Confused....not even sure it I have a problem

[MDV]

I just cracked open my jackson to stick a new cap in. Just for kicks I thought I'd test the DC resistance of the warpig in it, and see if theres a difference wired up to unconnected, geeky pointless things like that. Well, first off its working. It that it makes a noise through an amp. Just to set that straight. But when I disconneted it to test it I get a flash of resistance of about 17k for half a second or so and then 0. I tested a load of other pickups I have in a box and I get a steady signal of within 1k of the advertised DC.

Whats going on? It does work, and it sounds slightly higher gain than my miracle man (as you'd expect), but less than my kent armstrong distortion and EMG81.

Unfortunately I dont know what the DC was when I got it, nor do I know if DC resistance even can change with time. I dont see how either. It still sounds pretty high gain, I dont think its changed in that respect (its always had noticably but not much less gain than my EMG81, for reference, I dunno about the KA, I just got it).

Why does it give a signal wired up but nothing more than half a second of a reading through a multimeter, and 6k lower than its meant to be?

Mainly I'm confused as to why it refuses to be read in a multimeter.

Does anyone know whats going on here?

Much thanks for any help.

[Steve-Mr Pig 2U]

Make shure none of the wires are touching each other and the green and white are twisted together. You should get a reading of about 22K at room temperature; DC resistance is temperature sensitive so if it’s cold that could explain the low reading.

[HJM]

To get a proper reading disconnect the warpig so that the rest of the controls don't interfere with your reading!

[MDV]

No other wires are touching any other wires, and the green and white are soldered together and wrapped in heat shrink, and they have been for a few months. Its not what you would call toasty warm in here but its not cold.

Does the gain level sound normal to you? A shade more than MM (which I clock in at 18k) and a shade lower than the 81 (N/A) and KA distortion (18.7)?

[MDV]

No other wires are touching any other wires, and the green and white are soldered together and wrapped in heat shrink, and they have been for a few months. Its not what you would call toasty warm in here but its not cold.

Does the gain level sound normal to you? A shade more than MM (which I clock in at 18k) and a shade lower than the 81 (N/A) and KA distortion (18.7)?

I did!!!

Edit: Sorry, meant to quote Hayden there!

[HJM]

Are you holding the pickup wires to the probes on the meter using your fingers ?? If you do you're putting your skin resistance in series with the pickup!

[MDV]

Ah! Yes I am. but I do that with all of them and they all still give ball park normal readings.

When testing it connected it does the same thing, but comes up as 16ish k before going to infinite. Not toughing the contacts with my fingers.

I cut the wires back slightly in case they had broken near the join and re-tinned them: same thing.

[MDV]

Problem sorted! Or never existed. Or something like that. I think you were right hayden, I attached the probes with some croc clips and get a round 23.0 now.

Theres always more mistakes waiting for you to learn from!

Thanks for the help!

[capitaine_banane]

Hello,  how do you mesure the DC of a pickup with a multimeter? with wich wire of the pickup?

thanks