Have you had a bad SD JB?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rick Lee
  • Start date Start date
The~Kid said:
Sounds like that JB was dropped or something :dunno:
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Would dropping it cause that? I know it can potentially break the magnet, but lots of pickups can still work fine with a broken magnet. You'd be surprised how many old pickups in old beater guitars have pickups with cracked magnets.
 
Check your resistance readings first non-split as a full humbucker. Then split the pickup and see what DCR readings you get split. I suspect your coil splitting switch might be going bad. Those individual coil wires are quite thin and delicate and you can damage them when stripping the insulation causing micro-breaks of the wire that then end up getting more resistance or breaking completely under the insulation.

If the wires are ok and DCR readings are fine I'm not sure what else it could be.
 
anomaly said:
Would dropping it cause that? I know it can potentially break the magnet, but lots of pickups can still work fine with a broken magnet. You'd be surprised how many old pickups in old beater guitars have pickups with cracked magnets.
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Yeah I don't know but it could be that.....


I have a couple current production JBs and all work great but an older one I have in a guitar hit the floor pretty hard and yeah it's been microphonic ever since so it may be that :dunno:
 
Intermittent stuff is the worst, and I cannot reproduce it when playing through my practice amp - old GK 250ML. Only happens with the big tube amps.
 
I have had at least a dozen JBs over the years and countless Duncan pickups and only had a defective Antiquity Surfer Strat pickup dead right out of the box. I also received a Fralin humbucker pickup about 3 years ago directly from them, that was shorted and measured only 3.5K so chit happens!
 


Anyone know who builds this guitar used in the Aggressor humbucker video?
He's got a good tone/and chops going on.

There is a name engraved on the tail piece.

Dean?
 
anomaly said:
Would dropping it cause that? I know it can potentially break the magnet, but lots of pickups can still work fine with a broken magnet. You'd be surprised how many old pickups in old beater guitars have pickups with cracked magnets.
Click to expand...
The wire in pickups is super thin; sometimes already corroded wire, or bad solder at the eyelets, can get broken with a physical jolt like a drop.

On a new pickup, I would think something that already had some production errors (less than spec wire, bad solder on the production line, etc) could fall victim to that.

Lindy Fralin has youtube videos of repairing pickups that might be of interest.
 
In all fairness I have drifted a few times... but I've been running JB's solid for 20+ years. I have to be in the hundreds running through and I've never had an issue. I'd swap guitars or check wiring. There is always the chance... but I haven't seen it.
 
SD JB's [Jeff Beck endorsement that fell thru] were cool in early 80's cuz there wasn't much else. But thats about it.
 
reignman454 said:
In all fairness I have drifted a few times... but I've been running JB's solid for 20+ years. I have to be in the hundreds running through and I've never had an issue. I'd swap guitars or check wiring. There is always the chance... but I haven't seen it.
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That's a lotta JB! If I had an extra $60 lying around, I'd buy and send you a Planet Tone Agressor for testing. Comments say it is like a clearer JB.
 
If you are hating the newer SD JB those Jalen FW pickups are wound to very very early JB specs which were sometimes assymetrically wound coils. Some people like them and compare them to the old JB's.
 
Music&Chaos said:
That's a lotta JB! If I had an extra $60 lying around, I'd buy and send you a Planet Tone Agressor for testing. Comments say it is like a clearer JB.
Click to expand...
I'll try one. You ever used one? I have multiple mj JB's laying around and a few RTM's.

I can honestly say if anything, I've found the 80's ones to be less reliable from people swapping guitars, in and out etc.
 
reignman454 said:
In all fairness I have drifted a few times... but I've been running JB's solid for 20+ years. I have to be in the hundreds running through and I've never had an issue. I'd swap guitars or check wiring. There is always the chance... but I haven't seen it.
Click to expand...
And I thought my two-dozen+ JB number was excessive lol
 
Seymour Duncan's have extremely low failure rates. Over 90% of the pickups returned to Duncan as "defective" have nothing wrong with them. It is almost always installer error or in a pickup that has been installed for a while, the pot, the switch, the jack going bad or a cold solder joint.
 
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