Help with pup install - dimarzio

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kapo_Polenton
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Kapo_Polenton

Kapo_Polenton

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Anybody well versed in pup installations? Trying to figure out if my Dimarzio Pro Track is a dud. Had it for a few years and only put it in recently. I would think like their other buckers it is white and black tied together, green and bare to ground, red hot. For some reason i get a weird clean sound when i switch to it no matter what i do with the volume. If I take the black and white wires tied together and touch them to the body of the guitar, I get sound the full on sound of the pup but it does not seem as gainy as I might have expected. Is there a problem with the pup? I'm in Canada so no point in trying to send it back a few years later. I just want to know I'm not missing something. The super distortion I just put in seems to work just fine in the bridge as well.. I suppose the 3 way switch could be dead or faltering in one of the positions? Is this likely?

Thanks friends!
 
If you have a dmm set it to ohms and put red on the red wire and black on the green/shield. Should read close to whatever it is supposed to (hit the Dimarzio website for specs). For hb's normally anywhere for 7k and up.....sc's most from 3k up to 6k. You will want to have the black and white tied together while doing this. Then put the red probe on the black/white connection. Should read about half. If either of these are off, the pickup is messed up and will need rewound most likely.
 
Would i need to take the pup out of the circuit to verify? Wired in I get a reading that is half the resistance of the pup when i probe the black/white and red wire. Don't seem to get much when I measure between the red and the green/shield. Now that I have poked some wires around, if i touch the black/white to the body I get the full on neck bucker. Odd as hell, i might try grounding it to the back of the pot. If it works, I save myself the money of replacement. Why it would work? I have no clue..
 
If you ground the black/white to the back of the pot it's just going to coil split, which is what sounds like what you're describing.....Almost sounds like you're not getting a good connection between the black/white wires.......Are you twisting them then tinning then connection then making sure there's some shrink or tape on that so that connection doesn't ground out in the cavity? Unsolder all your connections, twist the black/white and solder the connection..........then use your meter like said above.... if it's not reading right you may have a dud, or possibly a break in a wire on the harness....do you have plenty of lead left on the pickup? Just out of curiosity what brand switch are you using?
 
Found this on the Dimarzio site.

Wiring: 4 Conductor
Magnet: Ceramic
Output mV: 275
DC Resistance: 7.70 Kohm
Year of Introduction: 1996
Patent: n/a

Red and green should read about 8k The black/ white to green about 4k. What are you getting using the black/ white green wires for testing?
 
Have you soldered the black and white together?

I didn't once and the pickup was way underpowered and dull, took it to a tech as I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Felt very silly :doh:
 
Purpleibby":1ogw4ni7 said:
If you ground the black/white to the back of the pot it's just going to coil split, which is what sounds like what you're describing.....Almost sounds like you're not getting a good connection between the black/white wires.......Are you twisting them then tinning then connection then making sure there's some shrink or tape on that so that connection doesn't ground out in the cavity? Unsolder all your connections, twist the black/white and solder the connection..........then use your meter like said above.... if it's not reading right you may have a dud, or possibly a break in a wire on the harness....do you have plenty of lead left on the pickup? Just out of curiosity what brand switch are you using?
Click to expand...

That would make sense as the output seems to sound like a really good single coil pup. Might be something to think about down the line if I want to split it. I ensured that the black/white had plenty of lead tied together but hey, won't kill me to redo that and see if that is indeed the case. The switch I honestly don't remember what type it is. I had it kicking around. Standard switch though, not PCB type. Just to clarify , I would want to read between red (hot) and green/bare to get the total resistance value of the pup? Between white/black and red I was getting around 3.8k which is half of the almost 8k the pup is rated at.
 
Alright guys, we've got a dead pup. Damn I wish I remembered where i got this thing from.. is it worth my while rewinding? Might as well just get a diff pup. Measures 0 between red and green/bare wire.I've been struggling with this thing for nothing. Suppose I could just make it into a single coil but that is hardly going to match the super distortion in the bridge :-/ Suggestions for a good single coil sized stacked or mini bucker that would go well with the SD? If the pro track is a good choice I'll stick with that. Bummer this thing was a dud though.
 
there is an easy fix :rock:


but what the fuck do i :D know ?


PM me at MTS if you dare ;)
 
Kapo_Polenton":2lt0in6f said:
FUZZboat":2lt0in6f said:
there is an easy fix :rock:


but what the fuck do i :D know ?
Click to expand...

and the fix is........ :scared:
Click to expand...


oops my bad - just reread I thought it was a full sized humbucker
not a mini


anywho I've fixed duncan/dimarzio humbuckers with bad coils
by swapping out the bad with a similiar type doner coil
(I've used old japanese jackson coils with great results !)

not a perfect fix but its better than a seymour duncan paperweight

if you could find another bad fast/pro track on ebay for cheap
make 1 good pickup out of 2 bad ones

cheers
 
Sorry to hear that. Just to be absolutely sure you can measure each coil...measure red black for one, then measure white green on the other.....basically the in/out of each coil.......sucks, never actually heard of a dimarzio dying. Pro Track is a good candidate for this application....if it were me I'd put a chopper there.
 
I'll try that tonight.. I guess someone has to be a statistic so I'm it on this one. All good though, I've had 7 or so Dimarzios and none had issues so what are ya gonna do.

The more i read into reviews and soundclips, I'm thinking either the chopper or virtual vintage heavy blues 2. Anyone have experience with both?
 
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