Delberthot Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 I have a strange one and a first for me in 31 years of playing: I have a jazz bass and on the A string of the bridge pickup there is no sound. There is something but it sounds like an extreme envelope filter, as in the really squashed sound. When I touch the pickup with a screwdriver the poles on the A only don't seem to be magnetic, the others appear normal. Is this a replacement job or can anything be done to salvage it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikay Posted June 24, 2018 Share Posted June 24, 2018 (edited) That's an unusual one! If the A string pole pieces are no longer magnetic then that would do it, but how that could happen is a bit of a mystery. Sounds like a replacement job to me. Or you could try and re-magnetize the dead poles with a rare earth magnet - https://forums.fender.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=100572 Edited June 24, 2018 by ikay 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mybass Posted June 24, 2018 Share Posted June 24, 2018 As an experiment some years ago I once tried pushing a pole piece upwards to be closer to a string to try and gain more volume off that string but the pole piece stopped responding and lost volume. Luckily pushing it back down regained volume so I could only assume maybe I earthed out that pole piece? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delberthot Posted June 24, 2018 Author Share Posted June 24, 2018 2 hours ago, ikay said: That's an unusual one! If the A string pole pieces are no longer magnetic then that would do it, but how that could happen is a bit of a mystery. Sounds like a replacement job to me. Or you could try and re-magnetize the dead poles with a rare earth magnet - https://forums.fender.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=100572 Thanks for this, I've ordered one and am going to give it a try before I change it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted June 24, 2018 Share Posted June 24, 2018 Hi I bought a fender jazz bass last year at a slightly reduced price because the guy told me the bridge pickup didn’t work on only the A string. I put it into pmt for a set up and expecting a new pickup. The engineer there said the pole piece had been put in upside down in the factory charged me £35 all in problem solved Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delberthot Posted June 25, 2018 Author Share Posted June 25, 2018 I managed to find a couple of rare earth magnets I already had in the house and put them on the poles about 5pm last night. I've just checked them and there does seem to be a bit of magnetism in the poles now so I'm going to leave them on the for the rest of the day and see how they are tonight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 Are the pole pieces on this pickup actually supposed to magnetic or should they be attached to a magnetic base plate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delberthot Posted June 26, 2018 Author Share Posted June 26, 2018 After a couple of days with these magnets attached and checking every so often the result is that they've done exactly nothing I've decided to replace both pickups and get myself a new wiring loom while I'm at it as one of the volumes is a touch scratchy. BTW there was no magnet attached underneath so assume that the poles themselves are magnetic I've gone for a '62 neck pickup and '75 bridge pickup - both are Fender parts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BreadBin Posted June 26, 2018 Share Posted June 26, 2018 To go completely dead suggests an open circuit to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted June 27, 2018 Share Posted June 27, 2018 22 hours ago, BreadBin said: To go completely dead suggests an open circuit to me. On one string only? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BreadBin Posted June 27, 2018 Share Posted June 27, 2018 Yes, on that magnet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikay Posted June 27, 2018 Share Posted June 27, 2018 (edited) Surely open circuit on a single coil would kill the whole pickup not just one string? Edited June 27, 2018 by ikay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BreadBin Posted June 27, 2018 Share Posted June 27, 2018 It's OK, I don't know what I am talking about! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbyrne Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 I had this kind of thing a while back. It turned out the young owner had taken a string from an acoustic bass & put it on his electric. Put a standard electric string on and all worked fine. G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delberthot Posted June 28, 2018 Author Share Posted June 28, 2018 no such luck I'm afraid - brand new set of D'addario XLs were put on it. TBH I didn't think to make sure that the pickups were working before changing the strings. I've never had a faulty pickup before - faulty preamp but never a faulty pickup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mybass Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 https://www.stewmac.com/How-To/Trade_Secrets/Conquering_an_UNDEAD_Strat_pickup.html?lac_guid=05dffce6-e67a-e811-80de-ecb1d775572a&utm_campaign=ts0308&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_content=ts0308_C_20180628 might be something of interest for you about dead pickups here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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