is weird without something happening (an impact, or you were in there trying something different, adjusting the pickups, etc.)


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Well the neck quit working and then a couple days later the bridge did too.

If i wiggles the pickups while everything was still together sometimes they would go in and out.
Very very faint volume.

No impact.


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[Artie]

Re: P90s quit working — why?

Re: P90s quit working — why?

The shield wires, (red arrow), must be soldered to the ground lug. (Green arrow.)

Probably on both pups.

 

[Mincer]

Re: P90s quit working — why?

Re: P90s quit working — why?

I wonder how those snap off both pickups. I had assumed those came off when taking the pickup out, but that is an issue that has to be fixed before they will work. There can be another issue, but the grounds have to be sorted out.

 

[Artie]

Re: P90s quit working — why?

Re: P90s quit working — why?

I wondered that too. And while I hate to criticize someone else's work . . . the soldering on that 5-way is really bad. For the sake of reliability, I'd redo that also. I'd probably buy a new 5-way, rather than trying to clean that one up.

 

[Masta' C]

Re: P90s quit working — why?

Re: P90s quit working — why?

I have to agree with Artie on all of his points. Fix the grounds and consider cleaning up the joints and I bet your problems will be solved

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: P90s quit working — why?

Re: P90s quit working — why?

+1 to Artie's suggestion. The ground wire broke at the pup due to an inadequate solder job and too much manipulation of the wire.

So, redo the soldering, reconnect the grounds, possibly replace the switch, and be gentle when moving things around inside your guitar. It's a delicate instrument not a tugboat.

 

[Frogman]

Re: P90s quit working — why?

Re: P90s quit working — why?

I wondered that too. And while I hate to criticize someone else's work . . . the soldering on that 5-way is really bad. For the sake of reliability, I'd redo that also. I'd probably buy a new 5-way, rather than trying to clean that one up.

View attachment 103550

It’s a pre-wired switch from GFS [emoji23]


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[larryguitar]

Re: P90s quit working — why?

Re: P90s quit working — why?

It’s a pre-wired switch from GFS [emoji23]


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Ouch. Well, fix the grounds on the pickups and see if that works. If the switch works, it works...

Larry

 

[philthis]

Re: P90s quit working — why?

Re: P90s quit working — why?

aside from the recent trouble with the pickup soldering, how did you like having 3 p90s in a strat?

 

[Frogman]

Re: P90s quit working — why?

Re: P90s quit working — why?

aside from the recent trouble with the pickup soldering, how did you like having 3 p90s in a strat?

Love it. I adjusted the pole pieces for the middle and neck to vintage strat specs.
Think of SRV tone, without having to use super thick strings.
The bridge is setup for good raunchy rhythm.
Positions 2 and 4 still have quack. Not as much but it’s there.
Overall it’s very full sounding, gnarly midrange under gain especially. But cleans can be like a very thick strat.