Gretch Dynasonic neck pup technical question please.

[rockaddict]

Hi, the dynasonic neck pickup on my Duo Jet 6128TSP was sounding dull with no top end. I tried to measure it on the multimeter via the jack and it wouldn't give me a read out at all.
I pulled it out of the guitar and measured it directly (red and white wires) and still no read out.
This had me baffled because it is actually was working.

Someone I know who knows a bit about pickups  noticed bit of fine steel wool on it.(this would have happened whilst polishing my frets) Is it possible some of it got inside and shorted the pup??
Would the pup still work if the steel wool caused a problem?
Thanks.

[AndyR]

Hi, welcome to the forum :D

I suspect this really ought to be in the Tech forum - the Pickups forum is usually for "about BKP pickups", so be warned it might get moved by the moderator man :D

But to answer your question - I would have thought it is very possible steel wool can cause a short if it gets inside. It's always best to get the pups out of the way before putting steel wool anywhere near the guitar...

If it has got in there, it'll be a pig to get it away from the magnets.

The "getting sound but no multimeter reading" sounds weird, but I'm not an expert user of multimeters and what the readings mean...

[badgermark]

Did you unsolder the pickups from the guitar? I'm sure having it in a circuit will mess up the reading. Also check the wiring path, I know some Gretch's come with tone pots all over the place. one of our members (Ratrod) is a big Gretch fan, he might be able to help out.

[rockaddict]

Thank you for the welcome.If this needs to be in the Tech forum I'll move it.
Yes the pickup was removed from the guitar and still no reading at all.
This is the thing that's puzzling me.
Most 'techs' I have phoned about it just want to rewire it and charge me $100 bucks.
I'm not a tech but would have though if there's no reading there wouldn't be a sound..
I can definitely say I'm measuring it correctly.

[AndyR]

I'm not sure we can move threads ourselves? - but the mods seem to do it when it's obvious it should be elsewhere (and leave a marker thread so you can get to it).

I half expected "Most 'techs' I have phoned about it just want to rewire it and charge me $100 bucks." - if it has ended up with something shorting it, then that's possibly the quickest solution I'd guess. But you don't know for sure that it's the pickup yet. Seeing as it's unsoldered, why not try soldering it straight to the jack, bypassing the controls and see how that sounds - that would possibly tell you if it's the pup that's dull itself, or part of the wiring has developed an issue instead?

I can't help on the meter-reading bit though (I have friends to call on if I need that doing myself!!)

[Ratrod]

Not shure what's going on. Is the multimeter OK? Did you measure another pickup? It sounds strange you don't get a reading while it does produce sound.

[rockaddict]

Yep the meter is working fine.The other pickup reads around 7k.
Strange indeed ...

[WezV]

very strange, my initial guess was theat you were using the meter incorrectly so i was going to suggest reading another pickup but you have already done that.   

you need to check if the pickups is still working.  if putting it back in the guitar is too much hassle then just wire it straight to a jack socket out side of the guitar - tap on it to see if its working or even hold it over the guitar (though not over another pickup)

my guess is that it had an issue before - but that it has got worse since being removed and handled.

i use steel wool to polish frets but i am very carefull about those little bits of mess.  I tape over the pickups first and clean the guitar thoroughly before removing the tape - alternatively just use synthetic wire wool.  It is possible a small bit of the wool is shorting the pickup.. it depends on the construction of the pickup but build up around where the lead wires connect is a good place to start looking for faults

[rockaddict]

I'll give it a shot.What about giving it a blast with an air compressor?
Thanks.

[rockaddict]

Hooked it up to a jack and like before it still worked but just no top end.I cleaned the bits of steel wool off with a tooth brush.
The dynasonics are well sealed. I'm beginning to doubt the bits of steel wool have anything to do with it and that the pickup may have been faulty  when I bought the guitar a few years ago as I was never really happy with the sound with both pups on,but I mainly used the back pup and didn't know anything about basics like measuring the impedance.
Still curious about the 0 reading though ...

[Ratrod]

Strange, maybe they are faulty. The bridge pickup should measure around 8K. Is the guitar still under warranty? If so contact Joe Garducci at FMIC.

If you were planning on changing the pickups anyway, I would suggest you have them rewound and rewired by Tim. Having them rewound to 9.5K for the bridge and 9K for the neck gets you close to the original tone of the fifties (DeArmonds). If you want more bite you could go as far 12K, hell some have been wound up to 15K.

If you think they're fine but just dull, adjust the polepieces and/or make a riser for the pickups.

[rockaddict]

Yeah that neck pickup is gone.I had adjusted the pole pieces but it hadn't made any diferrence.
I didn't no the original dearmonds measured that high.
Who's Tim by the way?
Thanks.

[HTH AMPS]

Who's Tim by the way?

Tim is Mr BKP, the guv'nor, the big cheese, the guy that winds the pickups, the guy that owns/started the company.

[Ratrod]

The old DeArmonds were all over the place with their DC readings. They varied between 8K and 12K. When Gretsch re-issued them they modeled the Dyna's after the lower spec-ed DeArmonds. Probably to keep the feedback to a minimum on the hollow bodies and maybe because it's more cost effective. Recently a lot of fifties Gretsches have been measured, among those were Brian Setzer's and Billy Zoom's Silver Jets. Most of them measure 9.5K and 10.5K at the bridge and slighlty lower on the neck.

[rockaddict]

Ratrod,what do you think of the Seymour Duncan dynasonics?
Thanks.