Testing humbucker output

[spleenharvester]

Suspect my bridge is faulty and maybe one of the coils is gone, barely any difference between single-coil and normal setting.

What kind of meter do I need? Is there any way to measure without one?

Cheers!

[AlexR]

Multimeter needed, set to Ohms....the approx 20k setting is good for pickups

[GuitarDoc]

When plugged in and in single coil mode, tap on the pole pieces with a screw driver and notice what it sounds like from one coil to the other. Now switch to humbucker mode and tap again. both coils should sound the same if it is working properly. If it sounds the same as when in single coil mode then the quiet coil is either bad or you need to check the wiring.

A multimeter will tell you the resistence of each coil accurately. If both coils measure about the same, then the problem is in your wiring somewhere.

[bancika]

did you wire the coil in parallel by mistake instead of series? That could result in low output.
If it's series (standard) connection, one broken coil would mute the whole pickup, so I'd rule that out. Wiring mistake or parallel connection is more likely

[spleenharvester]

One coil appears to be slightly louder than the other. Guess I can't really confirm without a meter. Tempted to ask the place I bought it from (Dangleberry Music I think?) to have a look for me and worst comes to the worse I'll pay postage back if it turns out to be fine.

Tempted to hang onto it and swap for an Alnico II magnet if that's possible, too. Just for the sake of curiosity.

[allstarrme]

http://www.harborfreight.com/7-funct...ter-90899.html
Im sure you could find a cheaper one with less functions but they are really handy to have sometimes.

[GuitarDoc]

^ That's an excellent price for multi. I wouldn't bother to get one with less functions than that, and I doubt you'll find one cheaper.

[spleenharvester]

Unfortunately I'm UK haha. Can probably source some cheapy thing on the bay of E's.