Problem w/new humbuckers

[WhiteStrat]

I’ve replaced the stock humbuckers on my Epi LP with a pair of Dimarzio’s (158 & 159—the Evolution series).

The neck pickup sounds great, but the bridge pickup sounds weak. Not as thin and funky as a single coil or something out of phase, but definitely not as meaty as the neck pup. The bridge pickup is made to be hotter than the neck, and I’m assuming this is too compensate for reduced string vibration back at the bridge—so in the end the two end up sounding balanced. But these don’t (and I have cranked the pickup up closer to the strings; not a lot of difference.)

Following the instructions for Dimarzio 4-wire, I connected the black & white leads to each other & taped 'em off. Sent the green along with the shield to ground, and connected the red to the toggle.

I just thought before I took it back apart and tried other wiring configurations, I’d ask if anyone else has had this experience. Maybe what I’m hearing is normal and I should chill…

Also—I own a fairly robust multimeter, but have never used it for something like this. Can it be used to measure the pups output? If so, what am I looking for?

Thanks for your time.

 

[sound125]

You should be getting a resistance reading of 13k on your neck and 13.8k on your bridge. Start with the 20k scale on your ohm meter.

I experienced the same thing on a Gibson LP with stock 490 humbuckers. I ended up having to lower the neck pup and raising the bridge so it was right up on the strings. When I switched out to a 500T in the bridge, the problem was resolved, since it had a much hotter output.

 

[Gear_Junky]

You should be getting a resistance reading of 13k on your neck and 13.8k on your bridge. Start with the 20k scale on your ohm meter.

i am actually not an expert at all on this, but shouldn't there be a difference of more than .8kohm between them? more like a few kOhm for balance?

I know it's probably not the only factor...

just wondering...

 

[WhiteStrat]

Yeah, since I first posted I've done more research. And it seems to me that if the wires were truly crossed, it would either not work at all, or be out of phase when mixed with the neck. But it's doing neither of those--just a bit "weak."

And thanks for the tip on the meter (lost the manual 3 years ago after using it once!). I'll check it out this weekend.

 

[Anfontan]

Maybe check out that all the ground connections are good, a cold connection would probably be a likely problem..

 

[WhiteStrat]

Maybe check out that all the ground connections are good, a cold connection would probably be a likely problem..

I plan on doing that when I'm in there, but what would be the effects of a bad ground? Wouldn't I be hearing a lot of noise, or could it just be a loss of volume?

I ask this because I missed a ground in my recent Strat mod, and I knew it the second I plugged it in!

Thanks!

 

[sound125]

i am actually not an expert at all on this, but shouldn't there be a difference of more than .8kohm between them? more like a few kOhm for balance?

I know it's probably not the only factor...

just wondering...

By vintage PAF standards the Dimarzio DP158 and DP159 have a lot more output (13.k for the neck and 13.8 for the bridge). The PAFs on the other hand would roughly be in the 7.6k (neck) and 8.0k (bridge) range. So, looking at it from that perspective, both types are "fairly" balanced between the neck and bridge output, with the bridge pickups obviously having slightly more resistance and output in both cases.

Therefore, having a .8k ohm reading between them is not a factor, at least not to me. It would seem that a bridge pup that is wound significantly hotter than the neck is probably going to be a lot more midrangy, which can result in harshness and muddiness.

 

[Topcat53]

I plan on doing that when I'm in there, but what would be the effects of a bad ground? Wouldn't I be hearing a lot of noise, or could it just be a loss of volume?

I ask this because I missed a ground in my recent Strat mod, and I knew it the second I plugged it in!

Thanks!

You would get noise if you missed a ground, but if the ground wire is touching something on the hot side (more likely to happen with the bare ground wire), then it would load the pickup down. This is somewhat how the footswitch on old effects pedals with non true bypass worked, which is why you lost volume and tone when you switched the pedal off.

 

[WhiteStrat]

You would get noise if you missed a ground, but if the ground wire is touching something on the hot side (more likely to happen with the bare ground wire), then it would load the pickup down. This is somewhat how the footswitch on old effects pedals with non true bypass worked, which is why you lost volume and tone when you switched the pedal off.

Very helpful...I'll definitely look for this. Thanks!

 

[Light]

Unsolder it and check the resistance. It should be ABOUT the same as the rating, but don't worry to much about it being exact. Just worry if it is off by a lot. It sounds like you have a short somewhere in the signal chain. Check the wires where you striped off the cover for the cable - it's not hard to knick the insulation and cause a short right there. Another possibility is a pickup with a short in the coils. It doesn't happen often, but it can happen - if they are new pickups it should be a warranty replacement IF that is the case. Also, check all the grounding in the guitar. If that pickup is not making a good ground connection somewhere, or if the volume control is not, that can cause this kind of problem. Basically, check every part of the electronics. These things can be terribly frustrating.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[WhiteStrat]

Fixed!! Thanks to all the help I got here.

Set the multimeter to 20k (thanks again sound125) and got 12.82 on the neck and 13.42 on the bridge. A little lower than spec--but acceptable. And most importantly the bridge wasn't way off relative to the neck.

Upon looking at the wiring, I didn't see anything obvious, so I simply un-did and re-did all my connections. (As per Light--thanks.)

So while I'll never know which connection fixed it, I'll take it as practice with the old soldering gun. Cause when I plugged it in, it was good to go. I started with the neck pickup, and when right in the middle of a chord, I switched to the bridge--the telltale dropoff was gone. Very even now.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Light]

Fixed!! Thanks to all the help I got here.

Set the multimeter to 20k (thanks again sound125) and got 12.82 on the neck and 13.42 on the bridge. A little lower than spec--but acceptable. And most importantly the bridge wasn't way off relative to the neck.

Upon looking at the wiring, I didn't see anything obvious, so I simply un-did and re-did all my connections. (As per Light--thanks.)

So while I'll never know which connection fixed it, I'll take it as practice with the old soldering gun. Cause when I plugged it in, it was good to go. I started with the neck pickup, and when right in the middle of a chord, I switched to the bridge--the telltale dropoff was gone. Very even now.

Thanks everyone!

Your welcome.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi