My guitar seems to have lost it's output!

[Chris]

I'm looking for some help with a really strange problem:

About five years ago I bought a Charvel Art Series guitar.  I was really impressed with it's sound (if not it's construction!)  Anyway, for various reasons it got put into it's case and stored in the loft.  Yesterday I got it back out, and when I plugged it into my amp it seems something is wrong... it has lost a ton of output and sounds brighter and thinner than it used to.  It isn't just a case of my frame of reference changing in the meantime because the difference is so dramatic - I think something is broke or has failed.

What I'm wondering is, could this be caused by some component failing or something?  I wouldn't have thought that much could fail considering it has only one humbucker and one volume control, but is there anything I can check on myself, or should I just take it to a guitar tech?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions anyone might have :-)

[darkbluemurder]

I don't know this guitar but if it has active electronics I would check the battery - it is probably empty after such long storage.

If the guitar does not have active electronics I would check the wiring and reflow the solder joints. If the guitar was stored in a case as you say then it is very unlikely that the pickups are faulty.

Good luck,
Stephan

[Chris]

Thanks Stephan.  It doesn't have active electronics, and it really is just a single passive humbucker and a volume control, so not much to go wrong as far as I'm concerned.  I'm going to try reflowing the solder today and see if that helps.

Thanks,
Chris

[BigB]

Thanks Stephan.  It doesn't have active electronics, and it really is just a single passive humbucker and a volume control, so not much to go wrong as far as I'm concerned.  I'm going to try reflowing the solder today and see if that helps.

I once has a pup dying while the guitar was in its case - but the guitar had been heavily used (and not specially taken care of) before. With one coil shorted, you indeed get a rather "thin, bright and low output" tone - as well as a noticeable hum. While you have it opened, get your multimeter and check the pup's DC resistance, then google for you humbucker's nominal DC resistance.  Check you pot too while you're at it.

[Transcend]

I would try wiring the pickup directly to the output jack.

The pot could have  got destroyed due to condensation or something i dunno im just guessing here

[Chris]

Thanks for the replies guys.  I desoldered the pickup earlier today and tested it with the multimeter - 13.8K, which is pretty much as expected.  I had the idea while I was there to wire the hot directly to the output jack wire as Toe-Knee suggested, and when I plugged it in it sounded great! So I wired it back up to the volume pot and it still sounded great!?  It seems that in desoldering a couple of joints and remaking them the problem was cured.  I guess it was just one of those things.

Anyway, I'm happy now, I've been playing it non-stop since  :)

One thing I did notice, was that the output is ever so slightly greater when the pickup was wired directly to the jack socket - not a big difference, but noticeable.  Is this normal, or does it mean I have a poor quality pot or something?  I was actually considering just leaving the pickup soldered directly to the jack socket permanently  :lol: but I need my volume pot.

[Transcend]

The pot adds resistance which neuters the sound somewhat. I just have all my guitars wired with a on/off directly to the jack as they sound better that way imho

[darkbluemurder]

I was actually considering just leaving the pickup soldered directly to the jack socket permanently  :lol: but I need my volume pot.

You can get closer to "no load" if you fit a pot of a greater value. If it is 250k log, try 500k log. If it is 500k log, try 1 meg log. Keep in mind however that the taper of the larger pot will be slightly different, and that the tone gets duller when you turn down the pot because there is more series resistance in the circuit.

Do you have a treble bypass cap or bypass cap/resistor combination on the volume pot? That could help balancing a large value pot. A good starting point for a 1 meg log pot would be a 150 - 180 pf cap in parallel with a 1 meg resistor.

Cheers Stephan

[Chris]

At the moment the guitar has a 500K pot, but it has no capacitor or resistor in there.  If fitting a 1M pot will get closer to the sound of directly wiring it to the jack when it is at full volume, then I might give that a go.  The only thing I use the volume pot for is to roll it off a little for some rhythms, but it is only a little to take the edge off, and not very often, so a little dullness when playing like that might be a small price to pay for a bit more oomph the other 95% of the time.

Thanks for the info Stephan - I really need to learn more about guitar electronics!

[Cammi]

At the moment the guitar has a 500K pot, but it has no capacitor or resistor in there.  If fitting a 1M pot will get closer to the sound of directly wiring it to the jack when it is at full volume, then I might give that a go.  The only thing I use the volume pot for is to roll it off a little for some rhythms, but it is only a little to take the edge off, and not very often, so a little dullness when playing like that might be a small price to pay for a bit more oomph the other 95% of the time.

Thanks for the info Stephan - I really need to learn more about guitar electronics!

If you have a tone pot in there, with no capacitor: There is your problem lol.

EDIT: Sorry just realised you said you didn't have one. Mabye your pickup wires have been wired wrong, connected to the wrong parts of The Volume Pot. Or even it could be a faulty pot.