Blktiger0

Yesterday, while playing my Moser V, the neck pickup stopped working entirely. I'm not sure if it's a bad pup, or maybe the pot or switch, but here are the symptoms:

There is absolutely no output unless I turn the volume all the way to zero and have it running through my distortion pedal (this is on my practice rig, not my amp)

Before now, I've thought that it seemed a little thin and possibly lacking in output. It just sounded kinda weak when run with overdrive, through my amp or through my practice rig. I thought it was just the pickup, though.

I checked the wiring and soldering, and nothing seems awry. I just changed the Bridge pickup after I got it, and looked over everything then, but everything looked fine.

Any ideas on what it is for sure?

__________________
My Rig:
Moser Bastard V
- Pups: Bridge
Epi Les Paul Standard
- Pups: Bridge Neck
Egnater Vengeance
- JCA24S w/WGS Retro 30s
- ZW-45 Crybaby
- MXR 10-Band EQ
- ISP Decimator
(^Those are links^ )

R45VT

Check your switch first. Do you see it physically making contact? You can turn it to the pick-up that is not working and touch the part that is supposed to make contact to see if it just lost its tension.

Do you have an ohm meter handy? You could take a measurement too see if the pick-up is shorted.

__________________

Blktiger0

When I checked the wiring, it all looked good.

I have a Multi-Meter, yeah. How would I go about that?

__________________
My Rig:
Moser Bastard V
- Pups: Bridge
Epi Les Paul Standard
- Pups: Bridge Neck
Egnater Vengeance
- JCA24S w/WGS Retro 30s
- ZW-45 Crybaby
- MXR 10-Band EQ
- ISP Decimator
(^Those are links^ )

R45VT

Check the resistance of the coil. It would be between the wire leading to the switch and ground. See what you come up with.

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Ibbod0

what's the control layout? If it's 2 volume, i'm going to guess that the neck volume pot died.

R45VT

Very good point. I can't remember if they have a separate pot for each pick-up.

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Blktiger0

It's two volume, one tone. I'll check the resistance in a bit

__________________
My Rig:
Moser Bastard V
- Pups: Bridge
Epi Les Paul Standard
- Pups: Bridge Neck
Egnater Vengeance
- JCA24S w/WGS Retro 30s
- ZW-45 Crybaby
- MXR 10-Band EQ
- ISP Decimator
(^Those are links^ )

Blktiger0

Sorry about the wait, btw. I haven't had the extra time at home to sit down and do this, and I finally did just now, and I come to find that the batteries in my Multi-Meter are dead and I haven't got one AAA battery in the house

Nedless to say, I'll be investing in a set of rechargable AAA batteries in the near future, just for this thing.

__________________
My Rig:
Moser Bastard V
- Pups: Bridge
Epi Les Paul Standard
- Pups: Bridge Neck
Egnater Vengeance
- JCA24S w/WGS Retro 30s
- ZW-45 Crybaby
- MXR 10-Band EQ
- ISP Decimator
(^Those are links^ )

Blktiger0

Okay, so I finally got around to testing this, and I tested the JB in my bridge first, to make sure I was testing corectly and that my meter was reading corectly, and I got a resistance of 16k, and the reported reading on the SD website is 16.4k. So far so good.

Then, I test the neck pup, and I could only get a resistance of 0 every time.

In case I'm going about it wrong, I was just connecting the common lead (black) to the ground wire that's soldered onto the back of the pot, and I was connecting the hot lead (red) to the hot wire that's soldered onto the little prong coming off of the pot (I don't know the actual name of this). It worked fine for the bridge pickup, but I just wasn't sure if this would be measuring the pot as well.

__________________
My Rig:
Moser Bastard V
- Pups: Bridge
Epi Les Paul Standard
- Pups: Bridge Neck
Egnater Vengeance
- JCA24S w/WGS Retro 30s
- ZW-45 Crybaby
- MXR 10-Band EQ
- ISP Decimator
(^Those are links^ )

mmolteratx

Desolder the pickup leads from the pot. As is, you're measuring the pickup resistance in parallel with the pot resistance, and if either is shorted, you'll read 0 ohms. Need to measure them individually to determine which is borked.

