What did I do???

[PoorMan]

I need some help...

Ok...

I wound a humbucker today. Reads 7.5k. Install pickup cover, reads 0. Take cover off, 7.5k. Cover back on 0. Maybe a hot lead is hitting the cover? I don't see where it could be hitting though.

Ideas?

[kevinT]

I need some help...

Ok...

I wound a humbucker today. Reads 7.5k. Install pickup cover, reads 0. Take cover off, 7.5k. Cover back on 0. Maybe a hot lead is hitting the cover? I don't see where it could be hitting though.

Ideas?

Is it 4 conductor?

It could be hitting the cover or something else. Check all your connections where you wire the leads and hookup wire together because apparenlty when you put the cover on it is squeezing things together making one or more of the wires touch something and short out. I had this happen once a while back.

If ist 4 conductor, check especially where you stripped the outer insulation to free up the individal smaller wires because you might have nipped it too deep and gone through to the individual wire(s) and it is shorting out there.

[PoorMan]

nope. single conductor.

I fixed it, but I don't fully understand what happened. So I considered what I did differently from previous occasions.

I soldered the cover in one location on one side and on two locations on the other (i was trying to solidify it for high volume applications). That seems to have been the problem. I ground down the extra solder joint on the one side and all is well.

Why is that?

[HJM]

Must be a short, check that nothing is getting trapped down the side of the cover - is that the side that your lead out wire is?

[RedHouse]

I had a similar event a while back, same story, cover on=short, cover off=full reading.

I got out my Erlewin style magnifying head band thingy (which makes the whole world about 6 inches or so) and noticed that a single strand of the shield wire was poking through the insulation on one of the 4-conductor wires where I had soldered it to the back plate, so small a thing and so much out-of-normal-sight but it was enough to cause the problem. I re-prepped and re-soldered the braided shield.

This probably woulndn't have happened to me if I had used the commonly available 4-conductor wire most folks use, I have been making up my own 4-conductor wire out of braided shielding/sleeve wire I got at an old Surplus store that went out of business, they had huge rolls of it and on a whim I bought like 50ft just to have on hand, I slide some 26 or 28 gauge inside and call it good.

[Spence]

Could be that the cover is pushing your lead wire into the magnet or pole shoe and shoring there. Just make sure your solder joints are well taped.