Dead Pickup?

[guitgeek]

I just replaced my pickguard on my '63 reissue stratocaster and now the bridge pickup is no longer working (it only makes a loud hum sound when activated). I used a ohm meter to check continuities and everything seems to check out. The only apparent abnormality seems to be the resistance across the bridge pickup's terminals which is an open. The resistance for the neck and middle pickups are ~6 ohms each. Do I have a dead pickup? What happened? Can I fix it or do I need to replace it?

--guitgeek

[Tim C.]

If you are reading no resistamce between the two terminals on the bridge pickup itself then you have a dead pickup.

Most likely in the process of removing the pickups from the old pickguard and putting them in the new one you nicked one of the very tiny wires that come from the winding.

Once in awhile you can repair them if you are very careful and know how to use a soldering iron.

Remove the pickup and inspect the area on top by the two holes that go through the bobbin. There is a VERY small wire that goes from the winding of the pickup through each hole. Try to see which one you broke.

If it is the end of the outer winding you can remove a couple turns from the pickup and run it back through the hole and resolder it.

If you are uncomfortable doing this yourself then have one of us here do it that have done this before.

If it is the inside winding, the pickup may not be repairable.

Let us know.

Good Luck,
Tim C. :)