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Post subject: Bridge Pickup Stopped Working on USA Strat?
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 4:44 pm
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Hi guys,

I have a pickup/wiring issue with my 1999 USA Stratocaster, and was wondering whether anyone could offer me any advice on how to go about investigating the fault..
The guitar is a 1999 USA Standard which I have owned since new, but has been fitted with Fender Hot Noiseless pickups, and also an S1 system.. I'm no electronics expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm good at soldering, and can follow a simple wiring diagram, and so I fitted these parts without any issues, and they worked perfectly well for years.. I have a number of guitars, and so I'd not played this particular one for a little while, but I recently discovered that the bridge pickup has stopped working. Everything else seems fine, but the bridge pickup is completely dead.
I've tested the resistance of each pickup by plugging in a guitar lead and selecting each one in turn.. everything seems fine, with the neck reading 10.09 ohms, the middle 10.07 ohms, and the bridge at 10.50, but when connected to an amp, there is nothing what so ever from the bridge pickup.
I've checked the wiring, but I can't see anything obvious, and so I was wondering whether anyone might have a suggestion on what I could try next?
I've attached a few pictures in case they are of any use, and any help would be very much appreciated.

Image
Image
Image

Thank you for taking a look

Russ


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Post subject: Re: Bridge Pickup Stopped Working on USA Strat?
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 5:59 pm
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Try reheating and reflowing all of the solder joints -- switch, pots, everything. It's possible that one or more of them has fractured over the years.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: Bridge Pickup Stopped Working on USA Strat?
Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 1:17 am
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Is the bridge pickup silent in both positions of the S1?
Silent alone, silent in bridge/middle position?
Those Q/A's might give hints on where the problem is - my first guesses are the S1, then the 5way switch.


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Post subject: Re: Bridge Pickup Stopped Working on USA Strat?
Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 4:37 am
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Retroverbial wrote:
Try reheating and reflowing all of the solder joints -- switch, pots, everything. It's possible that one or more of them has fractured over the years.


Thank you for the replies guys.. I can give this a try later just in case this might be the problem.

jmattis wrote:
Is the bridge pickup silent in both positions of the S1?
Silent alone, silent in bridge/middle position?
Those Q/A's might give hints on where the problem is - my first guesses are the S1, then the 5way switch.


I just checked this out.. with the S1 switch up (guitar operating as a standard Strat), the bridge pickup is dead with the selector switch in both the 'bridge' and 'bridge/mid' positions.
With the S1 switch engaged.. to be honest, I can't remember which pickups are supposed to be selected in the various positions.. all I remember is that in the 'mid' position, all three pickups should be on together.. anyway, the bridge pickup remains dead throughout all of them.

So regardless of the selector switch position, or the S1 switch position.. the bridge pickup is constantly dead.

Thank you

Russ


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Post subject: Re: Bridge Pickup Stopped Working on USA Strat?
Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 5:25 am
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You could hotwire the bridge pickup straight to a jack to test it - but since it gives a normal DCR-reading, it's likely OK. Try if that resolder job helps. If not, my imaginary wager is on the S1.

Edit: Something's been bugging me subconciously on this the whole day, and just suddenly realized what it was: the small cap on the S1 switch. Check that it's legs ain't broken - and while at it, check other caps, too. A long shot, I know, but worth checking if you don't find a more obvious defect...


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Post subject: Re: Bridge Pickup Stopped Working on USA Strat?
Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2017 10:49 am
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Hey guys, sorry for the slow response.. things got a bit hectic here.

Ok, so I've re-wetted some of the solder joints as suggested.. particularly the ones related to that bridge pickup.. all appeared fine, but I did it anyway, but unfortunately it made no difference.

I also checked the cap on the S1 as suggested by jmattis, that also seems fine.

I then remembered that I'd still got the original pickups from the guitar handy, and so I hooked one up to the terminals which the bridge pickup wires run to on the guitar.. one on the selector switch.. the other to a terminal on the S1.. and to my surprise, the old pickup worked perfectly!

So, although I'm getting the correct DCR reading through the pickup (including the wiring, as I'm testing it from the end of a guitar lead).. the pickup is dead. I'm assuming that this would mean the primary coil is intact.. but is it possible that the secondary coil is broken? If so, would there be a DCR reading through the pickup? Are pickups repairable?

Thanks for any help with this

Russ


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Post subject: Re: Bridge Pickup Stopped Working on USA Strat?
Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2017 11:38 am
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Try jumpering the troubled pickup straight to the jack. (Should have suggested this in my first reply...)


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Post subject: Re: Bridge Pickup Stopped Working on USA Strat?
Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2017 12:30 pm
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jmattis wrote:
Try jumpering the troubled pickup straight to the jack. (Should have suggested this in my first reply...)


Thank you for the reply.. so how exactly do I do this? I need to de-solder the pickup wires, and then attach the de-soldered wires directly to the wires that come from the jack? do I need to de-solder the jack wires first, or are they ok to be left connected?

Russ


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Post subject: Re: Bridge Pickup Stopped Working on USA Strat?
Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2017 12:52 pm
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Hi there you mean Kohms in your measurements right?
Deselect each pickup in turn using the five way and when out of cct measure across the back of the pickup itself.
It is not unheard of to have an intermittent pickup.
From your experimentation it sounds like the bridge is dud. :D


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Post subject: Re: Bridge Pickup Stopped Working on USA Strat?
Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2017 1:52 pm
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Hi guys,

I've run through some of the tests which were suggested, and finally come to the definitive conclusion that the bridge pickup is at fault here.. I've de-soldered it from the guitar, removed the cover, and also performed some checks with the meter. It looks to me as though the lower coil is possibly broken, but I'd prefer a second opinion from you guys before I begin any kind of repair.

