Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: Shortie87 on December 19, 2013, 04:04:51 PM

Title: Neck pickup not working correctly
Post by: Shortie87 on December 19, 2013, 04:04:51 PM
Hi guys, hoping someone can help as this is a new one on me...

I've got an Ibanez rg 1451 which I've installed a set of nailbomb and an Irish tour in a couple of months ago.  All has been fine since then, and they sound great, up until about 5 minutes ago...

I've just switched to the neck pickup and it has basically no output. You can just about hear something, but barely. All the other positions on the 5-way work fine.

The guitar hasn't been apart, just played, and it worked great about an hour ago...

Any ideas?
Title: Re: Neck pickup not working correctly
Post by: Skilpad on December 19, 2013, 07:53:07 PM
Dead switch maybe?
You shall test that every contact is ok (in particular for the switch: check that contacts are done when (and only when) required).

When you are using both PUs, does both work? Or only the bridge one?
Title: Re: Neck pickup not working correctly
Post by: Dave Sloven on December 19, 2013, 09:39:16 PM
bad solder joint?
Title: Re: Neck pickup not working correctly
Post by: Shortie87 on December 19, 2013, 10:32:43 PM
Skilpad - if I put it in the split position (neck and middle) it seems to work ok, and sounds as expected.

Agent Orange - I wouldn't have thought so, as they've not been in long, and I soldered all the joints myself, so they should be decent at least. I was planning on taking them out and wiring in some coil taps anyways, so I guess this will come to light then, just wanted to check it wasn't the possibility of being the pickup itself?
Title: Re: Neck pickup not working correctly
Post by: Dave Sloven on December 19, 2013, 10:55:28 PM
The most likely culprit is a faulty switch.  I know I had problems with the toggle switch on my Explorer a few months after installing the Warpigs, possibly aggravated by the fact that the switch had been out, moved around, etc
Title: Re: Neck pickup not working correctly
Post by: Shortie87 on December 19, 2013, 10:57:10 PM
That wouldn't surprise me, I'm still using the cheap, stock Ibanez switch. I have a vlx91 here that I'll need to put in when I'm rewiring for the coil taps, so we shall see I suppose!
Title: Re: Neck pickup not working correctly
Post by: Dave Sloven on December 20, 2013, 12:33:06 AM
Yeah I had the cheap Epiphone toggle.  Replaced it with Switchcraft.
Title: Re: Neck pickup not working correctly
Post by: metale on December 20, 2013, 07:50:44 AM
Quote from: Agent Orange on December 20, 2013, 12:33:06 AM
Yeah I had the cheap Epiphone toggle.  Replaced it with Switchcraft.

MIK Epiphone? In my experience, Korean Epis had worse electronics (especially switches) but better fit and finish than current Chinese ones.
Title: Re: Neck pickup not working correctly
Post by: Dave Sloven on December 20, 2013, 08:58:16 AM
Quote from: metale on December 20, 2013, 07:50:44 AM
Quote from: Agent Orange on December 20, 2013, 12:33:06 AM
Yeah I had the cheap Epiphone toggle.  Replaced it with Switchcraft.

MIK Epiphone? In my experience, Korean Epis had worse electronics (especially switches) but better fit and finish than current Chinese ones.

Yes, it's one of the last MIK Explorers (2006). The finish etc is good but the electricals have been completely replaced by Mojotone CTS, Switchcraft, and Bare Knuckle components, with a custom made fully-shielded harness and fully-shielded cavities and pickguard.
Title: Re: Neck pickup not working correctly
Post by: darkbluemurder on December 20, 2013, 11:58:53 AM
Indeed this sounds (no pun intended) like a faulty switch.

Cheers Stephan