Making the best of a bad situation?

Talk about your Burstbuckers and Seymour Duncans....

Moderators: Slowy, Capt. Black

Post Reply
User avatar
TmcB
I may have a problem
Posts: 7679
meble-kuchenne.warszawa.pl
Joined: Fri Aug 22, 2008 12:17 pm
Location: Kapiti
Has liked: 653 times
Been liked: 556 times

Making the best of a bad situation?

Post by TmcB »

Hi folks,

I bought a used set of Harmonic Design Z90 humbucker sized P90's and the neck pickup is dead. Looking past whether the seller was legit (I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt), what do we reckon the best course of action is here?

I contacted the company and they said that due to it being an older design it's barely cheaper to repair than to get a new one.

Local pickup heroes have also said as much, so I'm looking at an expensive dud that I can't do much with. The annoying thing is that the bridge Z90 sounds phenomenal, and a matching set would be awesome. I am a bit fearful of throwing good money after bad here, but here are my options;

Try and get a local to rewind it - probably will cost $100+ and might not work.

Get a new neck pickup from Harmonic Design - $125 + shipping for the neck pickup

Get a neck GFS Mean 90 for $50ish, or get a set for $120ish

Just give up.

Would be nice to hear your thoughts.
GrantB wrote:Tony, your taste is, as always, very refined. Or as HG would say, "bloody awful".
Family Music Store - http://familymusic.co.nz

User avatar
jeremyb
Chorus of Organs
Posts: 40878
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2008 9:03 am
Has liked: 7685 times
Been liked: 4157 times

Re: Making the best of a bad situation?

Post by jeremyb »

Surely they should stand by their work and refund you, or replace! Mean 90's rule tho' and GFS are great to deal with :)
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

User avatar
GrantB
ADMIN
Posts: 15843
Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2003 9:04 am
Location: Where I need to be
Has liked: 1352 times
Been liked: 2087 times

Re: Making the best of a bad situation?

Post by GrantB »

I would probably go for a rewind ...a rewind should guarantee it works, so not sure why you say it might not? IS there something else wrong with it?

Not a great situation tho. Been in many like that myself with various guitar things over the decades.
"Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible god and destroys a visible nature. Unaware that this nature he's destroying is this god he's worshipping." - Hubert Reeves

User avatar
Jay
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 7760
Joined: Sat Sep 25, 2010 9:35 pm
Has liked: 1630 times
Been liked: 1297 times

Re: Making the best of a bad situation?

Post by Jay »

Measuring DC resistance, what do you get? Low Ohms or open circuit?
If it is the latter, you may want to actually open it up to see if there is a loose connection inside?
When faced with quality, I recognise it every time.

User avatar
ash
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 7505
Joined: Mon May 10, 2004 4:01 pm
Location: Auckland, NZ
Has liked: 3 times
Been liked: 5 times

Re: Making the best of a bad situation?

Post by ash »

As per JVPP's suggestion, if I was repairing it, the first thing I'd do would be to re-solder the coil to cable connections and see if that fixes it. Then I would unwind 100 or so turns and see if that reveals a break. You can sacrifice those 100 turns without much loss of signal. Non-obvious breaks are often in the middle, though, so that's a lottery.
http://ashcustomworks.com for custom built electric guitars hand made in new zealand

User avatar
TmcB
I may have a problem
Posts: 7679
Joined: Fri Aug 22, 2008 12:17 pm
Location: Kapiti
Has liked: 653 times
Been liked: 556 times

Making the best of a bad situation?

Post by TmcB »

Yeah, already reflowed the solder to see if it made a difference but nothing. The reading I get is 2 Meg. In regards to why I didn't want a rewind, it's more that I don't know what it was meant to sound like and I feel I might as well buy a new one if it's going to cost the same.
GrantB wrote:Tony, your taste is, as always, very refined. Or as HG would say, "bloody awful".
Family Music Store - http://familymusic.co.nz

User avatar
Rog
The Self-Proclaimed Voice of Reason
Posts: 9258
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2003 12:30 pm
Location: Under de mountain
Has liked: 7 times
Been liked: 57 times

Re: Making the best of a bad situation?

Post by Rog »

What Adrian says! However, I once found a pup with the wire broken right at the end where the wire goes into the centre of the coil. How do I know? I've unwound the whole bloody thing just to find out. Call me curious, (purple, not yellow).

In your situation, I'd do what he suggested, then if no joy, buy another.
He hit a chord that rocked the spinet and disappeared into the infinite ...

User avatar
ash
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 7505
Joined: Mon May 10, 2004 4:01 pm
Location: Auckland, NZ
Has liked: 3 times
Been liked: 5 times

Re: Making the best of a bad situation?

Post by ash »

TmcB wrote:Yeah, already reflowed the solder to see if it made a difference but nothing. The reading I get is 2 Meg. In regards to why I didn't want a rewind, it's more that I don't know what it was meant to sound like and I feel I might as well buy a new one if it's going to cost the same.
Rewinding will almost certainly sound different to the original tone. So much of the character of a pickup is determined by the exact wire and insulation and how each turn is laid down relative to the others, it would need to be wound by the same person or at least someone with a really good idea of how it was done first time, in order to come out the same.
http://ashcustomworks.com for custom built electric guitars hand made in new zealand

Post Reply