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1974 P Bass Pickup Repair

dephex

dephex

Feb 16, 2011
72
1
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#1
This weekend, I purchased a 1974 Precision which, aside from the pickguard and brass nut, is all original equipment. I bought it in non-working order, but after glancing at a poorly wired control cavity, decided that it was worth it to try to rehab it. See original thread here:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/1974-p-bass-buy-not-879497/

When I got it home, I hooked the pickup directly to my cable and got a perfect P bass tone out of the pickup. Since my soldering skills aren't that great, I dropped it off at a repair guy's place and asked him to rewire the electronics, keeping everything as original as possible.

However, he calls me this morning at tells me that the pickup is now "testing open", and that he believes that it's damaged in some way, and that it will need to be sent off for repair.

I am a little frustrated, considering I thought this would be an easy fix, but I suppose with anything "vintage" you'll have to deal with similar issues.

I'm going to pick it up in a bit, but I'm looking for recommendations on how to get this bass working. Fralin? I'd like to keep it intact as a "collector's item", but not at the expense of it sounding bad or being unplayable. It needs to be able to handle a gig.
 
#2
dephex said:
This weekend, I purchased a 1974 Precision which, aside from the pickguard and brass nut, is all original equipment. I bought it in non-working order, but after glancing at a poorly wired control cavity, decided that it was worth it to try to rehab it. See original thread here:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/1974-p-bass-buy-not-879497/

When I got it home, I hooked the pickup directly to my cable and got a perfect P bass tone out of the pickup. Since my soldering skills aren't that great, I dropped it off at a repair guy's place and asked him to rewire the electronics, keeping everything as original as possible.

However, he calls me this morning at tells me that the pickup is now "testing open", and that he believes that it's damaged in some way, and that it will need to be sent off for repair.

I am a little frustrated, considering I thought this would be an easy fix, but I suppose with anything "vintage" you'll have to deal with similar issues.

I'm going to pick it up in a bit, but I'm looking for recommendations on how to get this bass working. Fralin? I'd like to keep it intact as a "collector's item", but not at the expense of it sounding bad or being unplayable. It needs to be able to handle a gig.
Click to expand...

it might just need the solder re-flowed at the eyelets. ive had my 64 p bass pickup and some 78 jazz pickups brought back to life by doing this. the seymour duncan custom shop did it both times as i wasnt about to try it.
 
#4
narud said:
it might just need the solder re-flowed at the eyelets.
Click to expand...

This. A repair doesn't necessarily mean a rewind.
Fralin will inspect a pickup for you, do the necessary repairs and charge you accordingly. He prefers repairing whenever possible over rewinding.

I like Fralin's work (and he's a nice guy!), but he's not the only game in town, either. I'm sure any reputable pickup rewinder would do the same.

If your local repair guy is handy with a soldering iron you could have him reflow the eyelets, as Narud suggested, but he should proceed with caustion as pickup magnet wire is fragile.
 
#5
dephex said:
When I got it home, I hooked the pickup directly to my cable and got a perfect P bass tone out of the pickup.

...he calls me this morning at tells me that the pickup is now "testing open", and that he believes that it's damaged in some way, and that it will need to be sent off for repair.
Click to expand...

Those two statements don't jibe.

I'd try re-flowing the eyelets, as already suggested. It's going on 40 years old. That's the only explanation, unless your tech screwed it up.

You could DIY; it's easy.
 
#6
It's possible just moving the PU wires while straightening out the control wiring opened a poor solder joint on the PU especially if the PU wires needed to be trimmed and re-stripped. Been there, freaked out, repaired that. If the control cavity looks neat, the guy may be a good tech but hasn't had to deal with solder joints on PUs. If he can solder well, he can fix it. The key is to be quick.

mech
 
#8
I'll throw Invalid Link Removed in there as well as a place to consider for repairing the pickup. In the meantime just get some cheapo and throw it in there. It'll probably sound pretty good ;)
 

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