Two bridge pickups DEAD help

[Smokeythebear]

So I have a Gibson I just put a Duncan distortion and a 59 in my goldtop and the neck works fine but the bridge is pooched there’s a tiny signal that will disappear if I turn down the tone or the volume ! I had this problem happen last week with my prs as well the bridge pickup which is just stock ! Any ideas ?!? Seems crazy and I can’t explain it I looked at the control cavity in the prs and no loose connections haven’t checked the switch or pickups yet …. The Gibson had the pickups installed by my tech and he said they were both working and I brought it home and the bridge was not working !

 

[Mincer]

Hard to know without pictures, but I will say if you paid to have them installed and they aren't working when you get home from the tech, it is time for you to tell the tech so they have a chance to make it right.

 

[beaubrummels]

"Loose" connections isn't the only indicator of how this happens. Bad/incomplete connections under solder that 'looks' good will cause this. Another possible cause could be damage to the pickup coils; either corrosion of the coil wire/insulation, or other chemical/temperature damage to the wire insulation somewhere. But the latter is very rare and unusual, and would likely only happen on a daily player guitar that's been gigged for decades. The only other possibility in my experience is the hot wire coming in partial contact with a ground wire or ground plane.

 

[Smokeythebear]

Well one of them had pickups installed the other one has stock prs pickups that haven’t been messed with at all … same problem two different guitars … there’s no way a piece of my gear would be ruining my bridge pickups only ??? lol right??? And yes I can take pics of everything when I’m home from work thank you for replies !

 

[freefrog]

What DCR readings do you obtain from the output jack for each pickup (all pots full up)?

 

[jeremy]

right. get a dcr reading for starters if you have a meter. i cant imagine a piece of gear only messing with the bridge pup. it could be something is grounding out due to a pot turning or something like that

 

[ehdwuld]

I'm thinking grounding too

My Green Gibson did this when I first got tit
the ground wire on the switch was pulled tight across the hot leads
and shorted on the neck pickup occasionally

when I rewired it for the Duncans, I gave it more slack
and some tape across the top

 

[Smokeythebear]

So my tech resolved the issue on both of the guitars it was the same deal :
“Single conductor wire shifting around and being prone to fraying , touching things it shouldn't basically” easy fix all is good there isn’t a piece of gear frying bridge humbuckers at my house hahah THANK YOU ALL THIS FORUM ALWAYS ROCKS VERY HELPFUL ! Guitars are working great ! Gibson lp has the Duncan distortion in the bridge and the 59 in the neck

 

[Mincer]

Awesome! Happy you are back to rockin'!

Most wiring issues like this are pretty easy to diagnose, and we all started at some point not knowing how to do this, and gradually gaining some useful knowledge here so we didn't have to depend on a tech as much.