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Problem With My Seymour Duncan P/us


anarchy

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alright i got my lp fitted with a 59 in the neck and a dimebucker in the bridge the thing is my pickups hum unless i have my hand on my selector switch im wondering if theirs a grounding problem also on the 59 it is only half taped or whatever its called im sorry i really dont know much about this i was wondering if it was supposed to be like that cuz im really worried for how much i paid to get the pickups and the work done that they screwed something up

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no its not coil tapped i also noticed that if i touch the jack plate it dosent hum this guy has been doin this stuff for 20 years and the sad part is as much as i payed for the labor i shouldnt have to deal with this but also about the 59s wrapping or whatever why is it only half wrapped cuz half of the humbucker isnt

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also i got them to put in some new pots. i bought some emgs that were supposed to work the bridge pickup didnt work so they took it out left me with crap wiring thats the reason i got the seymour duncans put in but my entire guitar was in pieces so i got them to set it up for the amount of money i paid for them to install em i mean 370 for everything do you guys think i should bring it back to them cuz i just got it done yesterday or should i look for the problem myself ? edit i just noticed that there is a purple wire that is cut off in the potentionmeter cavity but i know that wire wasnt used because that was the old epi wiring not the emg wire which they were supposed to replace

Edited by anarchy
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When they installed the EMG's, they probably disconnected the bridge grounding wire. EMG's are internally-grounded and they recommend that you disconnect the bridge ground. I'd be willing to bet that's the purple wire you see just hanging out in the cavity. Solder it to the back of one of the volume pots and I think you'll be okay.

You really got screwed on the price for the installation, IMHO. Even paying retail the pickups are only $160 for the set. $210 to install them and not even test the guitar before giving it back to the customer is incompetent, indeed. Sounds to me like they probably screwed up the EMG installation because they didn't know what they were doing.

Just because someone's been doing something for 20 years doesn't mean they know how to do it right. I installed my first set of pickups myself nearly 10 years ago. Since then I've cleaned up more rat's nests and just plain butchered setups (re: Guitar Center) than I care to count. I'm no Lollar, by any means, but if you aren't competent to at least test a guitar before giving it back to the customer then you shouldn't be charging $200 for your "services".

One more thing, on the '59, do both bobbins have tape around them or just one? The bobbins should have a piece of cloth tape around them, but the magnet and wood spacer will be visible under the bobbins. That's normal--if that's the way it is. I'm just having a hard time visualizing what "half-taped" means. I just installed a nice buttery '59 in the bridge of my Lester, so I can probably help you out here. Also, it would be prudent to do a continuity check with that purple wire and the bridge before you solder it onto the volume pot--just to make sure it IS the grounding wire.

Edited by crafty
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the second you touch it, the warranty and their requirement to repair or rectify the situation is void. If you had to pay them to install all this gear, what makes you think you can rectify the problem??

The price you paid is irrelevant, you were obviously happy enough to pay it.

You really got screwed on the price for the installation, IMHO. Even paying retail the pickups are only $160 for the set. $210 to install them and not even test the guitar before giving it back to the customer is incompetent, indeed.

$160 for pickups, fine. $210 for fitting all new pots, reassembling an entire guitar, strings and a setup, is DEFINATELY not unreasonable. Even in US dollars.

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the second you touch it, the warranty and their requirement to repair or rectify the situation is void. If you had to pay them to install all this gear, what makes you think you can rectify the problem??

The price you paid is irrelevant, you were obviously happy enough to pay it.

You really got screwed on the price for the installation, IMHO. Even paying retail the pickups are only $160 for the set. $210 to install them and not even test the guitar before giving it back to the customer is incompetent, indeed.

$160 for pickups, fine. $210 for fitting all new pots, reassembling an entire guitar, strings and a setup, is DEFINATELY not unreasonable. Even in US dollars.

Oh, I agree it would be reasonable--if it were done properly. Like I said, I'm no pro in that I don't charge for my hobby, but at least when I repair hack jobs for my friends I'll at least test the guitar out and make sure it's a clean install before I give it back to the customer. It just sounds like they didn't do that, and for $210 or so it should have been done.

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and maybe, just maybe it was tested, and a wire has since busted, or the battery lead is broken, or, the pickups have a fault, like ive experienced before. YOU, and I dont know, we arent there.

Weeellll, I'm going to say that it's a safe bet it WASN'T tested, or simply ignored by the installer. A hum that goes away when he touches the pickup selector on a Les Paul. A mysterious purple wire that isn't connected to anything and just hanging out in the control cavity. That tells me that the bridge ground should be looked at, especially after a set of EMGs had been "installed" and replaced with passive Duncans.

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ok i got it checked out today they put in a new switch and he tacked on some wire to the old purple bridge ground and it worked fine, but guess what as soon as i get it home play it a little while the hum is back. so im seriously wondering whats wrong i think its something with the 59 but im also noticing now that if i touch the strings it makes a pop sound and the fuzz goes away which was the problem when i first got the epiphone the guys real nice about it and im seriously feelin bad for bothering him with it. any ideas ?

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he tacked on some wire to the old purple bridge ground and it worked fine, but guess what as soon as i get it home play it a little while the hum is back.

So it worked fine at the shop. that means you plugged it into an amp and played thru it, checked things out etc., right? Maybe the hum problem is not with the guitar but your amp, cords, setup etc. at home? Is your amp properly grounded? Lots of older amps didn't come with a 3-prong plug that properly grounds the chassis. Also, other electrical equipment nearby eg. computer, TV, flourescent lights etc. could actually be making the noise.

Edited by Southpa
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i know i have my computer on a fan and a light but i doubt it would bother it that much i noticed i took the back plate and moved the wire back to where it was because it slipped and theirs no more hum there was alot of coiled wire but it was shielded so i doubt it would of been the problem but i shoved the wire back down and no hum any ideas ?

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So, I WAS RIGHT about the bridge ground not being in place. Crafty+1.

Yes, I gloat :D

Anyway, sounds like the extra wire might be shorting against something in there and creating a ground loop. It really sounds like this guy doesn't know what he's doing. Lots of extra wire in control cavity=ground loops and noise. Yes, the fan and computer (especially the monitor) in your room will generate enough interference for the guitar to pick it up--and those ground loops and excess wiring won't help at all.

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