Neck pickup goes dead every now and then

[markgreiner]

I have an American Deluxe Strat (V Neck, S-1 switch, Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickup) less than 10 years old. Recently, it developed a problem where the neck pickup goes dead. The only way to bring it back is to tap on the top pickup screw. I've tried to adjust the screw to lift the pickup up and down, but that doesn't keep it from going dead. I've pulled the pickguard and nothing looks broken or out of place (I've visually inspected all the wiring). The only thing I can see is that when the pickguard is in place, the pickguard right around the top pickup screw of the neck pickup raises off the body ever so slightly--just enough to provide some give to where tapping the pickup screw or pushing the pickguard down at this spot brings the pickup back to life.

Again, all the wiring looks fine and nothing appears to be pinching. Maybe the problem is within the pickup--but what?

Any thoughts

Mark

[dugg]

Only a short or open circuit could cause the pickup to go dead. It has to be one or the other. It's possible that it's in the windings of the pickup, but much less likely than one of the leads to the pickup has a bad solder joint. Better take off the pickguard again and keep poking 'till you find it.

[dan P]

Hi Mark, man what a nitemare under the guard on these , I 'd suggest taking it to a tech, if your not used to this kind of trouble shooting...that problem can be a number of things just related to the neck pup circuit in the s-1, I have found though, the solder at the termination point of the pick-up coil wire( magnet wire) to the hook-up wire on the bobbin itself will become faulty, usually because the enamel is not burned off well before the junction is made and over time just ozidizes..you may try reflowing the two points there and also check the area where you say it begins working again...an ohmmeter and wiring diagram really is the key to this as it will tell where all is fine. or not..so- fine !

[bobmac]

My bridge pup (a hum) was going dead every now and then and flicking the selector switch would bring it back, I changed the 5-way switch and no more prob'

[Doug Ferguson]

There's a snakepit of wires in there, to be sure, but it's not too difficult to troubleshoot, especially since it seems to be narrowed to one area. It's probably either the solder joint (easiest fix) or the switch (a bit more difficult).

Just to rule out the solder joint, go ahead resolder the white lead to the switch lug. You might be able to get away with using the solder already there; just hold the wire in place with some needle-nose pliers, heat the solder, and let it flow back into place. While your there, you're can also check the p/u output. As for the p/u itself, the coil wires usually don't break, unless the covers are removed improperly. What Dan says is certainly another thing to check. All the best in getting this worked out.

Is the rubber tubing cracked and causing the p/u to list? That might need replacing.

[markgreiner]

Great replies. I won't have time to break open the guitar until this weekend. I look forward to testing your theories and seeing what I can do about this. Thanks again to all! I'll let you know how it turns out.

[jmasin]

From your description it sounds like the pickguard doesn't seat fully when in place? Is this what you said?

If so, is the rout shielded with conductive paint or copper? Or is the entire pickguard foiled?

I had an issue with the tone pot once (acting as a volume knob) and everything was wired correctly and ohmed out correctly (no blown cap). Sometimes while playing I'd get some static suddenly and a mild pop etc. What it turned out to be was the lead from the cap brushing against the copper shielding. Not constantly, but would be impacted by vibration of playing etc. The hard part is this only happened while the p/g was in place because otherwise everything was fine.

Anyway, long story short, could it be something like this? (since you mentioned the p/g doesn't seem to seat).

[thaus]

I would also look at replacing the 5-way switch..........it often is the cause of many such problems!

[markgreiner]

I wish my update could be more definitive in what my problem was and how I solved it. Certainly all the tips here helped quite a bit.

I have some experience with electronics and I like to think that I would recognize a cold or failed solder joint if I saw one. When I went back in, all the connections looked real good and clean. This time, I had the guitar hooked up to an amp to that I could wiggle the wires to see if I could produce the problem--I couldn't. Everything was working fine.

I did observe that the wires from the neck PU were routed directly (and closely) over the middle PU. I also observed what looked like solder "splatter" on the black wire from the neck PU (about where it ran past the middle PU). I removed that "splatter" by flicking it off the wire and then reassembled everything while paying more attention to how the wires from the neck PU were routed.

Everything has worked fine since. I've reflected back on the splatter and I'm guessing that instead of "spatter," it may have been a flake of solder from the middle PU that pricked into the black neck wire and then broke off attached to this wire. Although I did inspect the wire after flicking off the solder, it is possible that there was a very small breach in the wire's insulation (rather than the solder just laying on the insulation) that I did not see that, in fact, produced a short when this solder touched something else. Then when I tapped my guitar in the right place, I effectively moved my neck PU enough (and the wires attached) to temporarily break the short--only to have it come back after more guitar movement.

So that's my theory. I'm not going to dwell on it much more unless the problem recurs.

Regards to all.

Mark

[markgreiner]

Well, my problem came back, so I opened her up once again. This time I noted that the pickup went dead and came back when the back (bottom) of the pickup flexed--such as when I tapped or pushed down on the pickup near the pickup screw (see my initial post). That made me think that something was amiss inside the pickup. I've never opened up a pickup before to expose the copper winding, but there is always a first time. I studied the windings closely, and sure enough, one end of one winding appeared to be only touching--rather than soldered to--the lead that goes out to the pickup's external solder post. The winding, of course, is very thin, so it was a little like brain surgery, but I successfully got it soldered to the lead without much trouble.

Everything seems to be working fine now, and I got my first firsthand look at the inside of a pickup. Not a bad afternoon afterall.

Regards

Mark

[jrfrond]

I've repaired quite a few of these under warranty. It is usually the lead wire solder joints on one of the pickup eyelets.