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Weak Pickup in my new GT Bass

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Weak Pickup in my new GT Bass Empty Weak Pickup in my new GT Bass

Post by hobster Sat May 21, 2011 4:11 pm

Hey guys, don't know if any of you saw my posting in the for sale section but here is my new Spectrum GT Bass! Pretty much unused, got real lucky again. Very Happy Not a ding on it and no fretwear. The guy who sold it to me didn't even know about Westone and thought it was some cheesy 80's bass (it was given to him as a tradeoff and he didn't need it). I'd have this in the Members Westone section but sadly there is an issue. Firstly, the switch seems backwards. When it is facing the front the bridge pickup is on, and when the switch faces the rear of the guitar, the neck pickup is on. The center position works fine and they are both on. If i'm not mistaken, its totally reversed right? The bridge pickup (which has the coil split) is heard when the switch faces forward towards the front (as in the picture below) and its also much weaker than the neck pickup. I'm bummed and can't quite figure it out. I've had dirty pots which i cleaned on other guitars and it cleaned the sound up alot, but it doesn't seem to be the case. I checked the weak pickup with my multimeter where the wires solder to the vol. knob and it registered at over 13 which makes me think the pickup is fine. I've also always wondered if a pickup is dead, you get NO sound right? (since the wire inside is usually broken). The wires seem to have the original soldering and i don't think anyone messed with it. Wierdness. Any thoughts? Does the soldering look original to you? Semms odd on such an unused bass. He knocked the price down to $125 because of the pickup so i'm happy with the purchase either way but would REALLY like to keep it all original. I hope this isn't too confusing! Shocked Very Happy Thanks guys.


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Post by Iceman Sat May 21, 2011 8:46 pm

Sweet Suzanna!! You are on one serious roll. Congrats man. cheers

So I will take a weak stab at the selector switch mystery. Don't laugh too hard but...... is it possible that the switch housing nut was loose at one time and the switch itself got spun around 180° and then was tightened back up?? scratch

Or possibly the switch was pulled for whatever reason and reinstalled the wrong direction. Did the seller mention any of the other issues? Perhaps he attempted some sort of work on it and never checked up on it afterwards?

Quite a stable your building up to....... very commendable. cyclops
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Post by Westbone Sun May 22, 2011 3:16 am

All your wiring appears to be original.
Same as my GT bass.
Pickup reads ok.
Does the phase switch operate as should?
Just slacken the selector switch nut and turn around.
You can also add some more foam under the pup to raise it closer to the strings, increase volume.
Looks in excellent condition. Smile
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Post by chaypup Sun May 22, 2011 4:57 am

The wiring in your GT certainly seems little different to this diagram:

Weak Pickup in my new GT Bass Wiring10

for instance, the wire coming from the neck pup should be going to the pup selector and then on to the tone selector whereas on yours the wire from the pup goes straight to the tone selector where it meets the (wrong) wire from the pup selector.

However, every Westone bass I've ever seen has had wiring oddities - whether this is due to owner meddlement or trying different things out in the factory I don't know.

Anyway if you swap the red and yellow wires about on your pup selector that will sort out that problem, and you may want to solder the wire coming from the neck pup to the selector rather than the tone pot to see if that sort out the output as well.
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Post by bowenjaybee Sun May 22, 2011 6:38 am

apart from the pup selector switch been the wrong way round I can't see anything else wrong with the wiring it looks exactly the same as my GT Bass. Is there a massive difference in volume between the neck & bridge pups? or does the bridge pup just sound a bit thinner (which i believe it's supposed to).. do you get the same volume between pups when tapping the poles with a screwdriver or something? a head scratcher for sure! scratch

Very nice bass, looks perfect, a lot of bass for little money... hope you get it sorted.
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Post by Westbone Sun May 22, 2011 6:52 am

The wiring diagram is right and so is your guitar wiring.
It will make no difference it just cuts out an extra solder joint and goes directly to the pots.
The bridge pup is wired in parallel(internally) in/out of phase via the pull/push switch and will have a drop in volume as opposed to the neck pup which is in series.
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Post by hobster Sun May 22, 2011 12:29 pm

