Alembic Guitars Club

Alembic products => Owning an Alembic => Troubleshooting => Topic started by: 811952 on April 15, 2007, 06:27:11 PM

Title: Neck pickup dead on 811952
Post by: 811952 on April 15, 2007, 06:27:11 PM

Well, it's been for-e-ver since I've had any troubles with the trusty Alembic.  
 
Saturday evening, about 3 hours into the gig the neck pickup just *disappeared* sonically.  
 
If I selected it with the pu selector, I got very, very faint signal (I assume it's just bleed-through from the bridge pu), but the bass was quite microphonic (odd).  
 
When selecting the bridge pu only, it wasn't microphonic at all (of course) and there was signal aplenty.  
 
I opened the bass up this morning and re-seated all the connectors, which were all rather clean and shiny for a 25 year old bass.  
 
I haven't had a chance to check it with an amp yet, but I suspect that it's either a poorly-seated (i.e. corroded) connector or perhaps one of the volume pots has finally bought the farm (neck and master vols have had a few dead spots for some time now).  
 
I will report back when I know something..  ;)
 
John

Title: Neck pickup dead on 811952
Post by: David Houck on April 15, 2007, 06:56:15 PM

Did you switch the pickup leads to see if it was a pickup?

Title: Neck pickup dead on 811952
Post by: 811952 on April 15, 2007, 07:55:05 PM

I haven't had a chance to do that yet.  It's the first thing on my list when I get in front of an amp again.  I'm hoping it's just a bad IC, because I've got spares.  *fingers crossed*  

Title: Neck pickup dead on 811952
Post by: 811952 on April 19, 2007, 05:04:28 PM

I finally had an opportunity to check it out.  The neck pickup won't pass audio per se, but it or the lead is _very_ microphonic.  I would guess that the shield has worked itself undone.  so I guess a trip (for the suspect pickup) back to the mothership is in order?  I'd rather not ship the entire instrument if I could avoid it..  ;)
 
John

Title: Neck pickup dead on 811952
Post by: 811952 on April 19, 2007, 05:07:53 PM

Oh, and yes I swapped the pickup leads back and forth several times, then swapped the ICs, moving the five 5534's into various locations on the board with the same result.
 
John

Title: Neck pickup dead on 811952
Post by: mica on April 19, 2007, 05:37:25 PM

It sounds like the pickup had a catastrophic failure if I understand right that the neck pickup was microphonic no matter which channel it was plugged into.  
 
You could send your pickup back for confirmation, but if it is a failure, there isn't any repair that can be done. If you measure the pickup with an ohmmeter, it would read infinity.  
 
You'll be back in business sooner if you order up a new pickup. If you need it for Saturday, call me by noon tomorrow and we can arrange overnight Saturday delivery. You'll need to specify the connector type ( 2-pin (http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=265) or  coaxial), the decoration (blank, Alembic engraved, Alembic in gold), and the serial number of the bass (could it be 811952?) and we can get you the proper part right away.

Title: Neck pickup dead on 811952
Post by: lembic76450 on April 19, 2007, 06:25:46 PM

Dave,
 
Seems like Mica's thread above should be in FAQ's and Must Reads.

Title: Neck pickup dead on 811952
Post by: 811952 on April 20, 2007, 05:16:30 AM

I'm in no hurry.  Email is on the way.  Thanks!
 
John

Title: Neck pickup dead on 811952
Post by: David Houck on April 20, 2007, 08:09:26 PM

Kenn; done (http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=212); thanks!

Title: Neck pickup dead on 811952
Post by: 811952 on April 26, 2007, 05:34:10 PM

Mica,
 
I sent you an email about this last Friday.  If I need to resend, let me know.
 
Thanks,
John

Title: Neck pickup dead on 811952
Post by: mica on April 26, 2007, 05:52:16 PM

Don't see anyting in the Mica inbox. Try again.

Title: Neck pickup dead on 811952
Post by: 811952 on May 04, 2007, 08:44:20 AM

New pickup fixed it.  

Title: Neck pickup dead on 811952
Post by: David Houck on May 07, 2007, 03:02:34 PM

Congrats!!!