Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Tech => Topic started by: Njhux on May 16, 2008, 11:25:03 AM

Title: Possible faulty pickup....or confused tech? Advice needed!
Post by: Njhux on May 16, 2008, 11:25:03 AM

I very recently got a new p-90 pickup for my Les Paul Jr.  I took it to my local guitar tech to get fitted and he's called to say that the pickup is "distinctly unhealthy" i.e. he believes it doesn't work and has had to put the original pickup back in.

I'd be very surprised if the pickup is unhealthy.  

As you can tell from the fact that I got a tech to fit it, I'm new to replacing pickups etc.  I was just wondering if there are other possible explanations for the pickup behaving badly that I should explore (perhaps with a different tech)? Are there any possible mistakes he could've made that could create these results which I should check before returning the pickup?

To give more info, the pickup is replacing a humbucking p-100 (different wiring style?) and the pots on the guitar are Epiphone stock.

Any help is really appreciated.  Thanks

Title: Possible faulty pickup....or confused tech? Advice needed!
Post by: WezV on May 16, 2008, 11:32:41 AM

really hard to say without the pickup in hand but i would expect a better diagnosis from the tech.

Is it completely dead or is it doing something else???

Title: Possible faulty pickup....or confused tech? Advice needed!
Post by: Njhux on May 16, 2008, 11:44:59 AM

After further discussions with him, he's diagnosed the following:

The pickup isn't picking up certain strings at all.  It seems to have a really low output and the magnet is really weak.

All seems strange...have the Royal Mail been storing it next to an industrial magnet or something?!

Doesn't sound like it could be a mistake on the tech's part - but equally sounds very strange...

Title: Possible faulty pickup....or confused tech? Advice needed!
Post by: WezV on May 16, 2008, 11:52:21 AM

return the pickup then and get one that does work

if i was the tech i would be checking it with a multimeter and possibly even wiring directly to the output jack  - lets assume he has done all that already though

Title: Possible faulty pickup....or confused tech? Advice needed!
Post by: Njhux on May 16, 2008, 12:06:11 PM

I guess that's my only option.  Oh well.

It's from a very reputable manufacturer and I'm sure it was checked before being posted.  I'm surprised that a brand new pickup can not work, is it easy for them to get damaged in the post?

Title: Possible faulty pickup....or confused tech? Advice needed!
Post by: WezV on May 16, 2008, 12:13:46 PM

it can happen with anything,  judge a company by how well it deals with problems rather than if it ever has them - because all have them at some point

Title: Possible faulty pickup....or confused tech? Advice needed!
Post by: Njhux on May 16, 2008, 12:14:44 PM

Wise words indeed.

Thanks a lot for your help.

EDIT:

And further to that, I think the company is dealing with it fantastically well.

I get to have the excitement of waiting to get a new pick up all over again too.