Author Topic: Neck pickup dead on 811952 (Read 169 times)

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

David Houck · « **Reply #1 on:** April 15, 2007, 06:56:15 PM »

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

811952 · « **Reply #2 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*

811952 · « **Reply #3 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

811952 · « **Reply #4 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

mica · « **Reply #5 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 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.

lembic76450 · « **Reply #6 on:** April 19, 2007, 06:25:46 PM »

Dave,

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

811952 · « **Reply #7 on:** April 20, 2007, 05:16:30 AM »

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

John

David Houck · « **Reply #8 on:** April 20, 2007, 08:09:26 PM »

Kenn; done; thanks!

811952 · « **Reply #9 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

mica · « **Reply #10 on:** April 26, 2007, 05:52:16 PM »

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

811952 · « **Reply #11 on:** May 04, 2007, 08:44:20 AM »

New pickup fixed it.

David Houck · « **Reply #12 on:** May 07, 2007, 03:02:34 PM »

Congrats!!!