Need help figuring out whats wrong

[Nickdino]

I have an hss ibanez gio, i modded the stock pickups, took out ceramic bars and replaced them with various neodymium discs and added baseplates underneath all pickups. For some reason the guitar has almost no output in position 1 (bridge only - humbucker). Position 2 (coil nr.2 of the humbucker + middle) sounds a bit awkward compared to positions 3, 4 and 5 which sound fine, it sounds thinner but not too bad.

I wonder if i broke the humbucker, here's what i did:
First i heated the backside with a blowdryer to melt some of the wax holding the ceramic bar between both rows of polepieces, then i pushed the polepieces flush with the housing to make room for the neodymium magnets that will touch the top of the polepieces, so now the polepieces stick out at the topside of the humbucker towards the strings, then i put some double sided tape on the bottom side to secure the magnets in place, then i placed the magnets on both coils making sure each coil has a different polarity, then i added the backplate. Maybe the backplate won't improve my sound but at least it provides a connection between all the polepieces and magnets which previously the ceramic bar did, but i don't even know if that is needed.

Another thing is i had a breakage, i had to solder the black wire (ground, i think) which had come loose for some reason. I'm not sure if i did that right, i took pictures but how do i upload them?

Now if i test the humbucker by touching the poles with a metal object with the guitar plugged into an amp i get the following results:
-in position 1 (bridge): both coils produce sound but coil nr.2 (closer towards the middle) is a bit louder. With the backplate added it sounds a bit thicker and/or louder.
- in position 2 (coil nr.2 of the humbucker + middle): same as position 1 but louder, so on the humbucker the coil closest to the bridge still makes a sound, still less loud than coil nr.2. The middle pickup is about as loud as coil nr.2.

So why is the humbucker as a whole louder in position 2?

[big_teee]

Bump!
Anyone got any ideas or suggestions on this thread?
Thanks,
T

[nosaj]

Bump!
Anyone got any ideas or suggestions on this thread?
Thanks,
T

Cold Solder Joints possibly?

nosaj

[The Dude]

I think this thread should be moved to the pickup makers category instead of guitar tech. It's more likely to be seen by someone qualified to help.

[big_teee]

I moved it here, for just general trouble shooting.
You guys are better at that, than the pickup forum.
When I trouble shoot a guitar, I start with it fully assembled.
Volume pot on full, with a cord plugged in, you should be able to read the pickups from tip to shield of the guitar cord.
Flip the switch to the different pickups to see where the problem is.
As far as changing out the ceramics, with Neos, and adding baseplates under the pickups?
Don't know about that?
So maybe we need some gut shot pictures, for pickups, and control cavities?
Go from there, then maybe zero in on the pickups.
Thanks,
T

[The Dude]

......maybe we need some gut shot pictures, for pickups, and control cavities?

Yes. That would help.

[olddawg]

I would hard wire one pickup at a time to an output jack. Any difference? If one is bad.. put it back to the stock configuration. Any difference? It’s tedious but you may have to do it.

[Nickdino]

[Nickdino]

i want to upload fotos but the system is telling me i have insufficient funds. Can that be changed?

[big_teee]

It appears your main problem is the humbucker.
You may have a broken wire.
You might try taking the pickup out of the guitar, and checking the ohms reading, with a mult-meter set to K ohms.
It will probably read between 7-16 kilo-ohms, not connected to the guitar.
If you can do that, please get back to us with your findings?
T

[Nickdino]

Hi big_teee, i unsoldered the humbucker and i had to re-solder a piece of wire connecting the ground wire to the humbucker housing. I hooked it up to my multimeter, red connector to red wire black connector to white wire, ground wire not touching anything, it reads 6.98 ohm. But while i'm writing this reply the reading dropped gradually to 6.88 and still dropping slowly.

So what does this all mean? Is my humbucker broken, how can i fix it.

[Helmholtz]

it reads 6.98 ohm. But while i'm writing this reply the reading dropped gradually to 6.88 and still dropping slowly.

I assume your reading actually means 6.98kOhm (= 6980 Ohm).

The DCR drop could be explained by wire termperature. Copper resistance increases by around 4% every +10°C. So your DCR drop from 6.98k to 6.88k corresponds to a wire temperature drop by 3.7°C.

[Nickdino]

Oops, yes indeed kOhm. Thanks for clarifying, i was scratching my head about the number going down. But what does this reading mean, (it's 6.81 now) is the humbucker broken? What's my next step?

[Nickdino]

bump

is my humbucker broken? what can i do to fix it if it is?

[nosaj]

here's a WAG for you.

Do the guitar have a current working humbucker? If so put the questionable one wired up where the working one is . If the questionable one works just fine then we know you have a wiring/or ground issue.

Based on the thread the measurement of 6.8k is middle of the road and should be ok. Which is why I suggest trying it in a position that is already working just to make sure is is ok so we can move on.

nosaj