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Dead poles on pickup

Discussion in 'Pickups & Electronics [BG]' started by mrjay, Nov 21, 2005.

  1. Nov 21, 2005 #1
    mrjay

    mrjay

    Feb 1, 2005
    I seem to have a few dead poles on my neck pickup (02 American Fender Deluxe Jazz). At first I noticed less volume from the E and A string compared to D and G when using only the neck pickup. I tried adjusting the angle of the pickup to compensate but even with the pickup as high as it can go on the D and G there was still a noticable difference. Then while I was adjusting the screws I taped the pickup with the screw driver on the pole by the G string and it was very clear. I tapped (gently) each pole only to notice that both poles for the G string were fine. One of the poles on the D strings was not as loud and one of the poles for the A and E strings were completely dead (and the working pole not as loud either).
    I did the same test on the bridge pickup and it is fine for all poles.

    This bass is not that old and I take good care of it. Has anyone ever heard of this kind of thing?
     
  2. Nov 21, 2005 #2
    PilbaraBass

    PilbaraBass

    Jul 19, 2004
    Gladstone, QLD, Australia
    tapping with a screw driver won't necessarily indicate a dead pole...volume level is the only thing that you can realiably go by...you said that you thought that your bridge pickup was ok...if you solo this, are all the strings at equal volume? if so, you can probably rule out the strings...but you need to properly rule them out first.
     
  3. Nov 22, 2005 #3
    mrjay

    mrjay

    Feb 1, 2005
    Yes if I solo the bridge pickup the strings are all at the same volume.
     
  4. Nov 23, 2005 #4
    PilbaraBass

    PilbaraBass

    Jul 19, 2004
    Gladstone, QLD, Australia
    well, the strings are ruled out...and you've already attempted height adjustment...I'd say you're right and you do have a problem with the poles...only solution I know is to replace the pickup...

    I don't know why this could happen...if the pickup is a standard single-coil jazz pickup then it would HAVE to be the pole pieces being demagnetized...if the pickup is a split-wound jazz pickup, then it could be that the EA winding is somehow broken...

    at any rate, the problem is indeed strange