Hopeless

[middy]

I finally got a new pickup to replace the dead one in my Highway 1 P bass. And it's dead, too. I think. I'm hopeless with electronics. I tried to measure resistance with a multimeter and didn't get any. I should get some, right, even just touching the wires to the probes? Or do I need alligator clips?

I installed it enough to touch the leads to a instrument cable. I should get some sound, shouldn't I? Besides buzzing.

Can it be something wrong with the bass itself? Shielding paint shorting the pickups somehow? It doesn't seem possible.

I was going to attempt to solder the pickup onto the input jack and test it again, but the tip of my soldering iron won't tin. The solder just beads off, even with flux on it. What's up with that? I've never soldered before, but the tutorials all say to tin the iron tip.

Nothing ever goes right for me with this bass.

[middy]

OK, I sanded the iron tip and managed to get the leads soldered nice and pretty to the jack. Nothing but a faint tone on the E string, the same as the original pickup! This bass is freaking cursed!

I don't have the bridge ground wire soldered to anything, but I should still get sound, right?



I guess Seymour Duncan and Warmoth sent me a bad pickup! What are the freaking chances? It can't be anything but the pickup, right?

[Hawaii Islander]

Do you have the wiring diagram? Which pick up is it, maybe we can look up the diagram online.

Cold solder joints are a common problem that can lead to pickups (or volume pots) not working. The instrument jack connections may also be a problem.

On the soldering iron, make sure you use a damp sponge or a folded wet cloth (or paper towel) and wipe the tip of the soldering iron while it hot to get the oxidation off (it will be very shiney after you wipe it) Note: don't hold the sponge or cloth when wiping the tip clean. Once the tip is clean, tin it with a fresh layer of solder by touching the solder to the tip until a small amout coats the tip. Do this after each joint connection is soldered. A dirty soldering iron tip won't get hot enough to make a good solder joint.

Tin the ends of each wire. Do this by twisting the copper wires until the are wound tightly together. Apply the tip of the soldering iron near the wire casing on exposed wire. Touch the tip of the solder to the opposite end of the exposed wire until the solder flows (it will flow toward the source of heat). Remove the solder and soldering iron tip as soon as the wire is tinned. Do this for any bare wire. Then carefully solder each connection. Be sure that the solder melts an flows on the connection evenly and completely. If it looks like a small ball or blob, then you connection probably won't be any good. Pratice the soldering on some junk wire and/or components. The solder points on the pot and the connectors need to be clean and tinned as well to get a good solder joint.

I'm guessing (educated guess) that a bad solder joint is possibly the problem. Not a bad pick up. Keep us posted.

[middy]

Well, I cleaned and tinned both connections, and the joint looks nice and shiny, so I think I did it right. I'm getting a very faint signal, the same as the original pickup.

The thing is, there is no wiring diagram. I'm connecting the leads straight to the jack.

Could it be a grounding issue? There's a ground screw making a connection with the shielding paint and a lead coming off of it, currently attached to nothing. Also, the bridge ground is currently attached to nothing. I should still get a strong but noisy signal though, right? I get a signal so faint it's ridiculous!

[middy]

Also, shouldn't the pickup read some resistance with a multimeter?

[middy]

I tried the multimeter on my SX jazz pickup leads and get about 4k ohms resistance with the volume and tone wide open. If I cut the volume the resistance goes to 0 (the needle goes all the way to the right).

But, when I try it on the new SPB-1, the needle doesn't budge. It's at infinity ohms which means no continuity, right?

I think it's another bad pickup. Can anyone confirm this?

[dman_113]

If your multimeter has a sensitivity switch make sure its set to K ohms. If there were no continuity you would get no signal.

[GlennW]

Try this if you want:

1) make sure your DMM is set to 20 K Ohms

2) make sure the probes on the DMM are stuck in the right holes on the DMM

3) test both coils separately on the P pickup by holding the probes on the solder blobs where the lead wires are soldered to the bottom of the pickups...you might have to make a few tries because sometimes the potting material acts as as insulator.
CAUTION: there's a little wire about the size of a hair, don't cut it with the probe

4) compare the two readings from 3, they should be about the same.

[middy]

Yeah, it's set kOhms. The needle doesn't budge, it stays at infinity.

[dman_113]

I sounds like you do indeed have a bad pup

[GlennW]

Define infinity.

Are you saying the reading across the coil/s is the same as when you touch the probes together?

[middy]

Wow. OK. This bass is cursed.

On the original pickup, the coil that the ground lead comes out of reads 6 kOhms, the other coil is dead.

The new pickup is exactly the same way!



Maybe I should just sell it sans pickups and quit while I'm ahead.

[middy]

Originally Posted by GlennW

Define infinity.

Are you saying the reading across the coil/s is the same as when you touch the probes together?

No, that would be 0 ohms.

The needle stays all the way to the left, the same as when the probes are only touching air. There's a little infinity symbol there.

[dman_113]

You can send it to me. Ill burn some incense, yell some stuff at it in Latin, and splash it with holy water.

[GlennW]

Ok...there's infinate continuity (0 resistance) as well as infinate resistance, just making sure.
Both pickups have one good coil and one bad coil.

You might be able to fix them. Look very closely at the lead connections on the bad coils, you might be able to see where the hair sized coil wire is broken. If you can see the break you have a chance.

[middy]

Bah. The joints are so messy with spikes and potting and plastic that it's impossible to see. The wire seems to go into the joints without a break, that's all I can tell.

Don't they test these ******* things?

I just sent an email to Warmoth asking for an RMA.

I think I'll just bring the multimeter to Guitar Center and find a good one.

[Hawaii Islander]

Sorry I couldn't respond sooner, we lost power for a while.

Try wiring everything to where it is supposed to go, including the ground. I don't have a wiring diagram in front of me yet. I'll try to get one from the Fender site shortly. I'll post the link when I get it.

It seems to me, if you're hooking up both leads directly to the instrument jack, you are bypassing the volume and tone pots. Maybe I misunderstood what you meant. I'll get the diagram and be right back.

[middy]

Originally Posted by dman_113

You can send it to me. Ill burn some incense, yell some stuff at it in Latin, and splash it with holy water.

I'm pretty close to renting The Exorcist and learning how to do that....

[middy]

Originally Posted by Hawaii Islander

It seems to me, if you're hooking up both leads directly to the instrument jack, you are bypassing the volume and tone pots. Maybe I misunderstood what you meant. I'll get the diagram and be right back.

Yeah, but you don't need volume or tone pots to get signal.

We've pretty much determined it's another bad pickup. No resistance = no inductance = no joy.

Thanks for your help.

[Hawaii Islander]

http://www.fender.com/support/diagra...111300BPg2.pdf

Here is the link to the wiring diagram for the Highway 1 P-bass (upgrade) version. They also have the older highway 1 P-bass wiring diagram.

Go to this link if your's is the older version:

http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/