randyb
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Post by randyb on Jun 21, 2009 21:54:35 GMT -5
Ok,
I was doing the screw driver test to get my polarity right as I put together my daughter's guitar and everything went great on the two hamer single pick ups. But when I went to the hamer humbucker...nothing. No connection at all, no resistance.
This humbucker only has 2 wires off it along with a bare ground wire and shielding. It should have resistance right? (Yes, I'm new to guitars, I'm just a drummer who is trying to set his kid up with her guitar.)
So can this humbucker be fixed? Or do I need to buy another one?
Thanks Randyb
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Post by newey on Jun 21, 2009 22:16:17 GMT -5
Yes, it should have on the order of 12KΩ
Make sure your meter is set to the appropriate range (20K). Measure between the black and white wires. Then measure between each covered wire and the bare wire. Report your results.
Also, does this Hamer HB have a cover on it? If not, look at the baseplate where the wires attach. Anything look disconnected?
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randyb
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Post by randyb on Jun 22, 2009 0:13:06 GMT -5
Yes, it should have on the order of 12KΩ Make sure your meter is set to the appropriate range (20K). Measure between the black and white wires. Then measure between each covered wire and the bare wire. Report your results. Also, does this Hamer HB have a cover on it? If not, look at the baseplate where the wires attach. Anything look disconnected? Yep, the meter is set to an appropriate range. Get good readings on the single pick ups, but absolutely nothing on the HB. I will pull it out and take a closer look. Basically I am looking for a broken wire? If I can reattach the wire I am in business again? Randyb
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randyb
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Post by randyb on Jun 22, 2009 1:15:44 GMT -5
Took it out and everything looks just fine. Don't know what is wrong. So do I just buy another HB pickup? I took a quick look on the internet and there are megga many types and brands.
Any suggestions on what type to buy? The two singles in it are by hamer. Something that would work with them might be?
Thanks Randyb
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Post by newey on Jun 22, 2009 5:26:11 GMT -5
Randy-
First, let's be sure what you are seeing on your meter. Do you actually get 0Ω? Or is it over-range?
An open connection somewhere would give you an over-range reading, meaning essentially infinite resistance.
0Ω implies a dead short, the 2 wires are making contact somewhere. If everything looks OK visually, then it's probably not going to be an easy repair for you.
You can replace it with virtually any HB. If you can find a Hamer replacement, that's fine, but not a necessity.
There are, as you noted, many different types across a wide range of prices. Don't look to get off really cheap, you want to get a halfway decent one. But there's no need to spend big $$ either. A decent new one can be had for $30-40.
Used, off Ebay, you may get one cheaper, but it may have suffered the same fate as the one you have now. Put it on the meter as soon as you open the UPS box.
"Matching" the single coils is not really an issue. Any HB is going to have a bit of mismatch with SCs anyway. You probably should steer clear of those HBs designated as "hot" or "overwound", those will be more likely to swamp out the output of the SCs.
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randyb
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Post by randyb on Jun 22, 2009 8:21:41 GMT -5
I get dead, no movement of my needle when I put it on the HB leads. No matter what I set my meter at. So I guess that means over range. And there doesn't seem to be anything visual in the way of wear or fraying.
So $30-40 should get me another one. Do I need it with 2 wires like the last one, or can I get away with 4 wire one too? And the $30-$40 range, is that new or used price? Are there half decent new ones that price?
Should I be able to pick them up at the local guitar shop? We have Long and Mcquade and Tom Lee(canadian stores) in my general area.
Thanks Randyb
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Post by ChrisK on Jun 22, 2009 10:51:03 GMT -5
A 4 wire pickup is the complete superset of most other "lesser wired" pickups and can be made to work in their stead. The "lesser wired" pickups tie things together internally and present less wires to the installer. You likely want a PAF or equivelent humbucker. Essentially, while you may not want a "Distortion" high output level pickup, most anything can be made to work. If you end up with one that is too hot in output level, which will usually be accompanied by it being too dark sounding, it can be wired with the coils in parallel to reduce the output level as well as to brighten it up. Duncan Designed pickups such as the "Buckshot" can be had for $30 when on sale in the U.S., but these are hot pickups. Most shops will have the odd used pickup available. These tend to be about $40 for the upscale brands such as Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio, or as much as twice that for the boutique brands. I would expect that a used generic one could be had for $20. Take your voltage/resistance meter with you to check the coil resistance to be sure. I often run into deals when I've wandered way of the beaten path. It's highly unlikely I'll find myself back that way ever, so I keep a small meter with me always. After all, while judgement comes from experience, experience comes from poor judgement.