__________________
WTLT 2012
PBT Native
Gear
GG&A BotB Best Rig 2012

Blktiger0

That's what I was worried about, which is why I said something. I'll bust out the iron, then and report back in a while

__________________
My Rig:
Moser Bastard V
- Pups: Bridge
Epi Les Paul Standard
- Pups: Bridge Neck
Egnater Vengeance
- JCA24S w/WGS Retro 30s
- ZW-45 Crybaby
- MXR 10-Band EQ
- ISP Decimator
(^Those are links^ )

Blktiger0

Okay, so, Measuring the pickup, no matter what setting I use for resistance (20k, 200k, 2k, 2m, etc.) I can't get any reading other than 1

I tried using the brass base of the pup as a ground, and I tried using the actualy ground wire. Neither would give me any result. I even tried going base plate to ground, in case I had confused what I thought was the ground and hot. Nothing. Every reading gave me 1

Does that mean the pup is dead?

Also, if it makes a difference, there is no bare wire like on the JB I put in the bridge or the EMG HZ I took out of the bridge. Is that normal?


EDIT:

Disregard all of that. I finally got a reading, but it was only 8.32. Shouldn't it be much higher for a humbucker? I don't know the brand of this pickup, although the guy I bought the axe off of said it was a Dimarzio something. I don't place any stock in that claim at all. The only marking on the bottom was an "F". If I can get my strings loose enough to take the bridge off, I'll take the pup out entirely and take some pics in an attempt to identify it. If it helps, the ground is black and hot is green.

__________________
My Rig:
Moser Bastard V
- Pups: Bridge
Epi Les Paul Standard
- Pups: Bridge Neck
Egnater Vengeance
- JCA24S w/WGS Retro 30s
- ZW-45 Crybaby
- MXR 10-Band EQ
- ISP Decimator
(^Those are links^ )

Blktiger0

I don't normally do this, but bump time.

I'm retty sure this means it's the pot, but I'm concerned about the resistance reading I got on the pup

__________________
My Rig:
Moser Bastard V
- Pups: Bridge
Epi Les Paul Standard
- Pups: Bridge Neck
Egnater Vengeance
- JCA24S w/WGS Retro 30s
- ZW-45 Crybaby
- MXR 10-Band EQ
- ISP Decimator
(^Those are links^ )

mmolteratx

8.32 Ohms or 8.32 kOhms? If Ohms, you're pickup is probably dead. If kOhms, then that's just fine. PAFs can go as low as ~6 kOhms, most average right around 8-9. Even higher output neck pickups tend to be 12-14 kOhms.

__________________
WTLT 2012
PBT Native
Gear
GG&A BotB Best Rig 2012

Blktiger0

The meter was set to 20k for the reading, if that helps. I'm not very familiar with the units here, but I'll gladly learn, if you're willing to teach.

FWIW, my JB was 16.1 and the EMG H4 I have was something like 15.something IIRC

__________________
My Rig:
Moser Bastard V
- Pups: Bridge
Epi Les Paul Standard
- Pups: Bridge Neck
Egnater Vengeance
- JCA24S w/WGS Retro 30s
- ZW-45 Crybaby
- MXR 10-Band EQ
- ISP Decimator
(^Those are links^ )

mmolteratx

Yea, then it's kOhms. Your JB is in the right range for sure, and your neck pickup probably is as well. Did you check the reading across your pot's outer lugs?

__________________
WTLT 2012
PBT Native
Gear
GG&A BotB Best Rig 2012

Blktiger0

I checked it with the hot lead on the lug the hot wire of the pup used tobe wired to and with the common on the case of the pot as a ground.

If I do it across the lugs, does it matter which of the three I use?

__________________
My Rig:
Moser Bastard V
- Pups: Bridge
Epi Les Paul Standard
- Pups: Bridge Neck
Egnater Vengeance
- JCA24S w/WGS Retro 30s
- ZW-45 Crybaby
- MXR 10-Band EQ
- ISP Decimator
(^Those are links^ )

Blktiger0

From the middle (the one the Hot from the pickup was wired to) to the outside toward the top (which has the switch wiring to it) is .002 (set to 2k), from the middle to the bottom one (which has a jumper from the lead to the ground solder on the back of the pot) is .027 and from the outside to outside is .029

__________________
My Rig:
Moser Bastard V
- Pups: Bridge
Epi Les Paul Standard
- Pups: Bridge Neck
Egnater Vengeance
- JCA24S w/WGS Retro 30s
- ZW-45 Crybaby
- MXR 10-Band EQ
- ISP Decimator
(^Those are links^ )

mmolteratx

Yes, must be the outer 2.

__________________
WTLT 2012
PBT Native
Gear
GG&A BotB Best Rig 2012