I just installed a Fender Original P pickup and the E/A side is quiet. It's brand new but has been in stock for several years. The G/D side has strong output but not the other half. Enough to hear and tune using a tuner but a big drop in volume. Using a magnifying glass I saw no breaks. I checked it with my headphone amp flipping the pick guard over and even unscrewed the pickup and held it in my hands tapping lightly with a screwdriver on the magnets. I don't have an ohm meter to measure it. Could it be partly shorting from being in storage for so long? I also reinstalled the old pickup and it works fine. I'll call the dealer monday but till then any advice would be helpful. Thanks in advance.
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P pickup half quiet
- Thread starter 53x39
- Start date
It sounds like the E/A half is shorted. Since the two halfs are in series, a break would kill
the entire pickup, so it is not an open.
It should not short from being in storage, any more than it would short from being in use.
the entire pickup, so it is not an open.
It should not short from being in storage, any more than it would short from being in use.
Not necessarily. Depending on the nature of the break, there can be capacitive coupling between two conductors.
But this sounds like a shorted coil.
Do the magnets on the dead side have as strong a pull as the magnets on the other side? I once accidentally degaussed the E/A side of a new P pickup because I'm an idiot. (Don't even ask me how I did it, just believe me when I say it was stupid.) I regaussed that side with a rare earth magnet, but the volumes between the two sides weren't equal. I ended up replacing the pickup.
Thank you all for your help. I don't see any difference in magnet strength between the two sides. I got it Friday and installed it Saturday so if it got degaussed it happened at another time. With no magic bullet answer it's going back but the G and D strings sounded great so I look forward to getting one in there. Thanks again.
You don't have a multimeter so that you can measure between the two soldering points of the dead PU? Is it 0 or only some Ohms?
That's true.
I would expect the entire pickup to sound pretty thin though, in that case.
Yes, it does sound like the working half is normal.
So I just went to Lowes to get a real meter since the members of Talkbass have been so helpful. None in stock, not one. With the 2 F5 tornados that recently touched down here they must have been all bought up and be out in the field. My bandmate who works for AT&T is doing 12 hr 7 day week work. It's just a pickup afterall.
