rewinding pickups

[Ears]

Cool, I'm starting to put the pieces together. Excuse my ignorance, so a volume pot when turned all the way down is infinite resistance & when full open regulated to 250k or 500k which would keep the pickup 'hot'.

Usually the hot from the pup is connected to one end of pot, and ground to the other. The output is taken from the wiper and connected to something following that ideally has high enough (input) resistance to let very little, if any, current flow from the wiper into this following cct (the amp). Instead whatever current there is flows through the pot from one end to other ignoring the exit provided by the wiper. The input grid cct of a typical valve amp or a FET or even op amp fulfills this requirement of high input resistance and virtually no wiper current.
Given that such input resistance is high and next to no current flows from the wiper then the resistance seen by the pup is basically constant and at the max value of the pot, regardless of where the wiper is. As far as the pup is concerned the wiper isn't even connected since no current disappears down it.
In practice there is some current down the wiper and the resistance seen by the pup will vary slightly depending on wiper position. Because current flows through the pot itself, the voltage seen by the wiper will change, from max (when the wiper is at the pup end of its range) to zero when the wiper is at other end of its range, i.e. effectively connected to ground.
The following amplifier cct amplifies the voltage presented to it by the wiper cct.

Edited for clarity, and it's best if you draw it out.

[calling card]

Ah, I was wondering what the situation was where the signal entered the amp, so the amp determines the pups loading, the volume pot regulates strength of signal. Anyway off to go & study pot wiring schematic.
Thanks for taking the time & writing it out.

[Ears]

Ah, I was wondering what the situation was where the signal entered the amp, so the amp determines the pups loading, the volume pot regulates strength of signal. Anyway off to go & study pot wiring schematic.
Thanks for taking the time & writing it out.

Not quite, the pot is between the pup and the amp. Pickups are high impedance devices, so are tubes, all impedances in such circuits are high compared with those in solid state.
The amp input resistance has to be greater than the pot's so that its loading has negligible effect on the pot function, i.e. the pot acts as an ideal voltage divider outputing the voltage determined by the wiper position.
In turn, the pots must be large enough not to draw excess current from the pups. The first network the pup encounters largely determines how the pups are "loaded" (or how much current and power the pups supply). The first network is usually the guitar's volume and tone controls.

[Spruce_Moose]

...So is there anybody that can fix two pickups out of a 70's Ibanez les paul? And how much do you think it would cost? I opened them about 3 years ago when I had no idea what I was doing (stupid yeah I know..). I'm pretty sure they both have a broken coil wire

[ash]

I can do it. Costs probably $80-100. Could be less if the break in in a convenient fixable place.

[Spruce_Moose]

Cheers, I'll have a wee think about it