Seymour Duncan PickUp not working

P

Pauls_49

New member
Hi all. Recently I made two guitars and bought 2 sets of Seymour Duncan Vintage 1959 Blues, sets of pickups. I am using 1 volume 1 tone and 3 way selector switch. The pickups have just one lead coming from it, braided wire on outside and live active wire inside. I soldered/earthed the braided wire to the back of pot/s and soldered the live/active wire to the selector switch. I did both guitars identical.

I am now finding only the neck pickup works. When the selector switch is set to neck, that works, but when the selector switch is set to either both pickups or bridge only, nothing. I then changed the wires overs to opposite sides on the selector switch. Same result, only the neck pickup works and either both or bridge only, nothing.

This is just on one guitar, other guitar is fine, no problems,, and I did both identical.

Is there any other process of elimination I can try, but to me it seems the bridge pickup is just not working.

Regards
Paul, Australia
 
Re: Seymour Duncan PickUp not working

Yes, you can use a meter to test the dcr of the bridge 59 to confirm that it's working.
 
Re: Seymour Duncan PickUp not working

Thanks Clint,

Exactly what sort of meter would this be please.

Thanks, Paul
 
Re: Seymour Duncan PickUp not working

You can also wire the pickup directly to the jack bypassing all of the pots and switches. Just tap on the poles with a screwdriver to see if you are getting output. A meter is a good thing for any DIY guitarist to have, though, and it will also help you know if the pickup is working partially or where there is a flaw in the wiring. You can also post several clear pics here, and we can try to diagnose what is going on (if it is obvious to see).
 
Re: Seymour Duncan PickUp not working

Thanks for these replies. Today I drove up to my nearest city and bought a multimeter. Worked out how to test the pickups, pots and continuity of grounding. After spending all afternoon testing etc. The one main thing I notice is. The wire coming from the bridge pickup, when I put the multimeter on the wire, it is showing zero. When I do the same for the neck pickup wire it is showing about 6.7 On the bridge pickup I have the braided wire pulled back and only the active inner wire exposed. When I put my multimeter onto continuity for grounding, I get the beep, as though I am touching two groundings whereas I am not. I should get NO beep.

So after all this, to me, this explains my first post, that my bridge pickup is not working, but how can this problem be happening,..?

I'll do a couple of pics tomorrow, but any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Paul, Australia
 
Re: Seymour Duncan PickUp not working

Zero ohm between inner wire (hot) and outer braided (ground) means a short. Infinite ohm or very high means brocken or bad connection. I suggest to solder off the bridge wire, make there is no connection between inner and outer and measure again. It should show 8.1 KiloOhms.
 
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Re: Seymour Duncan PickUp not working

Hi Hamerfan, do you mean to run some solder around the outer braid, to ensure it is like a solid? (and no chance of any of it touching the inner hot)

Thanks, Paul
 
Re: Seymour Duncan PickUp not working

Hi all, I just took a pic of my wiring problem. I didn't solder off the braided wire (yet). I couldn't see there is any connection between that and the inner wire. The wire I am talking about is the lead that is hanging loose and not soldered to anything. Tested it all again this morning, still getting a ground beep when I touch the braided wire and the inner active wire. Testing the pickup I am getting a zero reading,.?

Not really fussed about pulling this pickup apart, it is brand new.

Any more suggestions

Paul, Australia
 

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