Epiphone unbalanced pickups.

musicalstash

Picked up a Chinese epiphone les Pau which l looks great  but  having issues getting the output of the pickups to balance.  

The neck reads approximately 8.3k ,  the bridge 6.5k with about half the volume of the neck,  are these normal readings or got a duff pickup.  

Adjusted the heights with little improvement.  

Thanks 

HilditchGuitars

I would have expected the readings to be the other way round. You get a weaker signal from the bridge area as there's less string vibrating. Maybe try swapping them round. I've got a pair of stacked p90s that are the same output and there's a noticeable difference in sound at the bridge

ICBM

musicalstash said:

Picked up a Chinese epiphone les Pau which l looks great  but  having issues getting the output of the pickups to balance.  

The neck reads approximately 8.3k ,  the bridge 6.5k with about half the volume of the neck,  are these normal readings or got a duff pickup.

Does the bridge pickup hum a lot more than the neck at the same settings on the amp?

Funkfingers

8k is the ballpark resistance figure for a vintage-style humbucker, such as your neck/Rhythm position unit.

10-14k would be about right for a “beefed up” bridge/Treble position unit. 6.2k is about the half way point of that range, suggesting that one coil is either dead or shorted out via its output conductors.

Inspecting the undersides of your pickups will reveal which model each is and whether it has had its metal cover forcibly removed. (Good way to break a coil.)


EDIT: If you guitar was pre-owned, it is possible that a former owner reversed some upgrades immediately prior to selling and got the wiring wrong. 

musicalstash

Thanks for the suggestions.  There is no additional hum when the bridge pickup is selected .  

Just took the pickups out,   the neck is a 57ch and the bridge a HOTCH(G).   It all looks stock with no additional solder..  

Replacements are quite cheap used on eBay but dont want to  get one and have the same issue.  

Funkfingers

The follow-up questions that might help with solving your issue could be answered by photographs of the wiring in the guitar’s control cavity.

For instance, if your guitar has push-pull pots for coil splitting of each humbucker, a short circuit or a wiring error would leave the bridge/Treble position pickup permanently in split mode. Not broken. Just connected wrongly.

ICBM

musicalstash said:

Just took the pickups out,   the neck is a 57ch and the bridge a HOTCH(G).

If the bridge pickup is marked HOT then I still suspect one coil is shorted, even without extra hum. It’s much more likely that it’s intended to be about a 12-13K pickup, which would normally be described as a ‘hot’ humbucker. 8K is a standard PAF-type (or ‘57’ type) resistance.

You should be able to find a replacement Epiphone pickup of the same type very cheaply, a lot of people replace them - or take it as an opportunity to put something better in.

HilditchGuitars

ICBM said:

musicalstash said:

Just took the pickups out,   the neck is a 57ch and the bridge a HOTCH(G).

If the bridge pickup is marked HOT then I still suspect one coil is shorted, even without extra hum. It’s much more likely that it’s intended to be about a 12-13K pickup, which would normally be described as a ‘hot’ humbucker. 8K is a standard PAF-type (or ‘57’ type) resistance.

You should be able to find a replacement Epiphone pickup of the same type very cheaply, a lot of people replace them - or take it as an opportunity to put something better in.

Agreed. It does sound like it's died. Assuming they're normal pots

paulnb57

Iron Gear Blues Engines are a good reasonably priced replacement, if replacement is required...

musicalstash

Will get a replacement sorted.   Thanks for everyones input / advice.  

musicalstash

Just a quite update .

Bought a used same spec Epiphone bridge Pickup (14k ) but once installed into the guitar cames up with the same issue of low output and reading 6.5k .

I made a novice mistake of reading the original pickup through a jack lead while in the guitar but now checking it once unsoldered comes up as 14k .

Does this make it an issue with the pot ?  Not great with soldering so before swapping the pot out , could it be anything else ? Its a standard humbucker with no coil tap .

Funkfingers

In your position, I would try using Servisol electro-lubricant to clean the selector switch contacts and the innards of the four pots.

If your selector switch is the budget type with its contacts concealed within a metal box, I strongly suggest that you replace it as soon as possible. 

ICBM

musicalstash said:

Just a quite update .

Bought a used same spec Epiphone bridge Pickup (14k ) but once installed into the guitar cames up with the same issue of low output and reading 6.5k .

I made a novice mistake of reading the original pickup through a jack lead while in the guitar but now checking it once unsoldered comes up as 14k .

Does this make it an issue with the pot ?  Not great with soldering so before swapping the pot out , could it be anything else ? Its a standard humbucker with no coil tap .

A damaged pot or one of the wrong resistance could do that. It would have to have a resistance of only 12K to produce that result though.

You didn't check it with the selector switch in the middle position by any chance? You can only read the resistance of a pickup in situ if you have that pickup alone selected and the volume up full.

If it is definitely an issue with the pot, could the terminals be touching any shielding paint on the floor of the cavity?

Funkfingers

My money is on the problem being at the selector switch. Any chance of photographs of it, please?

musicalstash

ICBM said:

musicalstash said:

Just a quite update .

Bought a used same spec Epiphone bridge Pickup (14k ) but once installed into the guitar cames up with the same issue of low output and reading 6.5k .

I made a novice mistake of reading the original pickup through a jack lead while in the guitar but now checking it once unsoldered comes up as 14k .

Does this make it an issue with the pot ?  Not great with soldering so before swapping the pot out , could it be anything else ? Its a standard humbucker with no coil tap .

A damaged pot or one of the wrong resistance could do that. It would have to have a resistance of only 12K to produce that result though.

You didn't check it with the selector switch in the middle position by any chance? You can only read the resistance of a pickup in situ if you have that pickup alone selected and the volume up full.

If it is definitely an issue with the pot, could the terminals be touching any shielding paint on the floor of the cavity?

Thanks all sorted now ... I took the pot out to desolder the pickup and it came to to life .. ICBM was right it seems as though one of the legs was touching the side of the cavity  ...  Thanks for all the help ..

ICBM

musicalstash said:

Thanks all sorted now ... I took the pot out to desolder the pickup and it came to to life .. ICBM was right it seems as though one of the legs was touching the side of the cavity  ...  Thanks for all the help .. 

I've come across that a couple of times... a bit of paper masking tape in the critical place will fix it, if you can't find a position where it isn't touching.

Unfortunate that we didn't get there before you bought a new pickup - hope it wasn't too expensive .