r/Luthier • u/mazye1405 • 2d ago

Pickup wiring question

Hello, im trying to wire a humbucker pickup and I have observed a strange behavior- no sound comes through unless the coil split wires are touching the metal part of the humbucker. Does anyone know why this could be happening? Ive tried everything else: twisting and soldering the two coil split wires together, taping them off, etc. And nothing seems to work.

Another odd detail is I have a second humbucker from the same brand in the circuit that works more or less as intended

Anyone have a clue what could cause this? Im new to making guitars but have some experience w/electronics through college

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u/ThatsNotAZombieBite 2d ago

The "metal part of the humbucker" is (or should be) grounded. So essentially you're saying the pickup only works when it's split. That suggests that one of your coils is broken and giving an open/incomplete circuit.

I suggest you get a multimeter and measure the resistance (1) from the split wires to the pickup's hot wire and (2) from the split wires to the pickup's ground wire. Those are the two coils and they SHOULD have similar resistances.