SBMM Stingray Short scale

[koppinjo]

Most definitely something wrong with the pickup. Since you have it desoldered, I would check resistance between different combinations of wires. I.e., black and green, red and white, etc. You should contact Sterling customer service and ask if they can send you another pickup or assist you in trouble shooting.

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Thanks for the info! I sent them an email and they're going to see what they can do at least in assisting with a diagnosis. My new $17 pickup should be here Monday or Tuesday next week so I'm going to do some tinkering with it then but for now, I think the bass will have to just sit sadly in the corner and think about its future.

 

[TheBass]

Alright, I de-soldered the pickup and here are the readings I got (please beware, I am handy but measurements of electricity/power/current/amperage/etc. is something that has always been difficult for me to fully grasp).

Total Pickup Resistance (series?):
- I twisted Red & White together then put the probes on Black & Green
- I measured 1.0 M Ohms (I have it set to 'auto' for the range, and if I adjust it manually to kOhms nothing registers)

North Coil Resistance:
- No wires twisted with each other, probes on White & Black
- I measured 1.5 M Ohms

South Coil Resistance:
- No wires twisted with each other, probes on Red & Green
- I measured 1.0 M Ohms

Another thing is that once the probes were attached, the resistance would typically start to drop immediately so I'm reporting the initial values that I got. Also, when I was measuring total resistance above I un-twisted the Red & White to see what would happen, and the reading did not change...not sure if this is significant or not.

Readings in MOhm range are definetly not correct. They should be in the kOhm range similar to the measurements with your JB pickup. If your measurements are correct your pickup might have a broken coil winding and need to be replaced.

 

[koppinjo]

Alrighty, the new pickup just arrived and the readings I'm getting now are:

Total Pickup Resistance (series?):
- I twisted Red & White together then put the probes on Black & Green
- 12.1 kOhms

North Coil Resistance:
- No wires twisted with each other, probes on White & Black
- 6.06 kOhms

South Coil Resistance:
- No wires twisted with each other, probes on Red & Green
- 6.04 kOhms

These readings obviously look much more sane and I'm still waiting to hear back from Sterling on whether they can help in any way (not holding my breath honestly - based off of the limited feedback I've read about their customer support).

I'm going to get the pickup wired in hopefully late tonight and will post back here with the results!

 

[koppinjo]

Okay more updates:

I wired the pickup back in as it was stock, and the same issue is present with the selector in the middle position. I also did some more analysis work on the stock and new pickups and here is what I was able to determine (following the guide at the 4:23 mark of this video: (156) How to wire a series/parallel switch for humbucker pickups (guitar hack #2) - YouTube):

Stock Pickup (Unable to find any diagram that corresponds to this configuration):
North Coil Start: Green
North Coil Finish: Black
South Coil Start: White
South Coil Finish: Red

New Pickup (Correlates to Seymour Duncan):
North Coil Start: Green
North Coil Finish: Red
South Coil Start: Black
South Coil Finish: White

I also found another diagnostic step that maybe somebody can help me understand...It involves measuring resistance when one lead of the multimeter is connected to the bare/ground wire of the pickup:

On the stock pickup, the multimeter registered resistance readings as follows:
Black: 2.35 kOhms
Green: 0.0 Ohms
Red: ~0.9 MOhms
White: ~0.9 MOhms

On the new pickup, I performed the same test and got the "open circuit" or "no reading" result for all wires...nothing registered on the multimeter, just as if neither lead was connected to anything. The video that I got this test from used the terminology "hard-wired to earth (ground)" but I'm not sure how that would affect things.

SBMM customer support got back to me and said that it could be the rotary switch but I'm not sure how to test that, so I sent them a photo of the stock wiring before I de-soldered the stock pickup and am waiting to hear back.

 

[Djadja]

For anyone looking, Musician's Friend has a sale right now on the sunburst model and has a few scratch and dents at silly prices.

 

[soflbass]

Okay more updates:

I wired the pickup back in as it was stock, and the same issue is present with the selector in the middle position. I also did some more analysis work on the stock and new pickups and here is what I was able to determine (following the guide at the 4:23 mark of this video: (156) How to wire a series/parallel switch for humbucker pickups (guitar hack #2) - YouTube):

Stock Pickup (Unable to find any diagram that corresponds to this configuration):
North Coil Start: Green
North Coil Finish: Black
South Coil Start: White
South Coil Finish: Red

New Pickup (Correlates to Seymour Duncan):
North Coil Start: Green
North Coil Finish: Red
South Coil Start: Black
South Coil Finish: White

I also found another diagnostic step that maybe somebody can help me understand...It involves measuring resistance when one lead of the multimeter is connected to the bare/ground wire of the pickup:

On the stock pickup, the multimeter registered resistance readings as follows:
Black: 2.35 kOhms
Green: 0.0 Ohms
Red: ~0.9 MOhms
White: ~0.9 MOhms

On the new pickup, I performed the same test and got the "open circuit" or "no reading" result for all wires...nothing registered on the multimeter, just as if neither lead was connected to anything. The video that I got this test from used the terminology "hard-wired to earth (ground)" but I'm not sure how that would affect things.

SBMM customer support got back to me and said that it could be the rotary switch but I'm not sure how to test that, so I sent them a photo of the stock wiring before I de-soldered the stock pickup and am waiting to hear back.

