If you need all 3 pickups rewound, to what degree does that negatively affect the value?
If you need all 3 pickups rewound, to what degree does that negatively affect the value?
"Blue horse-shoe loves Andicott Steel"
Depends on who rewinds them. I've seen vintage ones with Fralin rewound original pickups and they didnt loose as much value as a refinish.
But a refinish devalues in the thousands of dollars....so yes I would think that rewinds would be less, since they can be replaced for less than refin devaluation. No? or...??
Last edited by BluejazzMalmsteen; 07-01-2003 at 02:09 PM.
"Blue horse-shoe loves Andicott Steel"
Depends on who is interested in it. Some people think the original pickups have a certain sound thats lost when rewound.
To someone that thinks like that (and there are many) rewound pickupos would kill the deal.
Rewinds are almost as bad a replaced pups to me. You can still shop around & find originals if you're willing to pay the $$.
Sounds like it might be better in that case not to do a rewind unless the pickup is actually dead...but that if it's overly weak ..to simply toss it in the case, and use another pickup in the meantime. I know that gets done with cracked original pickguards.
Sounds like a very weak original is of more value than good rewind.
"Blue horse-shoe loves Andicott Steel"
That's correct. Better to save the originals as they are and use Fralins or other repros if you want to play the guitar.
The original Strat pickups are very weak.
Put them on an ohm meter before you desolder them and see what they read. If they are under 5k ohms they might need to be replaced.
Last edited by Marcondo; 07-02-2003 at 01:45 PM.
LOL... 4.2 is the highest. So what do you with those if you get replacements for the guitar? Rewind the originals? Do nothing with them and leave 'em in the case with the guitar?
"Blue horse-shoe loves Andicott Steel"
I know doodely about the vintage market but it seems to me you have to decide if that guitar is a player or a museum piece. If resale value is the main concern then keep the original pickups as they are. In fact, lock it up in a controlled environment and don't ever touch it or even look at it funny.
But if you're going to play that sucker, as God intended all guitars to be played, do what you got to do to make it sound good. Screw the resale value. Are you going to sell it anyway? Commit yourself for LIFE to that guitar! Visual yourself handing it over to your grandchild someday and saying "Well, maybe it's worth a couple bucks and maybe it ain't. Either way, it plays like a dream and sounds like choirs of angels. Now do old Papi BlueJazzMalmsteen proud, my boy!"
And he'll say, "Who the heck is Malmsteen?"
At least, I hope that's what he says.
4.2 seems way low 5.2-5.4 is about the lowest working I've seen.
I'd say if they are that weak I'd take the whole pickguard assembly off and just desolder the wires from the output jack.
Then install a whole new pickguard assembly with your fav Strat pickups in it and leave the original pickups in the original assembly to be returned to the guitar if you decided to sell it.
Hey, isn't there some way to re-magnetize those old pickups?
I only deal with player guitars. I won't touch a museum piece...because it may not really be one.Originally posted by curtisstetka
I know doodely about the vintage market but it seems to me you have to decide if that guitar is a player or a museum piece.
"Blue horse-shoe loves Andicott Steel"
The "SOUND" comes more from the MAGNET charge and the "field" more than the wire or the output of the pickup. I have had pickups that read 1K less than another that blew away the stronger pick up as far as OHM reading, stronger magnet prefered over higher output anyday, for me anyway.
A magnet will always read the same no matter how old they are. No batteries or anything to go dead once a magnet works it always works.
I've got some magnets that are 60 years old and they work just fine.
So what has happened to these pickups? I guess I thought a magnet operated somewhat along the lines of a battery. Charged shtuff (forgive the technical talk) moving from one place to another. You can't just move some shtuff back somehow?
There are some huge technical discussions about magnets and the affect of time if they age or not.
Some people say you can change the magnetic charge by striking the magnet.
Just think of all the electric motors around the world that are in things we use everyday. If magnets went bad all the electric motors would be failing at an alaming rate but what usually happens is wires burn or come loose from the armature.
Dont know if your old enough to remember the old slot car days but we used to rewind those so they would spin faster, epoxy the windings and polish it all up but we never messed with the magnets cause you didnt have to.
Also speakers work just like an electric motor except they dont spin. A signal is sent to a speaker the voice coil wound with small wire goes back and forth inside the magnet and it pushes out air which we hear as different tones. I'm sure everyone here has blown out a speaker but never had to replace the magnet just the voice coil or surround.
Last edited by Marcondo; 07-02-2003 at 10:54 PM.
That's cool information, Marcondo, thanks!
But I'm still wondering what happens when a pickups "ages"
I think the wire ages gets brittle and thats what makes them distort just a tiny bit more than when new and gives it that "Vintage" sound.
Thats about the only thing I can think of if the magnet strength is the same and the bobbins dont change the only thing left is the wire.
I've compared a new Telecaster to a 53 Telecaster pickup in the same guitar and the difference was easy to hear. The old pickup had that built in distortion just crank the amp and no pedals needed or anything it had that perfect breakup. The new one needed a pedal to get the same sorta grit.
Last edited by Marcondo; 07-03-2003 at 09:47 AM.
AFAIK the problem on the old PUps is that
a, they where wound directly on the magnets (no silk wire between) so the wire can rub the isolation off on the magnets = shortage
b, the Formvar (insulating laquer) ages, gets brittled and due to the vibrations while playing falls off and you get a nice shortage between the wires
They should have potted them with wax already from the beginning...
In the case mentioned above I would try to get an nice new (probably pre-aged) Pickguard with my favored Set of PUps, new Potis and Switch and install it. Keep the old one in a save place in case you want or have to sell the guitar later on...
Even Stevie kept the worn up Neck of No.#1 ...
just my 2c
bluesfreak :smokin
The neck is 4.2 and it's weak in sustain, but the tone is actually very good. It still manages a booming bottom end somehow, compared to my new strats. The other two pups are just very thin and weak sounding.
"Blue horse-shoe loves Andicott Steel"
Bluesfreak 68 shared some good info. What era do those things show up. What causes a pickup to die completely anyway? I had a Fralin rewind on the middle pu of my '79. I felt having a Fralin rewind was the best course of action.
Thanks,
JohnnyL
Fralin came to mind as the first sort of obvious choice, but Rolph's has the reputation of producing a more accurate vintage sound, as well as, making it look like the pickups have not been rewound.
"Blue horse-shoe loves Andicott Steel"
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