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Hi all.
This just started today. My Ibanez AF75 neck pickup is not working. I bought the guitar in 2015 and the pickups should be classic elite humbuckers When i have the switch set to the neck, no sound through amp. In the bridge position, the bridge control and tone work fine. In the middle position I get sound when the bridge volume control is anywhere from 1 - 10 but the neck volume control has to be anywhere except 0 and 10. In other words if the neck control is either turned fully off or fully max, the guitar goes silent.
I looked inside the F hole and dont see anything that has become unsoldered.
Would this likely be a switch issue or are there known issues with the pickups.
BTW my AF95, although has a most irritating hum, it has a wonderful sound from the super 58 pickups.
What would be the most logical solution to with the neck pickup on the 75? A new switch, complete harness? If the pickups are flakey i would consider swapping them for the super 58's.
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02-02-2021 06:54 PM
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first check the switch...sometimes the contacts oxidize or move a bit out of whack with use....sometimes just flicking it back and forth a bit will get it working...spray it with some de-oxit (contact cleaner)...
luck
cheers
ps- shorts can occur in pickups, but not near as often as switch problems or faulty wiring
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I sprayed deoxit into the top of the switch and worked it back and forth, no help. Is there a port where you can spray into if the switch is removed?
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depends if the toggle is open
or closed
spraying down into it should have helped...could still be contacts have bent a bit...but time to check wiring!!
sorry
cheers
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I can see its the closed one.
Ill try spraying more into it then maybe get a small inspection mirror to see inside. Thank you for your suggestion.
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NA's probably right, start simple, like if an issue w/a tube amp pops up check the tubes first.
I had this switch issue w/an archtop a couple yrs ago when the bridge pickup stopped working.
I pulled the switch through the pickup route and lightly sanded the contacts w/ fine cloth backed paper and bent them back and it worked for about 6 months until it failed again. I bent them again and only got a few weeks out of it and just bought and installed a new switch, no problems since....Last edited by wintermoon; 02-03-2021 at 01:40 AM.
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Ill try replacing the switch. Its my first time opening up an archtop. Ill check youtube for a video on it.
Is there a specific brand/model switch that best to install?
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switchcraft...(it's the cream toggle pictured ^)...but it's imperial usa size...most imports use the closed toggle..which is metric..so you might have to finesse the hole a bit..and get new securing nut & washer...but well worth it..switchcraft is longtime industry standard
cheers
ps- while you are probing the innards, check the wiring carefully before switching out toggle..it might just be a loose wire and no need to replace toggle...take your time...if you have a multimeter use it!
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I've never had a guitar with the closed switch, but I've had the open type switch go wonky a few times. The reeds get bent over time, and oxidize, mostly from being left in one position for a long time. I tend to use only the neck pickup, and just leave the switch there. What usually oxidizes is the contact for the bridge pickup, because it's always open. As to the OP's problem, it could be a number of things, and it will take some investigation to find the root cause. It could be the switch, it could be a loose wire or just a cold solder joint, either at the switch or at the pot. It could possibly be a defective pot, but that's not the most likely cause.
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Originally Posted by d115
This could be a pickup problem but is more likely to be a fault in the switch.
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I just ordered a new switch
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I just acquired a 1966 Gibson ES125TDC Cherry Sunburst from my brother. The guitar was not stored in a humidity controlled room in Florida and I decided to do a complete recon/rebuild. When I removed the P90 pickups, one positive and one negative wire to the pickups immediately broke. I completely disassembled the pickups, addressed corrosion issues, resoldered the wires, and reassembled. Then I pulled the pots, jack, and switch from the guitar. All were suffering from corrosion. Although, for most this is a radical fix, if a guitar has not been stored properly it should be assumed that there will be corrosion issues. However, in all but the worst cases, spraying with CRC Electronic Spray Cleaner will solve the problem. Check switch first as neotomic suggested . . ., then, pull the pickups. After cleaning/inspection, test with a multimeter before reassembling. There are ample instructive videos on Youtube for your instruction. I hope this helps. Play live . . . Marinero
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Last edited by d115; 02-21-2021 at 07:01 PM.