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randyb
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Post by randyb on Jun 22, 2009 21:45:07 GMT -5
Thanks Chris,
I have tracked down a guy who has a seymour duncan JB model Trembucker humbucker that he will sell to me for $50. Thing I noticed about it is it is designed for guitars with a wider string spacing in the bridge position. I don't want this do I? I need one that has regular string spacing?
Thanks Randyb
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Post by newey on Jun 22, 2009 22:10:04 GMT -5
Not an endorsement (no stock in the company, no comp'd swag for saying this), but I have used GFS pickups from Guitar Fetish in 3 builds so far, and have been very pleased with the price to value ratio. I'd try to stay with the correct string spacing if possible, not a huge issue, but it's one of those little details we all like to get right, on the path to a good build. This misalignment can have an affect on the tone of the pickups, whether it would be audible or not your guess is as good as mine.
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randyb
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Post by randyb on Jun 22, 2009 23:41:45 GMT -5
Ok,
Another guy on another board has offered me a SD 59 neck humbucker for free. I assume I would pay shipping. He mentioned that it might not be hot enough for the bridge position though.
What do you think of this? Is it not appropriate to put a neck HB into the bridge position? I gotta say I sure like the price! I am not sure that my daughter is all that discerning with her sounds yet. Give her a few more years of playing and I am sure she will have too many guitars for all the sounds you guitarists want.
Randyb
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Post by newey on Jun 23, 2009 5:27:25 GMT -5
Hey, you can't beat that price. Shipping won't be much on a pickup, unless the guy is going to jack you on a "handling fee".
The difference in windings between the neck version of the pickup and the bridge version won't be huge. It might be an issue if you were pairing it with another HB, but since it's pairing with single coils, probably won't be a noticeable difference.
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Post by D2o on Jun 23, 2009 8:33:10 GMT -5
Randy, Free is always good (it really is "free", right - no unusual, illicit or illegal favour expectations in the future?). As for how well it matches ... I'd say you really won't know until you try it. It's worth a try ... I would wager that it will work out better than expected. And if it doesn't, what have you lost? And what have you gained? A pickup and some guitar gut experience. I'd say you can't lose. D2o P.S. Hey, I just noticed it's "paulfromcamden"s birthday ... do you think he's related to "mikefromcanmore"?
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Post by ChrisK on Jun 23, 2009 14:16:47 GMT -5
Sure, globally.
Well, since this guitar has a vibrato bridge (erroneously called a tremolo by Fender and many since), a Trembucker IS of the proper pole spacing for use with a vibro'Leo.
This spacing is about 2.07" for the Trem(o'Leo)bucker and about 1.97" for a Gibson-spaced bridge. The Trembucker spacing also works well with the Fender pattern fixed bridges (Strat and Tele) as they can have string spacings of 2.125" or more.
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randyb
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Post by randyb on Jun 23, 2009 18:22:23 GMT -5
When I hold the trembucker up against the dead hamer pick up it doesn't match up. The trembucker has the screw heads farther apart.
I am going to get the SD59 from the guy on the other board. I told him I wanted to pay shipping and send enough for him to buy a case of beer or a bottle of wine as a thank you. His was response was, "thanks...send whatever you want to..." but you don't need to . So I figure he isn't trying to rip me off. Has over 2500 posts on the other forum, so I figure he has been around a while and has a good rep.
Thanks again. Randyb
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Post by ChrisK on Jun 23, 2009 18:27:29 GMT -5
Well, you could cheat and hold the pickup against the vibro'Leo saddles and see what the string spacing really is...............
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randyb
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Post by randyb on Jul 11, 2009 9:57:26 GMT -5
Got the SD59 today in the mail. Looks good, has connectivity, but I have one question before I install it. The sd59 is a neck pick up and the wires in it are not like anything I have seen...not that I have seen much. Basically all it has off it are a single wire up the middle and a braided outer cover. When I hold the meter on the braided outer cover and the single middle wire I get resistance at about the right level for the humbucker. So just to confirm, on the sd59 the outer braided shield is the ground and the inner wire is going to be the+. Right?
Thanks Randy
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Post by newey on Jul 11, 2009 10:44:33 GMT -5
Right. I don't recall the design you were implementing with this, I have to review your other post on this project. Hopefully you weren't planning to coil split this or attempt to have the coils in parallel, as with a 2-wire HB. modifications would be required to do either of those things.
It's called a"'59" for a reason- that's the way Gibson used to make them in 1959 (and still does, in some cases). More "modern" types have 4-wire connectivity, allowing wiring of the 2 coils independently.
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