Post Type Archives: SWD

Fender single coil pickups: If the beginning magnet wire is still extended from the beginning of the coil you can splice an extension by carefully soldering a new chemically stripped magnet wire to the existing piece. If the beginning magnet wire is not extended from the beginning of the coil, then connecting a new beginning…

On earlier Fender pickups the beginning and finish magnet wire from the coil is often wrapped through the evelet several times before soldering the eyelet. At times the hot solder doesn’t heat the insulation enough to make a solid contact with the hookup wires and eyelet. It is often called a cold solder joint and…

It’s really difficult to impossible to repair Fender style pickups when the beginning wire is broken off at the beginning of the coil. You need to have a qualified repairman attempt to do this kind of work and often ends up to having the coil rewound and at times unnecessary. At times the beginning hookup…

Yes, perspiration or sweat can really cause corrosion to pickups and hardware. If I need a guitar to be broken in I have one of my assistants named Brian Birmingham play one of my instruments. After a weekend with Brian the screws and pole pieces are rusted and look 25 years old.

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…