Nocaster pickup - suddenly very quiet - Need your help here

[NewGuy410]

I just installed new Nocaster pickups in my Affinity Series Tele yesterday.
Today I was adjusting their heights and after adjusting and listening awhile, I realized that the neck pickup wasn't going to go as high as I wanted it with the current rubber grommet that was on one of the screws mounting it to the body.
After putting another rubber grommet on the one screw, I adjusted the height and then listened to how it sounded.
The neck pickup is now very quiet.
The bridge pickup is fine, however when I switch to the middle position, the "single coil hum" doesn't go away.
The wiring seems to be in tact.
I was pressing down on the pickup so that it would rest on the grommet and not just sit up loose on the screw.
Could pressing down on the pickup have messed it up?
Any advice???

[cg73cmc]

I would check inside the control cavity again - just to make sure the wiring is all good and not grounding out to something.

Pressing down on the pickup shouldn't have "messed" it up - but I suppose it depends on how hard you pressed it - and what you pressed it with. You can check the resistance of the pickups though - NoCasters are around 7.2K ohms I think (pulling that right off the top of my head).

What wiring scheme are you using? The same one the tele had when you bought it? Or did you convert it to that NoCaster "blender" thingameebob?

[NewGuy410]

I just swapped out the old pickups - left everything else stock.
I pushed the pickup down with my hand and not really hard.

I figure I'll take it to a local music shop and have them check it with a multimeter.

[NewGuy410]

What could cause a pickup to become very quiet?
I figure if the wiring was somehow bad, it would be all or nothing, but this is just very quiet now.

[NewGuy410]

So I put the original neck pickup back in and it works fine.
I still have yet to check the Nocaster neck pickup with a Multimeter.

[NewGuy410]

So I bought a multimeter and...
The stock (Squier) neck pickup: 6.8k
The stock (Squier) bridge pickup: 6.5k

The box the Nocaster pickups came in says that the resistance should be...
Neck: 9.9k
Bridge: 7.3k

This Nocaster bridge pickup: 7.1k
This Nocaster neck pickup: ??? ... Nothing shows up.

Could it really be 0Ω?

[lostpick]

Its got a tone cut active on it somehow

[NewGuy410]

Originally Posted by lostpick

Its got a tone cut active on it somehow

I'm not sure what you mean... Care to expound?

Just to clarify - the Nocaster neck pickup is not wired to the guitar.

[lostpick]

should it be quiet in the middle position?

That means the pickups have to reverse wired
reversed polarity like a strat...

i gotta go back, reread and review your issue

EDIT

ok i read

see if the the thin wire lead broke on the neck pup
where the wire is soldered on to the PUP

[NewGuy410]

Originally Posted by lostpick

see if the the thin wire lead broke on the neck pup
where the wire is soldered on to the PUP

Here?

[lostpick]

off those solder drops you should see
the coil leads coming off into the pickup
on the other side going under the cover...
they are as thin as sewing thread and can
break if you handle a pickup without watching
out for that area...but if you are reading O ohms...
measure across from each wire to the cover tab
one reading should be like = 0.02 ohms and the other
should be the full amount ie 8.6 ohms...
if there is a break the meter should not change
its state at all when you connect to PUP...
if there is a short>you should measure a fractional
amount of the total resistance on either of the wires
to cover tab which should be grounded

[NewGuy410]

Originally Posted by lostpick

off those solder drops you should see
the coil leads coming off into the pickup
on the other side going under the cover...
they are as thin as sewing thread and can
break if you handle a pickup without watching
out for that area

Looks like the one going to the white wire isn't connected

[lostpick]

its can resoldered on
but must be done quickly and carefully...
you might be able to melt the drop and pull it
to meet the wire...heat it until the solder
"jumps" on to the wire then pull off immediately

[NewGuy410]

I'm going to try and take the pickup back tomorrow.
However if I do have to fix it, would I solder it to the metal ring that the white wire goes through?

Here's the pickup...


Here is where the problem is. The red line is the wire that is not connected. And the "metal ring" I was referring to is pointed to by the green arrow.


And by the way, I really appreciate your help "lostpick".

[NewGuy410]

So... I think my problem is resolved.

I went back to the store where I bought the pickups. Since they didn't install the pickups, they felt they they were not responsible. However, they did have a Texas Special neck pickup that they let me buy for $40 (it was labeled for $65). I think that was a nice gesture. I bought it.

Then I went to a friend's (Dean Sapp) music shop. He dropped what he was doing and fixed the pickup in a couple minutes. He ran the wire to the back of the pickup, taped it into place, and soldered it back on.




As long as it works fine, I'm happy.

[NewGuy410]

Nevermind. I don't think its working. Its still quiet, and the middle position sounds just like the bridge position.
The pickup still isn't reading on the multimeter either.

I'll just throw the Texas Special in the neck position and end this headache.