Hi,

I've searched the forum and couldn't find anything that could help me. I've done some modifications to a pickup, and I'd like to make sure it works before I put it into a cover and solder everything into the instrument. Do you guys have any good tricks to test pickups without having them wired?

Thanks,
Phil

solder it to a jack, plug a cable into a jack and touch a pole (assuming its exposed poll) with something metal, key screwdriver ect, if it goes pop (dont worry its not a huge amp damaging pop) youre good to go

to be honest you can probably just twist the wires onto the jack dont even have to solder

If you mean testing as in "it's not dead" then just measure the output with a multimeter without even connecting anything. If you've got an output resistance that seems normal for that type of pickup then it'll work.

If you want to check them the way it's posted in the last post above, you can also check the sound of the pickup by sticking it on top of your strings and play a bit with the bass. (sort of in the position the pickup usually is on the bass but on top of the strings, not in the body) It'll make a lot of noise because nothing's shielded but it'll work. You'll hear it allright.

If you mean testing as in "it's not dead" then just measure the output with a multimeter without even connecting anything. If you've got an output resistance that seems normal for that type of pickup then it'll work.

if you've got magnetic pull and you can measure resistance from the ends of the wire, then it'll pretty much work. Now you can't determine how it'll sound from that, but it's a good test without having to solder or wire up anything.

FWIW:

Never had a pup that measured an appropriate DCR not work or one that measured zip work.

I used the multimeter method, and I got a reading of about 5k, which seems kinda low...
Anyhow, as long as it's working. I'm currently making a wooden pickup cover for it, out of ovangkol, purpleheart and cocobolo. It's for a guitar I built for one of my friends last year, it's a 12-string fretless, and he's taking lessons next semester with Dave Fiuczinski (sp?). Obviously, I'm trying to make it look as good as possible :D

I used the multimeter method, and I got a reading of about 5k, which seems kinda low...
Anyhow, as long as it's working. I'm currently making a wooden pickup cover for it, out of ovangkol, purpleheart and cocobolo. It's for a guitar I built for one of my friends last year, it's a 12-string fretless, and he's taking lessons next semester with Dave Fiuczinski (sp?). Obviously, I'm trying to make it look as good as possible :D

nice, please post pics! 5k is fine for guitar singlecoils.

This is what is used to look like:

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/9949/guitboyerky5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

It actually looks pretty much the same right now, except that I'm making a pickup cover, and I'm making an adjustable bridge. As far as specs go...

25" scale
Cocobolo neck through
Purpleheart trimming around the neck and fingerboard
Ebony board with maple and walnut fretlines
African Mahogany wings
Padouk "back" (behind the neckthrough part)
Carvin dual blade humbucker
Padouk knobs!

Looking back, it came out surprisingly nicely! The biggest problems were the light buzzing on the lighter strings, and the weak output from the outmost strings. The modification I made to the pickup it to "widen" it. I dunno if it'll work, but it can't be worse. I'll get some better pics soon hopefully.

the guitar looks very nice. I hope you have a chance to post a sound clip once it's done.

Can you expand a bit more on what 'mods' you made to the pickup?