Was I wrong about this pickup?

[kurdt]

Hi,

Last night I finally got around to reading up about how to test pickups with a multimeter, and it turned out to be a simple enough process (testing 4 wire humbuckers was a bit confusing at first, but got there in the end).

So I'm going threw some old pickups I've got laying around and testing each of them, and I come to a single coil pickup that I thought was broken as one of the wires had snapped. I tested it anyway, but the multimeter showed that it had the resistance it was supposed to (6.5K), so maybe I'm wrong and it's not actually broken?

Unfortunately I havn't got a spare guitar I can wire it up to, to test it properly.

The wire that has snapped is one of the thin wires that go around the outside of the eyelets, looking at it, I guess that doesn't break the circuit (?), as the hook up wires and the wires coming from the coil are still connected together in the eyelet.

Do these wires that go around the outside of the eyelet serve any other purpose than just keeping the wire in place while they solder it?

I've been looking for the answer online but havn't come up with anything.

This is the wire I'm talking about (excuse the dodgy ms paint diagram !) ...



Any info would be appreciated.

Cheers

[JohnH]

kurdt - if you touch the wires across a guitar cord into a clean amp, and tap the poles of the pickup with a screwdriver tip, it should make a solid thump from the amp. If it does that, then it is probably working.

[4real]

It's the wire to from the coil to the lead wires that count, they tend to tie and wind around the eyelet to make it secure and give more wire to solder to there. It may be a bit more fragile so be careful if attempting to solder to the eyelet or avoid doing that.

It probably is working...to get an idea of how it might sound...wire it to a guitar cable directly, plug it into an amp and hold it over the strings of a guitar. Move the pickup around a bit to see the effects of pickup placement and distance from strings and such for extra bonus points!

[kurdt]

Brilliant ... I just checked it by touching the wires to a guitar lead as you both suggested, and the thud of the screw driver touching the pickup up poles is loud and clear.

So looks like it is working after all.

Cheers guys, thanks for the info ... ya just saved me from chucking out a good pickup

[gumbo]

Now all you have to do is learn to play your guitar with a screwdriver....