Repairing A 4003 Bridge Pickup

[admin]

I have an old pickup from a 1988 4003 that eventually stopped working. On inspection, under magnification, the winding was damaged and hence I had the option to repair or fix and replace. I chose to replace the pickup with a new one and have never had a bit of difficulty with it. Now that the winter is approaching, I may wish to try to repair the old pickup. How should I go about determining what the reason for the malfunction was to begin with and if I need to rewind it, what gauge wire should I use and how much of it. Thanks for any assistance that you may provide.

[markthemd]

To repair pickups I use a few items;
NAPTHA
Q-Tips (cotton swabs)
Magnifying glasses
a small fan and an abundance of fresh air(NO FLAMES OR SMOKING!!!)

I remove the pickup and the black tape carefully.Somtimes the coil is potted in wax and a soaking in a jar or any container of NAPTHA will loosen /melt the wax without hurting the pickup.This is true for almost every pickup made.

Then donning my glasses,I use the Q-tip to wipe in one direction ,looking for the loose end.If I do not find a loose end ,I wipe in the opposite direction .this usually finds the culprit.

If not ....I then take a Dial Caliper measurement of the thickness of the coil.This is the closest to knowing what resistance is was when it worked.
It's not perfect but it will give me something to shoot for.

If There are multiple loose ends then I attempt to remove all the the 'extra' wire.It usually won't be a significant amount ...less than 100 wraps.More likely less than 40 .

You will not hear the difference in sound in 40 wraps...not even Eric Johnson who claims that he can hear the difference between an Everready and a Duracell 9volt battery, can hear this.

If I don't come up with a loose end ,and it is still reading an open short on my meter,then I assume that the beginning has snapped/disconnected and in that case must be rewound.I ask the customer if they want to have a hum canceling mode on their instrument ,if so I reverse wind the coil.
other wise I wind in the original direction.

The wire is more often than not a #42 gauge magnet wire .

Without a Volt/ohm meter this job is a waste of time.You must have one.Also you need to make a winder and I will not go into that in this column.
It would be cheaper to have someone rewind one pickup than to build this yourself.Although if you were really crafty /clever you might make it worth your while.

Personally ...let the pros do this .This is not for the weak of heart.

[admin]

Thanks Mark: It sounds as if it was best to have replaced the pickup as I did. My follow-up is whether the specifications of the 4003 bridge pickup that was purchased from Rickenbacker in late 1999 closely resemble those of the original pickup installed in the instrument when it was manufactured in 1988?