4 String MFD Problem

[gareth]

I just love my L1500, but I recently had a guitar tech check it over and he said only half of the pickup is working.

I thought there may be a problem as the series/parallel switch does'nt work in one of the positions.

So can I have it rewound?

Would it be better to get a new pup?

Is it possible to get a used pup - I think they use the same pup for the L2000 and the tribute 4 string models.

Anyone know where I could get a used pup?

[Ken Baker]

I just love my L1500, but I recently had a guitar tech check it over and he said only half of the pickup is working.

Is this tech familiar with G&L basses? Because G&Ls are relatively scarce in the UK, I'd bet not.

I thought there may be a problem as the series/parallel switch does'nt work in one of the positions.

That would be series mode not working. The switch is the first place I would look. While not unheard of, it is REALLY uncommon for these pickups to fail. Failure of the switch is MUCH more common because there's a human banging on it.

The only way to know that one coil of the pickup has failed would be to disconnect it from the series/parallel switch and check the DC resistance of each coil. They should be essentially equal. If they are equal, the problem is the series/parallel switch. If they're notably different in value,then one coil may be bad. This is a fair amount of work to do, but it's the only way to be really sure where the problem is.

So can I have it rewound?

You could, or a qualified person might be able to repair it. Depends on the problem, assuming that the pickup has failed, and I wouldn't make that conclusion based on the information you've given us.

Would it be better to get a new pup?

Possibly.

Is it possible to get a used pup - I think they use the same pup for the L2000 and the tribute 4 string models.

They are the same. Hawk eBay.

Ken...

[foolshark]

I had this same problem a year ago. I sent my pickup to a well known Australian luthier (Jeff Mallia) who diagnosed the problem as the coil wire breaking from the solder point on the base of the pickup (if that makes sense). He fixed it and wax potted it at the same time for me for what I remember being a very small price.

I disconnected the pickup and took some resistance readings at both the end of the pickup leads and the solder joints on the pickup - I was getting nothing. I thought it might be a coil wire breakage or the like, but luckily it wasn't.

[i_g55]

The same thing happened to my L2500 today. I found out that only one coil was working on the bridge pickup. The other coil seemed to have so low output that the series and the parallel modes sounded the same and were actually single-coil. The problem appeared two days after I made the "series mode humbucking mod #2" by DavePlaysBass. So I opened it up, disconnected the bridge pickup OMG cap and resoldered it. Now it's OK. It was a poor solder job, I suppose. My bad...