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Post subject: Silent Neck Pickup
Posted: Fri May 27, 2016 4:10 pm
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Location: Solina, Ontario
I bought a new American Deluxe Telecaster about a month ago. I've noticed for the past little while, that when the selector switch is in the neck pickup position, quite often I can barely hear a thing above the sound of the strings alone. At full volume on the amp and the guitar there's some sound but just barely. Sometimes it works fine, and other times not so good. About 50/50. I've wiggled the switch but without luck. The centre position, and the neck position work fine. Has anyone had a similar problem or have any comments?

Thanks..............Dave

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Post subject: Re: Silent Neck Pickup
Posted: Fri May 27, 2016 5:14 pm
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Solina Dave wrote:
I bought a new American Deluxe Telecaster about a month ago. I've noticed for the past little while, that when the selector switch is in the neck pickup position, quite often I can barely hear a thing above the sound of the strings alone. At full volume on the amp and the guitar there's some sound but just barely. Sometimes it works fine, and other times not so good. About 50/50. I've wiggled the switch but without luck. The centre position, and the neck position work fine. Has anyone had a similar problem or have any comments?

Thanks..............Dave


Dave - I've never owned one of these but the first thing would be to check the wiring on the control plate - just wiggling the switch might not do anything if there's a loose connection or cold solder joint. If there aren't any solder/connection issues then it could be the pickup or the switch itself. If it is the pickup - from what I've read when an N3 pickup goes bad, it just goes out completely and they need to be replaced. There were a few threads about this happening with the first of the 2010 American Deluxe Strats (the N3s were introduced with the 3rd generation American Deluxes at the beginning of 2010) but I hadn't heard as much about the N3 Tele pickups.


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Post subject: Re: Silent Neck Pickup
Posted: Fri May 27, 2016 6:23 pm
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Hi Solina Dave,
As you probably know, your guitar is under warranty, assuming that you purchased it from a reputable dealer.
You could return it to the dealer to be serviced.
If this is not a option, you could locate a local repair shop that is authorized to do Fender warranty repair work.

If you want to try to diagnose the problem yourself, pull the control plate, plug the guitar in and turn the amp up to a fairly loud level.
With the switch set to the neck pickup, move the switch wires and ground wires around or probe the solder connections with a pencil point, to see if you can reproduce the problem at any location.
Note that self-repair "could" void your warranty.

Cold solder joints do happen occasionally.
I bought a Blues Deluxe Reissue amp a few years ago, which had a rather severe intermittent hum.
I took it to a Fender authorized repair shop, and of course, I could not get the amp to hum, despite beating on the cabinet.
After bringing the amp home, the amp was of course, now humming.
Using a pencil as a probe, I was able to determine that the jewel light had a bad solder joint that was causing the hum.
I decided to repair the solder joint myself.

From the "intermittent" nature of your problem, it sounds to me like you probably have a cold solder joint.
Good luck.


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Post subject: Re: Silent Neck Pickup
Posted: Fri May 27, 2016 7:56 pm
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Thanks for the advice guys. I bought it on-line from Willcutt, a reputable Fender dealer in Lexington, Ky, through Reverb.com. It's registered with Fender. I live in Canada, and I took it to Long & McQuade today. They're the largest music instrument provider in Canada, and an authorized Fender dealer. They told me that since I didn't by it from them, and that I bought it on-line, I would have to deal with Fender myself directly. I contacted Fender warranty, and I'm waiting to hear back. I thought that the Fender warranty would apply anywhere in the States and Canada. I don't want to screw my warranty by working on it myself, but I thought that Long & McQuade would service it and I could avoid having to package it up, and ship it to California. I should have bought it in Canada. What a pain in the *##!!

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Post subject: Re: Silent Neck Pickup
Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 7:24 am
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Solina Dave wrote:
Thanks for the advice guys. I bought it on-line from Willcutt, a reputable Fender dealer in Lexington, Ky, through Reverb.com. It's registered with Fender. I live in Canada, and I took it to Long & McQuade today. They're the largest music instrument provider in Canada, and an authorized Fender dealer. They told me that since I didn't by it from them, and that I bought it on-line, I would have to deal with Fender myself directly. I contacted Fender warranty, and I'm waiting to hear back. I thought that the Fender warranty would apply anywhere in the States and Canada. I don't want to screw my warranty by working on it myself, but I thought that Long & McQuade would service it and I could avoid having to package it up, and ship it to California. I should have bought it in Canada. What a pain in the *##!!


