Pickup Magnetization

[Droptune]

Hey Everyone,

Finally got my NFV1 back from getting the bridge pickup re-wired as there was a disconnect in the system somewhere! I will update my other post with an new wiring diagram so hopefully others can reference it in the future as these "passive" Niteflys seem to have little reference documentation. Anyways the bridge pickup wasn't connected when I bought the guitar so I was unsure if it was the pickup itself or a wiring issue. I got the wiring sorted and picked the guitar up on the weekend.

Upon trying out the bridge pickup I've noticed the low E string is barely audible and in general the pickup seems to tinny.

Thanks!

[vjmanzo]

Hi @Droptune—did you see this post by @mmmguitar?

Maybe a good starting point?

[Barry]

Rewinding is major surgery so, yup, always wise to do the simple things first (assuming you've already slapped a multimeter on this bad boy and checked resistance, induction and all that good stuff).

[mmmguitar]

@Droptune,

So the bridge single coil was dead or had some other issue, you had it rewound and, now that it’s rewound, everything is wired and functioning correctly - with the exception of the bridge pup signal being really weak on its own? When it’s switched in parallel with the middle pup, does the guitar put out exactly the same thin sound, or does it sound mostly like the number 3 switch position, but with the weak bridge pup added to it? Do you know what kΩ the pickup was rewound to, and did you solder the pickup wires directly to the jack to be sure there’s nothing else in the signal path causing any issue?

If it comes down to the alnico rods being degaussed as you suspect, these two videos explain the diagnosis and fix pretty well:





Bonus third video (just skip forward until he finally gets to it):

[Droptune]

@mmmguitar

The pickup had a loose solder joint beleive, so it was reconnected and tested by my Tech. He noticed it was weaker so raised it, but that's all he could do at the time. The pickup has not been rewound yet or anything. Overall the pup sounds weak and tinny but more noticeably the Low E string is barely audible and extremely weak in comparison to the rest of the strings on that pickup. If I run it in parallel with the middle, it's definitely louder and more full, but not as aggressive as the middle pup alone.

I will try the magnetization method in the video you suggested, seems easy enough to do before I go into anything further.

Thanks

[mmmguitar]

Ah. Thanks for elaborating. At the end of the day, purchasing a replacement will likely be a safer bet than rewinding, if recharging the low E slug doesn’t help.