1/4 pounders dead, repairable?

feet_ · #1 10-25-2009, 11:45 AM

Hi,

First just wanna say , i bought my bass with the recommendations of the talkbass forum community.
SX P&J vintage Bass w/ 1/4 pounder pickups. w/ flat wounds

best sound evah..

anyways. last band prac. my 1/4 pnder died.
so last night i took apart my bass.
noticed, when touching the poles the buzzing sound came from the amp, ie. when you touch the guitar cord tip, buzz.

so i know this is a ground issue. i measured the ohms on the high string pickup, approx 5.6 K ohms. (both solder points on the pickup the white and blk wire.)
so i measure the 2nd p/up's solder points. (both black grnd wires) multimeter shows open. so somewhere in the pickup
theres a break.

help these pickups are approx 2 yrs old. bass is played , not abused. i dont really want to shell out another $70 for another set.

thanks in adv.

feet_ · #2 10-25-2009, 11:53 AM

oh ya, all 3 pots are working, confirmed with multimeter.
connected the pickups direct to the jack, bypass all the pots , still a buzzing noise.

bassbump

feet_ · #3 10-26-2009, 11:53 AM

any one?

NortyFiner · #4 10-26-2009, 11:58 AM

Might be best to talk to Seymour about his pickup being broke.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/contact-us/

Personally, I would just buy a replacement, as any repair will probably require more time and/or money than the replacement. But I'm a pessimistic hack, so you may just want to have a guitar tech look at it. YMMV.

J.D.B. · #5 10-26-2009, 06:19 PM

Never mind, Norty's got it!

Josh

jimbilly · #6 10-27-2009, 04:24 PM

If you're not getting an ohm reading chances are one of the tiny wires is broken. I've fixed a couple of pickups, on those the break has been relatively easy to spot, and you can resolder those teeny-tiny wires, it's not super difficult. You have to scrape a little of the coating off the wire so that the solder will stick, and maybe add a single strand of copper wire to connect the break, then use something like 'liquid electrical tape', -it's worth a look in my opinion.

jwymore · #7 10-27-2009, 05:54 PM

If you contact Seymour Duncan they can rewind it for you .... but as mentioned above, you will be without it for a while so unless you have something to stick in the bass temporarily you might want to just go for a new pickup.

feet_ · #8 10-27-2009, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwymore

If you contact Seymour Duncan they can rewind it for you .... but as mentioned above, you will be without it for a while so unless you have something to stick in the bass temporarily you might want to just go for a new pickup.

rewind for free?
asuming i pay for shipping?

feet_ · #9 10-29-2009, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimbilly

If you're not getting an ohm reading chances are one of the tiny wires is broken. I've fixed a couple of pickups, on those the break has been relatively easy to spot, and you can resolder those teeny-tiny wires, it's not super difficult. You have to scrape a little of the coating off the wire so that the solder will stick, and maybe add a single strand of copper wire to connect the break, then use something like 'liquid electrical tape', -it's worth a look in my opinion.

inspected the tiny wires. no break.
unless its buried in the windings.
i pulled a 2" strand off, scraped the waxy residue. and still cant get a ohm reading. is this a special wire that doesn't like multi meters?

jwymore · #10 10-30-2009, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by feet_

rewind for free?
asuming i pay for shipping?

Not for free but I think they are pretty reasonable.

dmusic148 · #11 10-30-2009, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by feet_

i pulled a 2" strand off, scraped the waxy residue. and still cant get a ohm reading. is this a special wire that doesn't like multi meters?

In addition to the potting wax, the wire is insulated with a very thin coating of lacquer. Unless you actually cleaned the lacquer coating off, you'll get no reading.

feet_ · #12 10-30-2009, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmusic148

In addition to the potting wax, the wire is insulated with a very thin coating of lacquer. Unless you actually cleaned the lacquer coating off, you'll get no reading.

thanks
im gonna try to remove the laquer with some light sanding.

SGD Lutherie · #13 10-30-2009, 02:07 PM

Most of the magnet wire used in pickups is SPN, which stands for solderable poly-nylon. The insulation burns off when you solder it.

But some pickup makes use some 400 grit sandpaper to remove the insulation. You can also use a butane lighter or match, but you have to be real quick and just pass the flame under the wire. If you hold there for even a second, it will melt he wire!