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Long time use and abuse and the pickups wear out. Careless removal of pickups and using improper tools. Moisture and humidity that can cause the parts to rust or oxidize. The strings to get snagged into the coil or bobbin by picking hard. Removing or replacing covers with ones that don’t fit properly. Using unsuitable…

You need to carefully inspect the pickups to determine the cause of failure and this is what I look for. Here are a few examples: Check for damage to the coil or broken magnet wire. Normally can be repaired without complete rewinding. Check for cold solder joints and broken connections between coil and lead wire….

This is very common when using a vibrato arm and lowering the note making the string very loose and flexible. If the string gets snagged under the lip of the pickup it is most likely that the winding in the coil got damaged and would need to be repaired by a qualified repairman. This is…

Pickups will work for many years if used under normal playing conditions. Pickups start breaking when handled improperly, excessive moisture or humidity, removing covers and dozens of other problems. Please remember if a pickup is non-functional, it doesn’t always mean that it needs to be rewound. There may be other problems that exist so check…

Make sure you don’t have a pickguard or mounting screw cutting into the cable or wires that go from the pickup cavity to the control cavity (volume, tone & switches). Make sure the pickup is soldered properly to the switch and make sure the switch and jack work properly. If the guitar is shielded by…

There are several things that can cause your pickups to stop working. The biggest problem is ICPC and getting strings snagged in the coils with exposed coils or covers removed. Check your instrument to make sure you don’t have active pickups. If you do, maybe the battery needs to be replaced. When pickups are taken…

I would remove the other screw to remove the bobbin making it easier to work with. If the screw shaft is still extended from the bobbin, you might be able to grip the shaft and turn it counter-clockwise. Carefully try to remove it without doing further damage to the bobbin. At times when the screw…

I would never let anyone borrow my guitar. If both pickups don’t work, I would first check to see if the jack is properly working. Sometimes the guitar cord plug can bend the jack internally or the jack can twist and short out. Look inside to see if they decided to rewire it or change…

This can be a problem with pickups molded out of a inexpensive high pressure styrene plastic. Bobbins should last many years and I’ve seen only one Gibson pickup worn out because the player used a metal pick. You could use a epoxy based coating over the end of the bobbin but it might make it…

Loose pole pieces can vibrate and cause unwanted feedback when playing. As the string and body vibrate it can cause the pickup also vibrate and the loose pole will oscillate and make unwanted noises in your amp. I would try to make the screw or pole tighter by filling the gaps with heated wax, silicone…