Aha - what happened is you violated Fender's deals with their Canadian dealers by buying through Willcutt's. They couldn't sell you a current model, but they could legitimately sell you a discontinued model. However, it is certainly Long & McQuade's right to tell you to go elsewhere for repair service since they didn't sell it to you. Fender should also have some independent luthiers on their list of authorized repair shops (i.e. people who just do repairs as opposed to being a new instrument dealer); have them put you in touch with someone like that so you can avoid L&M.

Willcutt's is a great shop; I used to go there all the time when I still lived in Kentucky (and have gotten a couple more guitars from them since moving to Kansas City).


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Post subject: Re: Silent Neck Pickup
Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 10:29 am
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Good point John, maybe I will contact Fender and see if they can connect me with a local independent luthier.
The problem in the first place, 5 weeks ago, was that L&M didn't have any discontinued American Deluxe models, and I wasn't interested in a Standard or an Elite. That's why I went on-line to Willcutt. And now, wouldn't you know it, L&M has all kinds of them. And just to add insult to injury, I could buy one now at L&M, delivered, for $210 less than I paid Willcutt delivered. And I wouldn't have the warranty hassles I've got now.
That, and my wife left me, and the kids got the flu, and I lost my job, and the tax man's comin', and I'm having trouble learning a G chord........Lol...jus' kiddin'.
I sent an email, with the whole story, to the boss at L&M. So it ain't over yet! We'll see.

I'll keep you posted...............................Dave

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Post subject: Re: Silent Neck Pickup
Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 12:42 pm
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Solina Dave wrote:
Good point John, maybe I will contact Fender and see if they can connect me with a local independent luthier.
The problem in the first place, 5 weeks ago, was that L&M didn't have any discontinued American Deluxe models, and I wasn't interested in a Standard or an Elite. That's why I went on-line to Willcutt. And now, wouldn't you know it, L&M has all kinds of them. And just to add insult to injury, I could buy one now at L&M, delivered, for $210 less than I paid Willcutt delivered. And I wouldn't have the warranty hassles I've got now.
That, and my wife left me, and the kids got the flu, and I lost my job, and the tax man's comin', and I'm having trouble learning a G chord........Lol...jus' kiddin'......

It's tough being Johnny Depp.....


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Post subject: Re: Silent Neck Pickup
Posted: Sun May 29, 2016 4:58 pm
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Your problem sounds similar to what I experienced with my 2014 AmDlx Strat; after about six months, the bridge pickup went almost all the way out. I had bought it online (American Musical Supply) but was able to take it to a local Fender authorized warranty shop (GC, but they came with a recommendation from a local pro I know and respect). Did a fine job, but it took two months for the new pickup to arrive from Fender...I learned to love the neck pickup in the meantime. :mrgreen:


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Post subject: Re: Silent Neck Pickup
Posted: Sun May 29, 2016 6:12 pm
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cthulhu wrote:
Your problem sounds similar to what I experienced with my 2014 AmDlx Strat; after about six months, the bridge pickup went almost all the way out. I had bought it online (American Musical Supply) but was able to take it to a local Fender authorized warranty shop (GC, but they came with a recommendation from a local pro I know and respect). Did a fine job, but it took two months for the new pickup to arrive from Fender...I learned to love the neck pickup in the meantime. :mrgreen:


It's a beautiful thing. I'm glad you developed a healthy relationship with your neck pickup while you were awaiting delivery from Fender. I guess they couldn't locate a Strat pickup to send you. They're not too common you know!
I think that the problem is a loose connection, bad solder joint, or a defective pickup. I noticed that if I tap lightly on the pickguard, near the pickup, the pickup will cut out, and when I tap a second time of course it works again. I gently removed the pickguard, being very careful not to do anything that would screw up the warranty I'm not sure I even have, and gave the wiring and solder joints a close visual inspection with a magnifying glass. Everything looked fine. But when I again very gently, moved the pickup ever so slightly, it cut out. So there's something going on but it's just not visible. Strangely though, I played it all day today without incident. so maybe just moving it around has temporarily fixed it. I emailed Willcutt for advise and suggestions, but with your Memorial Day weekend I won't hear back for a couple of days yet. Be sure to thank a veteran for your freedom.
I may be somewhat naive, but I have a gut feeling that all will be well. One thing is for sure. It will get fixed. When it's working right, it's a beautiful guitar. Just like that Stratocaster of yours.

I'll be back!!..........................Dave

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