how many techs broke your customers pups too?

[pupoholic]

this month alone - i have had 5 'paid techs' breaking wires or being pretty stupid,
one even letting mass amounts of steel wool get in -around and up under the chrome cover -

I've fixed 5 pups - this month alone -

these Techs always tell the same lie --
"all i did was I took it out of the box and measured it and it was dead" --
but they left screwdriver imprints right thru the wire!

my customers have done better at handling pups then the techs that they pay do..
just what are these repair shops hiring as a tech these days?
"hey I put in a few car stereos" "dude your hired!"

[Possum]

...

You do way more pickups than I do but I've had a few like that. The last one was a tele bridge, and the guy was actually MAD at me for sending a defective pickup. Well, I put fabric tape over the magnet wire leads to try to protect them, so when peeling the tape of there was a perfect imprint of a phillips head screwdriver that cut through the wire, I photographed it and sent it to him, and he shut up real fast. I fixed it for free using copper tape jumper rather than rewinding it and told him if it ever failed I'd fix it for free. Fortunately he loved the pickup so I didn't leave any bad taste in his mouth on parting. You're right, the only qualification for being a guitar "tech" is the ability to turn on an ohmeter. The good ones are real rare, probably because it doesn't pay shit. The good ones are expensive....

[Possum]

....

I saw a StewMac trick where Eric covers the magnet wire leads with super glue, its kind of ugly but it would take alot to rip through that stuff.....

[David Schwab]

just what are these repair shops hiring as a tech these days? "hey I put in a few car stereos" "dude your hired!"

I had a customer come to me with a Yamaha baritone guitar (the Ty Tabor model). He said he got is used and there was a problem with a few of the frets buzzing.

So he takes it to Guitar Center, and they have their tech guy work on it... he also runs his own guitar repair business. He's apparently not a kid either. So he tells the guy that he had to do a partial re-fret, and charges him like $250. But the guitar was still buzzing around the 3rd fret under the high E string.

So I take a look at it, and you can see where there was a chip missing from the fret, and the guy just filed down 3 or 4 or the frets on that side... it made the neck look twisted! He never replaced those frets, it was very obvious.

So I had to replace the first 5 frets on the guitar to fix the problem.

I'd hate to see what kind of electrical work this hack would do!

[SkinnyWire]

I've been pretty lucky - just a few hacks over the years. Had one guy and his "tech" short out the hookup on a fresh pickup. I shipped a replacement and asked him to send the original back. I have no idea what they used on this thing but the braid looked like it had been in acid fumes and the wad of solder used to connect the braid to a pot had melted all the way through to the center conductor. I cut it off past the "tech work" and the pickup was fine. Gave it to a friend and he's still using it today.

[David Schwab]

... wad of solder used to connect the braid to a pot had melted all the way through to the center conductor.

Probably used acid core solder and a soldering gun. You should never use a soldering gun around pickups... the tips generate a strong magnetic field!

[HJM]

this month alone - i have had 5 'paid techs' breaking wires or being pretty stupid,

Fairly regular, about 4 this year by pro techs. I find customers are a lot more cautious than techs, when it's their own guitar and their own hard earned cash that bought the pickup it makes them careful! It's just another job for many techs.

the only qualification for being a guitar "tech" is the ability to turn on an ohmeter.

You're lucky if some can manage that

I'd hate to see what kind of electrical work this hack would do!

You never know - he could be great at electronic work....I've had a couple of really high end luthier guitars ($4000+) in the workshop in the last few weeks that the woodwork, fretting and finish were perfect but some really rudimentary errors on the wiring - mainly down to incorrect shielding on long wire runs to selector switches.

[jrfrond]

I do all of the guitar work in our shop, despite the fact that I have two other techs who are accomplished guitarists and work on their own guitars. This is how I maintain a high level of QC with axes.

[SK66]

Just because you own/work in a guitar shop doesn't mean you know a damn thing about fixing/wiring them....but customers will believe it if you say you do!
Many shops have "under skilled" techs.....(I'm trying to be nice)

[mick]

Had a situation a couple of months ago where a so called tech wired a set up incorrectly to push pull pots , the customer was very disappointed with the tones " very thin and noisy all the time " he eventually wired them correctly himself after I assured him they were wired wrong..and had the decency to call me again to let me know they were actually ok and not at fault.., some customers would no doubt have taken the tech's word that the pickups were at fault , which is not real cool ,

[David Schwab]

Had a situation a couple of months ago where a so called tech wired a set up incorrectly to push pull pots , the customer was very disappointed with the tones " very thin and noisy all the time " he eventually wired them correctly himself after I assured him they were wired wrong..and had the decency to call me again to let me know they were actually ok and not at fault.., some customers would no doubt have taken the tech's word that the pickups were at fault , which is not real cool ,

How many of you here supply printed instructions with your pickups? I do this. I always assume someone wont have a clue about how to wire something up. So I looked at the various instruction sheets that come with DiMarzio, Duncan, EMG, and Bartolini, and made up my own version.

I wire my 4 conductor cables using DiMarzio's color code... I figured they were first with that, why not use it as a standard? It's pretty silly how many pickup makers use the same four colors, but wire them differently. Then you have Schaller, who doesn't even use the same colors! It just creates a world of confusion, even for seasoned techs. Sometimes you get an unknown pickup, and you have no idea how they have it wired... then you have to read the coils and it's trail and error.

So you can see how someone not as savvy as they could be, would wire up a pickup out of phase with itself... though they should really know better! Especially if they are calling themselves professional.

[mick]

I don't supply a wiring diagram but most of my customers are older and seem able to fit a set of pickups ok.., I use the same colour code as Duncan does , the thinking behind that was that most tech's ( or customers..)should be familiar with that colour code..it's a good point about a wiring diagram though and I am giving it some serious thought..

[Stevenson]

this month alone - i have had 5 'paid techs' breaking wires or being pretty stupid,
one even letting mass amounts of steel wool get in -around and up under the chrome cover -

I've fixed 5 pups - this month alone -

these Techs always tell the same lie --
"all i did was I took it out of the box and measured it and it was dead" --
but they left screwdriver imprints right thru the wire!

my customers have done better at handling pups then the techs that they pay do..
just what are these repair shops hiring as a tech these days?
"hey I put in a few car stereos" "dude your hired!"

Any good tech would never damage a pickup and would never use steel wool. I use Carborundum sanding sponges that come in grits up to 1500. Now let's talk about people's bizarre need to touch magnet wire and pickup coils even after they've been told that the wire is thin and fragile.

Ted

www.stevensonguitars.com

[Stan H]

Any good tech would never damage a pickup and would never use steel wool. I use Carborundum sanding sponges that come in grits up to 1500. Now let's talk about people's bizarre need to touch magnet wire and pickup coils even after they've been told that the wire is thin and fragile.

"DO NOT PUSH THIS BUTTON!"

[pupoholic]

seems real Techs fix everything with duct tape - then grab a beer on stage left - I don't know why the other techs try to do such a great job... just twist the wires together - duck tape the pup in and grab a brew-ski