Vintage DeArmond 1000 monkey on a stick pickup problem

[Chickenbonejohn]

I've just acquired a 1959 Guild Granada with a "monkey on a stick" pickup, which looks pretty much in period with the guitar.

The pickup is disappointingly quiet - I'd been playing my modern DeArmond X 155 guitar thru' my Fender Super Champ amp and then plugged in the vintage Guild, and at first thought that the pickup was totally dead. I wound up the amp to about 7 (which is deafeningly loud using any other guitar) and started getting a sound, but rather bright and thin sounding.

I've tried it through another couple of amps, my Fender Deluxe Reverb and a Session Blues Baby (solid state clone of the Fender Blues Junior) with the same results, very little volume and I've had to knock off all the treble and wind up the bass to get a decent sound.

I checked the resistance with a multimeter but couldn't get a reading -I checked at the output socket (the screw on lead was fine), inside the control box and inside the pickup, and still can't get a reading anywhere, which is weird as I have got some sort of signal, albeit very low.

The tone knob on the control box doesn't work, it acts as another volume control, doesn't do anything for the tone, and the push button rhythm switch doesn't seem to do anything either - it all looks original and clean inside the control box.

I'm rather baffled, as I expected a decent level of output, and the fact that I can't get a resistance reading anywhere is confusing, especially as it isn't totally dead.

Has anyone got any words of wisdom?! I haven't resorted to any further investigation, unsolderering or disassembly, but I'm certainly disappointed and confused.

Is it normal for the output to be very low compared with a modern guitar?

[KirkP]

By “couldn’t get a reading” do mean short circuit or open circuit?

Did you try all the resistance ranges on the ohmeter?

The resistance of the pickup is what to focus on first. As a daiagnostic, you might try connecting it directly to an amp’s input, without the control box.

[Chickenbonejohn]

I was getting an "infinity" resistance reading, ie absolutely no conductivity. My thoughts are exactly the same, to unsolder the pickup from the control box and see if I can get a reading and a sound directly from the pickup with no other circuitry connected. I was hoping that there might be some "hands on" experts here who have some practical knowledge of this particular pickup and their problems...I'll see how I get on with my first steps to check the pickup unwired from the control box. , but I'm nervous about going too far with such an old, rare, fragile and valuable bit of gear.

[Chickenbonejohn]

I've unsoldered the pickup from the control box, checked the resistance reading again, different ranges on the meter...couldn't get anything except on the 20Meg Ohm setting, where I got a flicker of something like 1.2Meg Ohm. As I understand it, thats about 100 times what the reading should be for a typical pickup, so definitely something not right. Wired direct to a jack there was some output, but with the amp on volume of say 2-3 as I'd use with my regular guitar (DeArmond X 155), the monkey on the stick was barely audible, and had to be turned up to around 7-8 to get any useable volume. I temporarily rigged the control box so I could plug in my regular guitar, and the volume, tone and rhythm pushbutton switch all worked fine, whereas when fully wired to the original pickup, the tone and rhythm switch were not working. It's definitely the pickup where the problem lies, but I'm so confused that I can't get a proper resistance reading (effectively it looks dead on the multimeter) but there is some output at a very low level. I fear the next step may be to take the pickup apart. I wind my own pickups for cigar box guitars, but rewinding a vintage DeArmond is outside my comfort zone!

[David B]

Reach out to Nick Fryer of Fryer Guitar Pickups - he did a great job rewinding a vintage DeArmond FHC for me. He sometimes has restored DeArmond pickups available too.
Custom Guitar Pickups | Fryer Guitar Pickups | Cincinnati, OH

[Cunamara]

Sounds like there is an internal short in the pickup coil. It might need to be rewound. These things happen in vintage pickups and sometimes even in new pickups.

[Chickenbonejohn]

Thanks, I'm in the UK, and there are a few people who I can ask if it does need rewinding. From my understanding these pickups aren't wound "normally", the bottom 4 pole pieces have a number of windings and then the top 2 pole pieces are installed and the windings are completed round all the pole pieces.

Bearing in mind that I'd prefer to find someone who has some experience of these particular pickups.

I've still got a couple of options to explore before resorting to rewinding it.

[KirkP]

Here’s a shop in the UK who posted the following photo to Pinterest of an RC1000 rewind he did. I don’t know anything else about him.

https://jacksinstrumentservices.com

[Chickenbonejohn]

Thanks, very useful. Hopefully I won't need to resort to a rewind, but this looks like a good contact.

[Chickenbonejohn]

Nick has replied to my enquiry (very quickly I might add) and given me a quote...and I've learned something. He explained why I was getting an "open" resistance reading on the multi meter (ie no continuity) but there was still a sound, albeit a very weak "ghost" of a signal. A weak signal lacking bass (which is exactly what I was getting) can be produced by inductance even with a broken coil, so there's something that I've learned and a handy bit of information. I might try a bit more investigation and then attempt a re-wind - if I'm not successful then I can pass it onto someone with more experience.