Duh, i never thought of the switch being twisted around. That makes perfect sense, although if you look at the pictures the wires don't seem twisted. But i'm sure you guys are right on that one. I have raised the pickup, it is actually higher that the neck one and yes, it is alot weaker. The out of phase seems to work on the push-pull but its hard to hear. I've also tapped it with a screwdriver (usually my first test) and they seem to be the same loudness, so i'm kinda baffled. Shocked I'm glad the wiring is right according to your instruments- thats always the coolest and best way to check. I have a little more time today so i'll do some more investigating. Yeah Iceman, this kinda fell in my lap. I wasn't looking for another instrument but this one was too hard to resist and only 10 minutes away. Perfect timing, i've really been into the bass lately and i'm trying out for a band next week. Hope i get this baby rollin......... Very Happy
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Post by Frenchy Mon May 23, 2011 10:39 am

Wow... nice bass and what a great deal!

Congrats, hope you find a solution for the pick up....
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Post by hobster Mon May 23, 2011 3:13 pm

Thanks Frenchy, i had fun playing around yesterday with my new bass, great action and i love the neck. Still couldn't figure out the problem though Mad
I retapped the pickups again with a screwdriver and the bridge pickup is alot weaker when being tapped (contrary to what i thought). Its also muddier, almost like it kinda phases in and out a little. I turned the switch around, so thats been solved but this pickup has me perplexed. I messed with the wires a bit and everything seems to be cleanly soldered with no loose connections. Its a challenge for me alright, i've done quite a bit of work on guitars but i'm at a loss on this one.
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Post by Westbone Thu May 26, 2011 2:10 pm

As far as I can make out, the pickup is wired parallel in/ out of phase by the switch.
To correct it you'd have to strip it down to the coil connections internally.
It's really mean't to be played with the neck pup for the phase switching to have much effect. Not much kop on it's own.
It's wired the the 2 coil starts joined. Those being either red or white at the pots, can't remember which but won't make any difference as they are swopped over on the push/pull switch. Being wired like this does'nt do much at all, in fact nothing for the sound really.



Last edited by Westbone on Thu May 26, 2011 2:40 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Post by Barry Thu May 26, 2011 2:29 pm

Just a quick FYI...
This and all previously existing wiring schematics are now available on www.westoneguitars.net. I have spent some time to try and clean up some of the more "cluttered" ones. I hope you find them a bit easier to read:

Spectrum GT Bass

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Post by corsair Thu May 26, 2011 3:38 pm

Barry wrote:Spectrum GT Bass

Nice! Smile
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Post by hobster Thu May 26, 2011 5:01 pm

corsair wrote:
Barry wrote:Spectrum GT Bass

Nice! Smile

Yeah, the new site is excellent Barry, much appreciation from everyone here and all over the internet searching for Westie info. Very Happy Thanks for the schematics.

I didn't want to but i might have to break out the soldering gun for this one. Westbone i'm a bit confused, so you're taling about opening the actual pickup, correct? I think the problem might be in the switch, but everything looks so clean. Maybe it is the pickup. I think i'll have to take the guitar apart either way which i hate doing affraid , i like them to be original and untouched as possible.
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Post by Westbone Thu May 26, 2011 5:09 pm

It's the internal connections of the windings to the tails.
You've got to strip it right back to the copper windings.
Easy job but a lotta lotta care must be taken.
Remove the magnet from one side of the coils, it just falls apart.
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Post by Barry Thu May 26, 2011 5:23 pm

hobster wrote:...Yeah, the new site is excellent Barry, much appreciation from everyone here and all over the internet searching for Westie info. Very Happy Thanks for the schematics...
Thanks, nice to know the effort is appreciated. I notice that the "hit count" is climbing dramatically, over 11,000 the last time I checked! We started at about 100 in April!! Oops, make that 13,000!
Lots more to come (I hope).

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Post by hobster Sun Jul 10, 2011 11:35 pm

Sorry to pull this old thread up but i finally got around to removing the pickup and checkin it. It reads 6.75 ohms on one of the red wires and the other is dead. Thanks to Westone.net and good ol Barry Wink i learned the pickups read 6.6 ohms per coil so i assume one of the coils is dead and therefore it sounds weak. I guess the only option is to replace it correct? If so i'll use the musicman pickup and perhaps i'll be bold and modify the neck pickup with the spare poles. Thanks Westbone! Very Happy
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