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Yes, I'm a procrastinator, lol. I finally replaced the switch today and the guitar has the same ptoblems! My soldering job leaves something to be desired but I checked with a loupe and I didn't see any thing amiss.Besides, I ohm'd out the old switch and the contacts are good.
Do pickups die?
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They do. The windings can degrade and short, or the solder joints for the lead can degrade.
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Well, the switch wasn't the problem. I think blaming the pickup may be a red herring. If the pickup was dead, it would not have any output no matter what the setting on the volume knob is. The issue seems to be with a moving part and the pickup doesn't have any in the electrical circuit. I am wondering about problems with the potentiometer. I'd try spraying some DeOxit in there, twisting it a few times and seeing what happens.
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It's possible that the pickup has an intermittent short or open, but not likely. I agree with cleaning the pots. Depending on the wiring scheme, the bridge pot can affect the volume of the neck pickup. On my Epi ES-175, turning the bridge volume completely off affects the neck if the switch is in the middle position - I've been surprised a few times to find that there was no sound from the guitar, thought the switch might be bad, and discovered that turning up the bridge pickup volume just a little bit cured the problem. The most likely problem, though, is probably a dirty potentiometer, and it could be any one, or more than one.
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Rather than guessing or comparing to previous problems (called “poke and hope” by techs). if I may suggest getting a signal generator app for your phone/pad. Attach the output to your switch replacing the pickup. If the sound out is ok... might be the pickup. If it’s no go, the it’s something else. You can the move to injecting the signal into the pickup side of the volume pots, one by one and see what happens. If everything is still OK, well come on back and we can figure out a next level test plan.
d
Depending on the output of your phone you will need some sort of cable that plugs into the phones output but on the other end can be stripped out to be able to touch the center conductor to the contacts. And of course the braided covering of the wire needs to go to ground.
PM me for help )
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Surely the crucial symptom is that with the selector in the middle position the bridge pot works as expected but the neck pot can kill the output both at zero, which is normal, and at full. The latter requires a short across the neck pickup or across the live terminal of the pot..
Since these points are both inaccessible and difficult to inspect, I would remove the neck pickup, cutting the lead to it carefully so that it can be rejoined either by soldering or inserting a floating phono plug and socket. You seem to posses an Ohm meter so you will be able to test both the cut lead (connected to the live terminal of the pot) and the pickup for shorts. In the absence of a meter, restored output in the middle position with the neck pot at full would isolate the problem to the pickup.
If the pickup is faulty it would be worth opening it up to look for corrosion where the output lead is connected. The cover will probably be held in place with two dabs of solder.
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Thank you Everyone for your input. Ill start with the simple route first. I used Deoxit on the tone pots. Will use it on the volume pots as soon as i can pry off the volume knobs......
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One tool for knob removal, and it also works for loosening/tightening the nuts: Guitar multi spanner wrench- fixes for jacks, pots, switches ,Engraved pattern N 790518268428 | eBay
Stew-Mac has almost the same thing for a lot more money. There are other methods that can get it done.
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Further diagnostic steps:
If you have an Ohm meter, you can put the pickup selector in the FB position and measure the resistance between the output jack tip and sleeve. If the pots are 500k, then as you move the pot from zero to full, the resistance should at first increase, peaking at 125k and then decrease to just below the pickup resistance of 8k or so. If the resistance continues to increase to the full pot value then the pickup is open circuited or disconnected. Alternatively, if the full resistance is very low, then the pickup has an internal short.
If the resistance jumps all over the place, the pot is faulty.
For 300k pots the peak resistance should be 75k. Pots can be 20% away from their nominal values.
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What is the FB position for the selector?
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Originally Posted by d115
Sweetwater has a reverb type site
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