Alkaline Posted August 24, 2006 Report Share Posted August 24, 2006 Righto, i'm in the middle of working on my custom tele and i'm installing a Seymour Duncan Hotrails Bridge pickup. When i slotted it into the bridge it seemed like a fairly tight fit. I thought, fair enough, til i looked at it and it appears to have ripped the black insulating material covering the coil. So now the coil is actually touching the bridge plate :SWhat are my options? Is this situation going to cause unwanted hum, possible electric shocks etc or am i worrying over nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lime ruined my life Posted August 25, 2006 Report Share Posted August 25, 2006 post pictures and we'll be able to see. If you've shorted a ground connection to the bridge you may get ground loops (hum) if you already have the bridge grounded. if you have connected the live side of the pickup to the bridge and it is earthed you won't get any signal through. If you havn't connected the bridge to earth and the live side is connected to the bridge then that's bad...However, i'm not sure what you mean by insulating material. i have a strat style hot rail, but it's a different shape than the tele bridge ones. A picture is best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkaline Posted August 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2006 post pictures and we'll be able to see. If you've shorted a ground connection to the bridge you may get ground loops (hum) if you already have the bridge grounded. if you have connected the live side of the pickup to the bridge and it is earthed you won't get any signal through. If you havn't connected the bridge to earth and the live side is connected to the bridge then that's bad...However' date=' i'm not sure what you mean by insulating material. i have a strat style hot rail, but it's a different shape than the tele bridge ones. A picture is best.[/quote']I can't post a picture just now but what i mean by insulating material is the black webbed material that is wrapped around the copper coil of the pick-up.this is the tele bridge humbucker:the black material is split and the bare copper coil is actually touching the metal of the bridge can (i assume you know what a tele bridge is like).Its not wired yet, i'm still working on the body, i just thought i'd load it into the bridge just now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britheguy Posted August 25, 2006 Report Share Posted August 25, 2006 Try contacting Andy at 'Wizard Pickups' He's a nice guy and will give you good advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraemeC Posted August 25, 2006 Report Share Posted August 25, 2006 The tape is there to protect the windings...my first concern would be that I had damaged the wire...Its not a good idea for the windings to be touching any metal part of the guitar...although electric shock is unlikely.G... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skuzzlebutt Posted August 26, 2006 Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 I can't post a picture just now but what i mean by insulating material is the black webbed material that is wrapped around the copper coil of the pick-up.the black material is split and the bare copper coil is actually touching the metal of the bridge can (i assume you know what a tele bridge is like).Its not wired yet' date=' i'm still working on the body, i just thought i'd load it into the bridge just now.[/quote']if any part of the coil is short to the bridge, which is usually grounded, you are going to have a very fine stealth cool rails pick up... inasmuch as you will hear fuck all.... you wont damage anything by trying them as the currents induced in a pick up are fuck all... although i guess if some part of the bridge is making contact to your coils the vibes associated with playing the guitar might break the coil and you end up with a cool rails pu with an open circuit...as for electric shock, although not entirely impossible is unlikely, and would certainly rely on a fault else where in the amp/ guitar/hook up... the fact that the pick up is shorted to the bridge isnt going to make a whole lot of difference as a live bridge in a fault condition would probably kill you first...judging by the pu, the pu is a bonifide tele bridge pick up....why isnt it fitting would seem to be the important issue here? i trust the above is of some help, but it is hard to appreciate exactly what the situation without a pic.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Ascension Posted August 26, 2006 Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 electric shock shouldn't be possible... but you may have damaged the coils which will possibly have ruined the pickup... those things are delicate :S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeid Posted August 26, 2006 Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 This may seem like a silly question, but when affixing the pickup to the bridge, you didn't tighten one screw more before tightening the others?(Which would possibly put the pickup in at a tight angle hence the coil touching.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkaline Posted August 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 electric shock shouldn't be possible... but you may have damaged the coils which will possibly have ruined the pickup... those things are delicate :SIf so i'm sending the thing straight back to seymour duncan, thats the second telecaster bridge its been attempted through. The first it wouldn't go through at all, the second was tight as fuck. Granted they're not 'fender' telecaster bridges but it ain't just fender who make telecasters and the pickup doesn't claim to be fender specific :SI don't think the coil is damaged, the material just seems to be ruffled against it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkaline Posted August 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 This may seem like a silly question' date=' but when affixing the pickup to the bridge, you didn't tighten one screw more before tightening the others?(Which would possibly put the pickup in at a tight angle hence the coil touching.)[/quote']Nope. made sure i gave each an equal amount of slack. I'm at a loss here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Ascension Posted August 26, 2006 Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 hmmm we could really use a pic of the damage - if you can somehow get a pic up here I can be much more helpful!! try get one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkaline Posted August 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 hmmm we could really use a pic of the damage - if you can somehow get a pic up here I can be much more helpful!! try get one! I'm at work right now and the guitar's at home, i'll try and do a pick tonight. There's no apparent damage to the coil, and i doubt taken it out would damage it either as it would just furl the insulating material back up. Could i recover the coil, would that help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lime ruined my life Posted August 26, 2006 Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 that is just cloth to protect the windings. Incidentally, the windings are insulated with varnish (otherwise every bit of the wire would be shorted to every other bit) so if it is touching the bridge it SHOULD be ok, if you havnt scraped the varnish insulation off.you could just tape it up again, and hope you havnt actually damaged the coil, the worst case scenario is a break in the coil, if so i don't think seymour duncan would give you a replacement... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkaline Posted August 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 that is just cloth to protect the windings. Incidentally' date=' the windings are insulated with varnish (otherwise every bit of the wire would be shorted to every other bit) so if it is touching the bridge it SHOULD be ok, if you havnt scraped the varnish insulation off.you could just tape it up again, and hope you havnt actually damaged the coil, the worst case scenario is a break in the coil, if so i don't think seymour duncan would give you a replacement...[/quote']There's no scratches on the actual coil, i know their wax dipped but i wasn't sure if that affected conductance or not. I'll re-tape it when i take it out.Should i butcher an old pickup for it and glue it, or would insulating tape be a better option? I'm fairly new to this malarky as you'll probably guess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conor82 Posted August 26, 2006 Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 There's no scratches on the actual coil' date=' i know their wax dipped but i wasn't sure if that affected conductance or not. I'll re-tape it when i take it out.Should i butcher an old pickup for it and glue it, or would insulating tape be a better option? I'm fairly new to this malarky as you'll probably guess [/quote']copper wire is sold pre enamelled, it makes sense for winding, otherwise the whole coil would be shorted out and you'd effectively have one loop of wire. the whole coil is then wax potted to fix the relative positions of the wire to stop it acting as a microphone.i think the tape is mainly for decorative purposes, but it obviously has some sort of protective roll, as long as you havnt damaged the coil wire thats ok, you can either glue the cloth back on or put more tape over it, doesnt really matter what kind of tape, its just aesthetic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lime ruined my life Posted August 26, 2006 Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 that last reply was actually me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted August 27, 2006 Report Share Posted August 27, 2006 If it is just the cloth that has been taken off it should be fine - the wires are insulated so wouldn't short against the bridge, the problem would come if the pickup moves at all (which it can do depending on how you play and store the guitar and so on) it could very easily wear away and short outThe worry would be that when you took off the cloth, you damaged the windings, and will have knackered the pickup.I would probably recover it with black electrical tape and try installing it again, and just be extra careful not to damage the tape or windings when you put it inDavid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.