Strat. Dead pup. Noisy.

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Looking for some direction..... or confirmation.

The neck pup on my Strat died. Worked one day. Went on vacation. Came home. Nothing. Both bridge and middle work just fine. Switch positions 1-3 work as advertised. Pos. 4 gets me middle but no neck. Pos. 5 is dead.

Got out my ohm meter. Did the quicky check by plugging patch cord into jack. All knobs on 10. Got a reading off bridge and middle. (10ish ohms ) Zip on neck. And yes. I realize 10 ohms is not accurate. Just proof that neck pup ain’t doing something right.

Also have hum/buzz when I didn’t before..... unless I have hand/fingers on more than one string or as I found last night, touch metal sleeve on cord while while plugged into guitar

So..... suspect ground issue. Bad solder joint. All the above.

Gonna be doing an R&R on the pick guard and replace it with a cooler looking guard, so I’m going to be under the hood. Got some other things I’m doing while I have things apart.

Any thoughts where I might start looking? Pretty sure it’s a wiring problem rather than a pup just mysteriously going dead.
 
chilipeppermaniac said:
Solder joint, loose wire/joint, ground, Jack or switch, dirty pot.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Pretty sure pots okay since all is fine with the other pups/switch positions. Fortunately I know my way around a soldering iron and ohm meter. Hoping I get in there and find an issue with the wire from pup to switch. That’d be way easy to fix.
 
Nice thing about a Strat vs my G400. I can pull the whole thing off the guitar and set it on the bench to check things. Not like having to work inside a control cavity.
 
I'm sure you'll figure it out. But I hope you provide us Nerds with some nice detailed pics of before and after of the repair job... :fingersx:
 
Did you do any work on it or near where metal filings could have gotten into the pickup?
My guess is switch or wire/solder joint as well.
maybe the ground wire for that pickup came away somehow...
either way it shouldnt be too hard to remedy.
 
jtcnj said:
Did you do any work on it or near where metal filings could have gotten into the pickup?
My guess is switch or wire/solder joint as well.
maybe the ground wire for that pickup came away somehow...
either way it shouldnt be too hard to remedy.
Click to expand...

I've done nothing to it other than play it since I got it a bit over a year ago. Just now getting the urge to (1) fix the dead pup (2) make a couple cosmetic mods to make it my guitar.
 
What kind of pickups are they? If one is in fact dead I have a set from a MIM Standard you can have...
 
Sp8ctre said:
What kind of pickups are they? If one is in fact dead I have a set from a MIM Standard you can have...
Click to expand...
Fender Noiseless. Came with the guitar. Pretty sure it's a wiring issue. Pups don't generally puke for no apparent reason.
 
Sp8ctre said:
Had it near any neodymium magnets? They will kill a pickup.
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I have not. Closest it comes to any magnet other than its own is my Traynor that has a 12” Celestion Vintage 30. Sucker has a big magnet but either ceramic or alnico. But that’s good to know.
 
could be the switch.....I have hjad more switches (or connections AT switches) fail than pickups fail-- actually I trully only ever had 1 BAD pickup------ in an SG 60's TRIBUTE-----long story didnt end real well -- the SG got traded for a VOX Virage (shoulda kept THAT ONE DAMN IT) which got sold for a ....which got flipped for .....oh never mind
 
Well...... opened the hood last night. Chased wires and found the following:

Bridge pickup:
upload_2018-12-5_7-54-6.jpeg

Neck pickup:
upload_2018-12-5_7-54-45.jpeg

Gonna pull the neck pup out of the circuit completely and test, but it looks like the pickup may have broke. Everything else looks good.
 
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