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Humidity and all kinds of moisture from sweat and condensation in a case can cause all kinds of problems with your instrument. Humidity can cause oxidation on switches, potentiometers, jacks and rust hardware. Constant moisture on an instrument will cause ICPC (inner coil pole corrosion) where the magnet can rust inside the bobbin due to…

Shock to a magnet can effect the stability of the magnetic field. Also depending on the type of surface the magnet would be hitting such as steel or wood. A magnet hitting steel would do more damage to the magnets field than the surface of the wood. I’ve tapped a bar magnet on a steel…

There could be a loose wire or a hot wire touching the ground shorting out the pickup. When you press on it, the movement is enough to separate the wire from the short. I’ve seen cold solder joints that have oxidized and if there is enough movement especially at the eyelet or connection, the pickup…

I would suggest having the magnets checked to see if they are magnetized and calibrated right. There are many things that can demagnetize the magnets in your pickups and care should be taken not to cause any electrical interference with them. Often, I’ve seen pickups taken apart or out of the instrument and the magnets…

The cover could possibly be shorting out to the hot wire inside the cover. Maybe the insulation tape or shield around the lead wire has gotten old and fallen off. If the pickups gets moved or squeezed, the wire could be shorting out. It would be easy to repair by carefully removing the cover and…

Many things can happen to an instrument. Here are a few things to check. Make sure your guitar has not been handled by an unauthorized person. Sometimes an instrument is an exciting thing to look at and someone could have played yours. I like keeping my instrument locked in a case to keep busy hands…

There are many things that can be checked to make sure your pickups perform properly. Some important things are: Make sure potentiometers are clean and the right value and taper. Make sure all switches and contacts are properly soldered and connected to the right connections. Check for dirty or faulty jacks that can oxidize in…

I often see steel wool stuck to pickups after it was used to clean and polish the fingerboard and frets. If a repairman flips the guitar over on a workbench to wire the back cavity, the steel wool hidden in his workbench carpet will be attracted to the magnets and pole pieces. Steel wool is…

Damage to pickups can be caused by so many different things and taking pickups out of an instrument is by far the biggest problem. Normally if they are left untouched they stay pretty reliable. Putting a pickup in a drawer or box is not enough to give protection to the delicate coils and bobbins. If…

Cold or faulty solder joints at connections such as eyelets, switches, potentiometers, jacks, shorting circuits or contacts, improper or faulty insulation’s, hookup wire strands touching ground. Debris such as steel wool or small bits of solder can get lodged inside the potentiometer or other electrical components and cause static.