What happened to my PICKUP???

T

T.M.A.

New member
hey guys,

Used my westone spectrum st for my modding experimentation guitar for many years. probably wasn;t the smartest thing because that was easily my favorite guitar. Anyway...

Decided to return it to stock just the other day and the bridge pickup just isn't what it used to be. Not defined or as balsy as it used to be. Sounds like it's just 75% weaker even though I measured the output and it's still the same as it's always been... Is it possible that I fried something with all those hours of experimenting and smashing it with a hot soldering iron?? Luckily, I bought another bridge pickup from ebay a while back (someone had parted out a westie st and i bought the bridge pickup). I put that sucker in and it sounds alright, but not like it used to. Actually, I really don't remember how it sounds, so maybe ol' nostalgia is getting the best of me...

Any suggestions? Thoughts? Any way to repair the old pickup? Someone I could send it to perhaps?? How much variation is there in these pickups from one to another anyway? It's really strange. i can't figure out why the output is still the same, but the pickups just sounds so much more wimpy... I am suspecting that one of the coils came disconnected somehow... somewhere... because now that I think of it, there isn't much of a difference in the sound when I coild tap it...

Thanks guys,
 
Re: What happened to my PICKUP???

T.M.A. said:
hey guys,... I am suspecting that one of the coils came disconnected somehow... somewhere... because now that I think of it, there isn't much of a difference in the sound when I coild tap it...
Click to expand...

Actually, now that I think of it... If one of the coils were disconnected wouldn't the pickup only read as half strength all around?? it still reads as normal strength... Hmmm...
 
Re: What happened to my PICKUP???

Maybe the magnet has become degaussed.

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Re: What happened to my PICKUP???

Demanic said:
Maybe the magnet has become degaussed.
Click to expand...

Funny that you should mention that. i was entertaining that though myself just now. Would the pickup still read as having the same output if the magnet has been degaused? i would think that it would be less... but degausing is not the same as demagnetizing, correct?? Someone chime in and explain the differene... plze : ))))
 
Re: What happened to my PICKUP???

Well, the resistance would still measure the same. I don't know how you are measuring output.
Yes degauss means demagnetize.

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Re: What happened to my PICKUP???

Demanic said:
Well, the resistance would still measure the same. I don't know how you are measuring output.
Yes degauss means demagnetize.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Just looked a youtube vid on remagnetizing old pickups. Yup. I think that's what happened to mine. It was sitting in a big bucket with some other pickups for a while. They were all sticking to each other, so maybe that's how it happened... Anyone know how i could remagnetize it or someone I could send it to?? I don't know of anyone around here that could do it...

And yeah, I meant RESISTANCE... HA!
 
Re: What happened to my PICKUP???

I've seen people do it with some Neo magnets: take the magnet out and place it on some strong Neo mags...but I am not sure how long. I am sure someone here has done it.
 
Re: What happened to my PICKUP???

Worse case you can just replace the magnet with a new one of the same type.

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Re: What happened to my PICKUP???

Mincer said:
I've seen people do it with some Neo magnets: take the magnet out and place it on some strong Neo mags...but I am not sure how long. I am sure someone here has done it.
Click to expand...

Saw a vid of a guy on yourtube doing it with neo mags, but he's pretty indescript. One thing he does say though is that you can change the polarity of the mag with this method (i think) as well...
 
Re: What happened to my PICKUP???

Demanic said:
Worse case you can just replace the magnet with a new one of the same type.

That is a very good recommendation actually. Thanks. Would rather get the pickup working without having to take it apart though, but if all else fails. I'll go ahead and give that a shot... You guys rock! Thanks!! Will absolutely let you all know what happens!!
Click to expand...
 
Re: What happened to my PICKUP???

Cool, best of luck to you.

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Re: What happened to my PICKUP???

The two places I know of are AddictionFX and Mojotone.

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Re: What happened to my PICKUP???

OK guys, so I think I figured out what happened. This is cut and pasted from the "how to degauss" thread that I just ressurrected. Big ups to Demanic and golden vulture for getting down on this with me... and Mincer...


The pickup is an old stock humbucker from a Westone Spectrum ST. Love the sound of those...

I think I figured it out. The leads are fine and the magnet is fine as well. I think the main problem was my connection...

I did two things:

1. i pulled the pickup apart and flipped the magenet end over end, so that the N pole was still facing towards the neck (didn't know what that was supposed to do, but whatever...)

2. I am using this ancient (the stock one that came with the guitar that I learned how to solder on...) volume pot that has a humongous, R2D2 sized mountain of solder on it. Before, I just smashed the ground from the pup into this mountain of solder, but just now I decided to disconnect the ground and resolder it to the side of the pot where it was clean and solder free... Everything is coming through clean now and the pickup sounds (I think) how it should...

Thanks again for your time...

T
 
Re: What happened to my PICKUP???

Cool. Cold solder joints suck.

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