Thin sound from humbucker

[Rejected666]

I have a problem with one of the humbuckers in my Ibanez Axstar.
The bridge pickup has a serious hum and a very thin sound (no low end at all). This problem occurs whether they're both connected or just the bridge pickup connected...

What could cause this and can it be repaired or do I need a new humbucker?

[SGD Lutherie]

It sounds like the two coils in the humbucker are wired out of phase with each other. This will give you a very thin tone with no low end and the pickup will no longer hum cancel.

If the pickup has 4-conductor wiring, all you need to do is reverse the two wires on one of the coils. Keep in mind that if you reverse the "wrong" coil, the bridge and neck pickups will be out of phase. If that happens either reverse the other coil, or reverse the polarity on the entire pickup.

[Rejected666]

I opened it up and there are 4 wires:
two black ones connected to each other and two red ones; one to ground and one to the positive wire of the pickup.



What should I change?

[SGD Lutherie]

Disconnect the two black wires from each other, and the red wire going to the white wire.

The swap the red and black wires on that top/left coil, so the black is going to the white and the red is going to the black.

It looks like they might have installed one coil upside down, which caused it to be wound in reverse.

This should fix that. If the two pickups are out-of-phase after you do this, you can swap the red and black wires going to the lead.

[Rejected666]

I switched the wires but the problem remains

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by Rejected666

I switched the wires but the problem remains

That's odd.

I have to think that the pickup must be bad.

[Rejected666]

Originally Posted by SGD Lutherie

That's odd.

I have to think that the pickup must be bad.

Damn
Just to be sure I tested something:
I wired each coil separately to the output and with only the top coil I do have low end, but with only the bottom it gets thin again

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by Rejected666

Damn
Just to be sure I tested something:
I wired each coil separately to the output and with only the top coil I do have low end, but with only the bottom it gets thin again

OK, and swapping the wires around to that doesn't fix it right?

That coil is probably bad.

[Jamie_Funk]

You can almost guarantee a bad coil from your descriptions - sorry.


J

[Rejected666]

Guess I'll start looking for a new pup then

[SGD Lutherie]

As long as the bobbins can be removed from the pickup, it wouldn't be hard to fix. Many pickup makers offer rewinding services.

[Rejected666]

Ok, I'll look in to that. But I'm afraid that were I live there aren't many pickup winders around...