Telecaster pickup broken(?) How to repair?

N

nlundberg

Jul 9, 2012
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7
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#1
Hi,
I have this lovely telecaster. Great sound. Its been sitting in a closet for many years and when I plugged it in there was no sound. Or, I get static sound unless I put my fingers on the strings (this is expected ofc). I opened it up and all looked fine. Since I have no workshop at home I just tried to put the tip and sleeve of the instrument cable in different spots in the electronics to see if I could hear the strings at any point. Not even when I put it so it connected straight to the pickup there was any sound.

How do I trouble shoot this? Use a multimeter?

If the pickup is the problem, how do I repair it?

Why does it break when it has been indoors in a closet all the time?

I am not found of the idea of getting new parts for the instrument, I want to repair it.( I want to keep its sound and its looks. )

I am quite decent at soldering electronics but I am not confident in repairing this type of instruments. So I really want to make sure I go about it the right way before I start tinkering.

Very thankful for input and help

All good,
N

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#2
Wonderful bass. However after looking at the pictures one answer to how does it go bad while just sitting would be corrosion. That could affect everything from the output jack, potentiometers or pickup windings.

To start I’d probably disconnect one of the pickup wires from the volume pot and read the resistance across the pickup hot and ground. Without looking it up I’d expect 5-8Kohms. Note that if you’re concerned with absolute originality don’t unsolder anything, we’ll have to figure out a different way to test.
 
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#3
That is one very cool old slab bass.
I'm not a fix it up expert, but it sure looks like corrosion has set in and is probably the problem.
The easy fix would be new pickup and wiring harness. That would make it a player the fastest, and probably even the least expensive option.
On the other hand, if your wanting to restore it, get yourself a multimeter, and start going through it, cleaning and checking as you go.
You could always replace the electronics first, making it a player again, and then restore the original parts and swap them back in.
Get that old girl back on the battlefield! 😏👍
 
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#6
As mentioned, there’s a lot of corrosion going on there, especially when it comes to a pickup with exposed guts. First thing to do is plug it in, amp up, and tap the pole pieces with something steel like a screwdriver or Allen wrench and see if any sound comes through the speaker or not. If sound/noise comes through the speaker then you know the pickup is likely not the problem. Rewinding is an excellent option if it’s toast.
 
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#7
Rotate the pots back n forth quickly a dozen times each. See if that changes anything? Pull the back cover off the pots to see what you have in there? Broken wire, dirty jack? All that corrosion like mentioned is the problem. I wouldn't be afraid to "slowly tackle it and find out what the problem is. Good luck!
 
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#8
Before you unsolder any leads on the p/u (for a voltmeter test) spray some DetoxiT D5 into the pots and turn 'em back and forth a bunch of times. Also, polish the inside of the jack channel and contact point.

(Instrument cable OK?)

Finally I guess, unsolder the pickup leads going to the pots and check for ohms of the p/u. Around 7k more or less.

If the pickup is dead, yeah you can get it rewound or you can buy a S. Duncan Antiquity II Telecaster Bass pickup which is pretty much made like the originals.

If the p/u is reading ohms, then the pots might be trashed preventing sound. You can easily keep the old pots together by unsoldering only the p/u wires and the wires going to the jack. Replace the pots and probably the jack also. If the p/u is good, the new pots and jack should get you going again.

And by the way...............YOUR TELECASTER BASS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


S. Duncan Antiquity II
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#10
Hey all thanks a lot for the input.

I bought this bass more than 20 years ago in a shop in New York and it looked exactly like this. Like its been sitting in a garage for ages. Corrosion and all. I have both pickup guards too but I removed them because they were in the way. I have changed the jack quite a while ago (but I still got the old one).
Will corrosion go faster if it is quite a bit there already, or should it be a steady build up?
Im fine with exchanging pots and desoldering (unless someone says its a bad idea) and I prefer to do stuff myself in order to learn.

But I am afraid that it can be the pickups because I have never heard corrosion make something this dead quiet/non responsive.

What happens when a pickup goes bad? Could it be that the wires going out if the pickup has been cut off somehow? And it is a bit odd that you can actually see a bit of clean copper wire at the base of the pickup when everything else it totally misscolored.
 
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#11
nlundberg said:
Hey all thanks a lot for the input.

I bought this bass more than 20 years ago in a shop in New York and it looked exactly like this. Like its been sitting in a garage for ages. Corrosion and all. I have both pickup guards too but I removed them because they were in the way. I have changed the jack quite a while ago (but I still got the old one).
Will corrosion go faster if it is quite a bit there already, or should it be a steady build up?
Im fine with exchanging pots and desoldering (unless someone says its a bad idea) and I prefer to do stuff myself in order to learn.

But I am afraid that it can be the pickups because I have never heard corrosion make something this dead quiet/non responsive.

What happens when a pickup goes bad? Could it be that the wires going out if the pickup has been cut off somehow? And it is a bit odd that you can actually see a bit of clean copper wire at the base of the pickup when everything else it totally misscolored.
Click to expand...

The wire used to wind those pickups was insulated with essentially clear enamel paint. They’re sturdy enough but sometimes it takes a minimal amount of effort to nick the insulation and cause a dead short in the pickup or the wire can break down in the coil and cause an open coil. If the short or break is near the end of the winding you can sometimes unwind a few turns, cut out the bad section and reattach the wire to the eyelet but a better solution would be to get the pickup rewound. Less likely would be the polepieces losing magnetism.
 
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#12
nlundberg said:
Hey all thanks a lot for the input.

I bought this bass more than 20 years ago in a shop in New York and it looked exactly like this. Like its been sitting in a garage for ages. Corrosion and all. I have both pickup guards too but I removed them because they were in the way. I have changed the jack quite a while ago (but I still got the old one).
Will corrosion go faster if it is quite a bit there already, or should it be a steady build up?
Im fine with exchanging pots and desoldering (unless someone says its a bad idea) and I prefer to do stuff myself in order to learn.

But I am afraid that it can be the pickups because I have never heard corrosion make something this dead quiet/non responsive.

What happens when a pickup goes bad? Could it be that the wires going out if the pickup has been cut off somehow? And it is a bit odd that you can actually see a bit of clean copper wire at the base of the pickup when everything else it totally misscolored.
Click to expand...
Yes,things that are already corroded/rusted will have an accelerated corrosion process because it’s already started. Think of a dent in a fender. If it’s starting to corrode, you’re going to want to address it as soon as possible.
In this case It could be as simple as that wire on the bottom of the bobbin on the right side has been severed. Or , is it just covered with detritus ?. Unfortunately, the wire used in pups has to be that fine in order for the sound quality we want to hear to be present. If 20 gauge wire worked just as well as 42 gauge everyone would have switched decades ago. There looks like some liquid like beer or sweat could have worked it’s way down the pole pieces and wreaked havoc with the coil causing a problem with the insulation, and now the coil is shorting out against itself. That’s why I said that if you can plug it in through an amp and tap the poles with something steel and get any sort of response at all you can possibly rule out the pickup.
 
#13
This collectible deserves the best pair of hands to resurrect it without any unnecessary modifications or cosmetic surgery, barring a need for actual repairs.

Hope you get to keep all the schmutz intac t while getting it functional agin!
 
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