I've taken some pictures of the readings, which go as follows:

Image

Being a dual coil pickup, there are obviously four terminals.. the two inner terminals are connected to the upper coil, and the two outer terminals are connected to the lower coil.. the two right hand terminals are also linked together by a small jumper wire on the opposite side of the black plate. This is the reading straight across the upper coil.

Image

This is the reading across the lower coil.. a complete short.

Image

This is the reading across the two right hand terminals.. virtually no resistance at all.. but it is linked with that small jumper wire.

Image

And finally the reading across the two left hand terminals.. again, a complete short.

It seems to me that these tests have proved that the upper coil is intact.. the three right hand terminals are also ok, and working as they should. The left hand terminal is still questionable, as I've had no reading through that as yet, and there is also the possibility of a break in the lower coil.

If this is correct, I guess the best approach would be to re-wet that left terminal, and if there is still no improvement, to cut the winding wire from the right hand terminal (this is the one which runs to the outside of the lower coil), and begin to slowly unwind it, in hope that the break is not too deep.

Would you guys agree with me on my assumptions, or is there something I'm overlooking?

Any advice is very much appreciated.. thank you for taking a look

Russ


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Post subject: Re: Bridge Pickup Stopped Working on USA Strat?
Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2017 4:53 pm
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Yep sounds entirely reasonable.
Go for that terminal first it could be a dry joint and the reason why the meter measures open cct. :D


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Post subject: Re: Bridge Pickup Stopped Working on USA Strat?
Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2017 7:40 pm
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Before you start unwrapping the pickup I would test the lead wires from the join spot on the pickup and the end that connects to the switch/S1. Just check for continuity to ensure there aren't any breaks to eliminate the lead wires.
Unwinding and rewinding pickups DIY? If your eyes are real good maybe. Count the turns, make a good join and protect the join w/ as little material as possible. You really don't have anything to loose if its broke fix it or replace it.


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Post subject: Re: Bridge Pickup Stopped Working on USA Strat?
Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2017 11:55 am
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That pup is gone...
The Hot Noiselesses were sold as single pickups at some point, and if you can ebuy the bridge pup alone, you'd spare a lot of stress compared to the rewind operation. A whole set is under 150$ at darrenriley.


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Post subject: Re: Bridge Pickup Stopped Working on USA Strat?
Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2017 2:11 pm
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jmattis wrote:
That pup is gone...
The Hot Noiselesses were sold as single pickups at some point, and if you can ebuy the bridge pup alone, you'd spare a lot of stress compared to the rewind operation. A whole set is under 150$ at darrenriley.


+1

Manually rewinding a pickup is a fool's errand. Spare yourself the angst and aggravation.

Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: Bridge Pickup Stopped Working on USA Strat?
Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2017 4:49 pm
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**FIXED**

Thank you all for the helpful advice, and for taking the time to read through my post.. I wanted to post a conclusion to this thread, as I always hate it when I'm searching for advice on something.. stumble across my exact problem on a forum, only to find an inconclusive thread where the OP didn't bother to write up the resolution to the problem.

Anyway.. I re-wetted the terminals on the pickup, but unfortunately this made no difference at all. I then decided that I may as well give it a shot, and began to carefully unwind the lower coil. I used a small pair of scissors to cut the wire from the right hand terminal (right hand on my picture that is).. this is the terminal which runs to the outermost coil windings of the lower coil. I unwound it slowly, counting the winds as I went along.. it turns out that there are 100 turns from the bottom to the top of that coil.. so basically, 100 winds per layer of wire. I carefully unwound 150 turns of wire.. so from the bottom of the coil, up to the top, and then half way back down again, and still no break. At this point, I just decided to check the coil again with my meter.. I cut the wire, and carefully sanded the insulation from the end, and sure enough, to my surprise.. I now had a reading through the coil!

I backed it off another turn or so, so that I could give it a gentle transition back down towards the terminal.. cleared the terminal hole of solder.. carefully sanded the insulation from the wire in the appropriate area, ready for soldering, and then bound the wire through the hole 4 times, making sure that I had kept it taut from the coil to the terminal, before neatly re-soldering the joint.

I then checked all of the terminals once again, as I did in my previous post, and found that both coils were now complete, and working perfectly.. I can only assume that there was some kind of short somewhere within the turns of wire which I removed from the coil.

I then re-soldered the pickup back into the circuit, and rebuilt the guitar. The pickup now works absolutely perfectly.. sounds as good.. if not better than before. It doesn't appear to have suffered for the loss of 150 turns of the wire in any way what so ever, and I didn't remove any turns from the upper coil to balance it out.

So to conclude this thread.. I'm very pleased that I decided to undertake the repair.. I now have a perfect bridge pickup once again, and also.. it's kinda satisfying to know that I did it myself. I possibly have a uniquely voiced Fender Hot Noiseless bridge pickup.. and it really does sound great!

Thank you once again to everyone who helped me.. it's always amazing how the help and advice from like-minded people can inspire you to push, and explore that bit further.

Russ :)


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