In order for a meter to measure the resistance, one must have a complete circuit. I'm not sure how you're measuring the resistance values that you posted, but everything should be measured using a complete circuit. Therefore, something in the circuit you're measuring is incomplete.

 

[koppinjo]

In order for a meter to measure the resistance, one must have a complete circuit. I'm not sure how you're measuring the resistance values that you posted, but everything should be measured using a complete circuit. Therefore, something in the circuit you're measuring is incomplete.

The resistance measurements listed this time were with the multimeter's common wire clipped to the bare/ground wire on the stock pickup. I then touched the other lead from the multimeter to each of the other wires from the pickup and recorded the reading. Again, on the new pickup this exercise yields no readings on the multimeter which means that the ground wire is into some funny business with the stock pickup...I just don't know what to do with the results.

 

[TheBass]

Okay more updates:

I wired the pickup back in as it was stock, and the same issue is present with the selector in the middle position. I also did some more analysis work on the stock and new pickups and here is what I was able to determine (following the guide at the 4:23 mark of this video: (156) How to wire a series/parallel switch for humbucker pickups (guitar hack #2) - YouTube):

Stock Pickup (Unable to find any diagram that corresponds to this configuration):
North Coil Start: Green
North Coil Finish: Black
South Coil Start: White
South Coil Finish: Red

New Pickup (Correlates to Seymour Duncan):
North Coil Start: Green
North Coil Finish: Red
South Coil Start: Black
South Coil Finish: White

I also found another diagnostic step that maybe somebody can help me understand...It involves measuring resistance when one lead of the multimeter is connected to the bare/ground wire of the pickup:

On the stock pickup, the multimeter registered resistance readings as follows:
Black: 2.35 kOhms
Green: 0.0 Ohms
Red: ~0.9 MOhms
White: ~0.9 MOhms

On the new pickup, I performed the same test and got the "open circuit" or "no reading" result for all wires...nothing registered on the multimeter, just as if neither lead was connected to anything. The video that I got this test from used the terminology "hard-wired to earth (ground)" but I'm not sure how that would affect things.

SBMM customer support got back to me and said that it could be the rotary switch but I'm not sure how to test that, so I sent them a photo of the stock wiring before I de-soldered the stock pickup and am waiting to hear back.

I recommend to contact a technician nearby.

 

[soflbass]

The resistance measurements listed this time were with the multimeter's common wire clipped to the bare/ground wire on the stock pickup. I then touched the other lead from the multimeter to each of the other wires from the pickup and recorded the reading. Again, on the new pickup this exercise yields no readings on the multimeter which means that the ground wire is into some funny business with the stock pickup...I just don't know what to do with the results.

The bare wire is just a shield. It's not referenced to ground. Measuring to the shield will not yield any meaningful values.

 

[koppinjo]

The bare wire is just a shield. It's not referenced to ground. Measuring to the shield will not yield any meaningful values.

Okay, so it isn't significant that I get actual readings doing this with one pickup, but not with the other?

 

[soflbass]

Okay, so it isn't significant that I get actual readings doing this with one pickup, but not with the other?

Read the front coil resistance and then the back coil resistance. Using insulated wires. Try both pickups.

 

[soflbass]

Okay, so it isn't significant that I get actual readings doing this with one pickup, but not with the other?

Take a look at this guide:
Guitar Shop 101: Five Ways to Use a Digital Multimeter

 

[dralionux]

Okay, so it isn't significant that I get actual readings doing this with one pickup, but not with the other?

 

[soflbass]

Below is a picture of the bottom of my Ernie Ball short scale Stingray pickup. If you look closely you can see strips of foil tape on the edges that wrap up along the sides of the coils. Those strips are connected to the bare shielding wire. It is possible that when manufactured the foil may have come in contact with a coil wire. That would be a defect and may explain why you're getting readings when measuring against the bare wire.

 

[soflbass]

Further info for you related to the 3 way switch. It's a 4 pole 3 way switch.

Also below is the switch wiring diagram.

You can check the switch using the meter. Hope this helps.

 

[keto]

My daughter brought over a big pile of stickers, I stole one.

 

[koppinjo]

Below is a picture of the bottom of my Ernie Ball short scale Stingray pickup. If you look closely you can see strips of foil tape on the edges that wrap up along the sides of the coils. Those strips are connected to the bare shielding wire. It is possible that when manufactured the foil may have come in contact with a coil wire. That would be a defect and may explain why you're getting readings when measuring against the bare wire.
View attachment 4905015

Here is the stock pickup - the shielding wire and the green wire are soldered together…

 

[soflbass]

Here is the stock pickup - the shielding wire and the green wire are soldered together…
View attachment 4907807

Wow, that's totally different than the EBMM pickup. The green wire should be connected to the coil wiring, not the shielding. ?? Have you sent that info to SBMM?

 

[soflbass]

If I have an opportunity over the next few days, I will flip the pickup on my Sterling and see what it looks like.

 

[koppinjo]

Wow, that's totally different than the EBMM pickup. The green wire should be connected to the coil wiring, not the shielding. ?? Have you sent that info to SBMM?

I have been in touch with them and the said that they thought it was the 3-way switch so they're going to send me a replacement but I'm not sure if they're sending a new pickup too. I'm going to sent them that photo that I took this morning and see what they have to say about it.