I have a deluxe with a near-dead neck pickup (1997, Gen1). It's almost dead. You can hear a faint sound with distortion. If I leave the tone clean, you can't hear the pickup. I'm not sure what is causing it. I'm thinking there may be a bad wire in the pickup, but I don't know how to test that hypothesis. Do you have a neck pickup I can buy?
Thanks @vjmanzo With my limited knowledge of physics, which is close to none, I desoldered the pickup and put the wires against a guitar cable and got signal from the pickup putting a metal against the pole pieces. So I think the pickup is not broken. I may have issues in the wiring or the pickup selector. I soldered the pickup back on the pickup selector and I still get no sound from it. The bridge pickup sounds fine. Can it be the pickup selector switch that has the neck position broken, or that's not how it works I probably should take it to a guitar tech or someone else.
The wiring looks accurate per the diagram. I have the Red&Green on 7; the Black on 10; the Gray on 11; and the White on 6. I don't understand why there is no sound from the pickup. Again, I get signal from the pickup when I put the wires against a guitar cable and touch the pole pieces. But if the pickup selector was bad, how come the bridge pickup works fine. So the Bridge position and the Middle position work. The one that doesn't emit any sound is the neck position.
Sounds like the pickup is the problem; if it were me, in lieu of trying to find a replacement Gen 1, I would send that pickup to DiMarzio and ask them to fix it. Easy peasy!
Yes, but before ordering something, how do I know for sure it's the pickup? When I had the pickup out of the guitar, I used a guitar cable with a wire on the ground and another on the tip of the guitar cable, and I got signal from the pickup (touching the pole pieces with a metal). So the pickup isn't broken.
Sounds like an oxidation problem, very common to all guitars. Corrosion can impair or interrupt an electrical connection.
Have you tried spraying contact cleaner into the pot wipers and the pickup selector switch?
Give it several sprays. Then, in between, yank it like a monkey in a Mango tree!
p.s. I would also test the DC resistance using a multi meter. That will confirm if the pickup is really putting out what you think it is. A DiMarzio Super distortion should come in around 11-14+ KΩ IIRC.
"A little song, a little dance, A little seltzer down your pants" -Chuckles the Clown Guitars:https://legend.barryeames.com
And at the risk of sounding like a broken record...the ribbon cable connectors! Unplug the ribbon cables from the board and give the ends a clean, use the spray on a cotton bud. Clean the connectors as well.
Mine once had untraceable intermittent sudden volume dropout problem, went through new switch and everything before this is what it turned out to be.
If that doesn't help, then unsolder the wires again and test the pup, check the DiMarzio site for color coding etc, but you should be able to figure it out, 4 wires, ie a pair for each coil of the pickup.
If the pickup is indeed broken it's no big deal to have it rewound, any pickup builder can do it, i've had mine done at different times. Does it sound markedly different? Not that i can tell, but i had them re-wound at a time when i was playing guitar for a living, so didn't really have time to "cork-sniff" so to speak...
Barry wrote: ↑Mon Jun 28, 2021 2:39 pm
Have you tried spraying contact cleaner into the pot wipers and the pickup selector switch?
I was thinking about the contact cleaner. I'll buy one tomorrow from the local Home Depot. It could very well be that in the process of soldering and desoldering the pickups, too much rosin flux might have permeated the selector. I used a lot of rosin flux to try to clean up the old residue of solder. So the selector could very well be flooded inside; I don't know. It could also be broken. Maybe I heated it up too much and cooked it inside, in which case I have a Dimarzio EP1111 that looks identical to the original and will probably work.
Big Swifty wrote: ↑Fri Jul 02, 2021 4:43 am
Use the spay in the switch, go easy though.
Unplug the ribbon cables from the board and give the ends a clean, use the spray on a cotton bud. Clean the connectors as well.
Yeah, this is something I'll try. I basically put down the guitar and ordered a few components like a pair of Gen2 DiMarzio pickups, a DiMarzio 3-way ON ON ON switch (EP1111), and some new rosin-core solder. I'll start with the contact cleaner. If it doesn't work, I'll try the brand EP1111, and last the pickups. Do you know if the EP1111 can be wired like the original selector? It looks identical to the original on the guitar. I'm wondering if it uses a different logic for the connections. Has anyone tried an EP1111 on a prerefined Fly?
Alejandro wrote: ↑Sun Jul 04, 2021 11:03 pm
Do you know if the EP1111 can be wired like the original selector? It looks identical to the original on the guitar. I'm wondering if it uses a different logic for the connections. Has anyone tried an EP1111 on a prerefined Fly?
Yes, that switch is a direct replacement for the original.
There are actually switches with a longer toggle around that are suitable as well, i think from Mouser Electronics, the part numbers were on the old forum...*sigh...
But before you try anything else, clean the ribbon connectors.
Really.
Simple first step that could save a lot of trouble.
I probably should take it to a guitar tech or someone else.
