The Electra Forums

I have a single coil pick up in need of repair. Where the wire attaches to the coil wire, the winding has broken. This happened when removing the pick up cover to clean things up with tuner bath. I know I could replace it with a new one but I like the sound. I have heard you have to remove the coating from the coil to get a reading. How is this done? Is there a site to get the details of this so I dont do more damage? As I said ,I like the sound and the way it plays. I want to keep it as close to original as possible.

Thanks

_________________
SlmGuy

Take it to a store to get it fixed. Unless you're really good with guitars, it's best that you get a professional. Local shops usually do better than Guitar Center, etc.

_________________
Addicted to Matsumoku.

Thanks, I do have a shop in mind. This guitar has plastic spools and some shops wont touch them. Maybe it will work out.

Thanks again.

_________________
SlmGuy

Plastic?
That's something new for me. I hope you get it fixed though.

_________________
Addicted to Matsumoku.

very gently unwrap the tape covering the windings. if you can find the wire at the break, you can gently unwrap 1 wind. then, using a soldering iron (heated up of course) and "scrape" the very end of the wire. the windings are clear coated,and this will melt it off. then after it'smelted off, you can use a multi-meter to check the resistance of the coil. if you have a good unbroken loop now, then you will need to carefully trim the winding so it is the right length to reattach to the leads,then "strip" the coating again in the new spot. verify continuity, then depnding on how the pup is laid out, you may need to just solder the winding to the "connector" that the lead is soldered to (luckiest) , or you may need to try and "scrape solder" the winding and lead together. (hardest).

in "stock" form, sometimes the coil winding had a lonnger area "stripped" of the coating, and bent in a hook shape, then the lead wire was stripped and bent thesame way, so they woould just hook together andnot have a solder joint. but just "lay" across each other, then taped up when the coil was wrapped. what happens a lot is the "wrapping" loosens due to heat an/or age, and the connection loosens....

_________________
My Electra Pages
I have too many projects!

Thanks mcbrat, that sounds like a plan. It looks like it broke more than one loop. How much can be removed and still have a good sound?

_________________
SlmGuy

well, that may make it a lot more difficult to track down.... how many more wraps were broken? you can keep unwinding the breaks, until you get a lead with good resistance (no more breaks), but the more you remove, the weaker your signal will be....

if too many are broken, you could search for a similar sized single coil pup, and swap the coil/leads into the Hondo cover/case.... (just be more careful when taking it apart )

_________________
My Electra Pages
I have too many projects!

Thanks, you have been a great help.The repair looks good. I havent tried it yet, but I will let you know how it turns out.

_________________
SlmGuy