Pickup cutting out

[alexa3020]

Hi All, acquired a used American ultra jazz bass recently. I have found the bridge pickup is cutting out. You can get it to come back on with a wiggle of the pickup.

what’s the most likely reason for it to be cutting out? Loose solder joint maybe?

should I attempt to fix it myself given that I’m novice with this type of thing and it’s an expensive bass that I don’t want to brick! It’s also active to complicate things further

cheers

Alex

[Bigguy2017]

Yes, sounds like a bad solder joint - either in the pickup (at the thin coil wire connections) or in the control cavity.

If you are really careful then unscrew the pickup, lift off the cover and have a good look at the solder joints - look for bad joints or a loose coil wire - the fix could be as easy as reflowing the solder.

If it's the coil wire it's a bit of a fiddle - scrape of about 3mm of insulation and re-solder (this needs three hands!).

If it's at the pot end it's a lot easier to re-solder.

If you don't feel confident then take it to a good (?!) repair place - if available.