Very Low Output on P-style Pickup

[Atshen]

I recently put together a Franken-P-bass with an old Godin P-pickup. The sound is good, but it is very quiet. Where I usually turn my amp's volume to around 10 o'clock with my Fender P, I have to turn it almost all the way up with the new one. What's up with that? Bad pickup? Bad pots? Bad wiring? Or maybe a short?

Thanks for helping!

 

[Will_White]

If you have a multimeter you can see what the DCR of the pickup to check if it's bad, then if it's good you can wire the pickup straight to a jack and see if it makes a difference in output, if it does something's wrong with your wiring, if it doesn't, you just have a low output pickup.

 

[Atshen]

I will take it apart to investigate when I have some time. I was just checking if there was an obvious answer. Thanks!

 

[Laurent]

Sounds like bad soldering or bad wiring as will white mentioned.

 

[Atshen]

Bad soldering is definitely a possibility! I'm far from an expert with a soldering gun...

I will come back to this thread as soon as I find out. Thank you guys!

 

[Will_White]

Something I just thought of that would mostly rule out the pickup being bad, is that if the output is even across strings, it is probably not a problem with the pickup, and something is amiss with the wiring.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Don't forget to check the height of the pickup. If it's too far away from the strings, it will be weak.

 

[Atshen]

Good points guys.

Will White, the output is even across all strings.

Bruce, the pickup is about as low as on my other Precision, which has normal output. I may try to raise it first, but I doubt it will make a significant change.

It looks like my sloppy solder job is the culprit. Will try to look into that during the weekend. Thanks again everyone!

 

[Yahboy]

Press the last fret, I set my pickup space between string is 3mm.