UBC p'ups....

Rightio, I've got my Spectrum ST in bits presently for a little TLC, and I recalled it had the plastic bottomed pickups, which were supposedly the "proper" UBCs.... possibly. Well, I was right; it does have the plastic bottomed pickups with Allen headed pole pieces - I'll post some pix when I get a chance - and I recall it being OK enough in output to have used it once or twice at a gig, but doing a quick and dirty impedance check reveals a reading of about 6.9 and 3.4Ω at the bridge and 6.7 and 3.3Ω at the neck, so the readings would seem to indicate weak output, the same as the ones that Barry and Damian decry.

Discuss... 😱

Anyway, I'm in the process of cleaning the poor old thing up a little so I'll add some detail pix later; it has loads of those stress type cracks in the finish and the nut has the deepest slots I've ever seen!


Edit....
I've just finished fettling my Vantage VA900, which has sat in its case, unloved and uncleaned from the last set of gigs I did.... 6 years ago!!! You interested in seeing the state it was in?! I feel ashamed just talking about it...😁😳

the X125 i just acquired had a plastic bottom humbucker pickup
the German Catalog 1987 - X125 calls them Magnaflux I UBC
this one is wired with a gray covered cable having only a single conductor (white) with a shield.
it measures 6.15 k, no coil split wiring provided.

You're getting a bonus with 6.9 mate! All of mine clock in around 6.3'sh.
Get yourself a nice GFS Crunchy Pat and be wonderful! They're a pretty darn good replacement for the MMK45's.

Ive said it before and I'll say it again, I like the UBC's that were in my ST (plastic baseplates) they really do have a nice glassy tone when split, but their output, even for me (I play clean tones mostly) is just to weedy.

Yes please John, pix pix pix no matter how filthy.....

pix pix pix no matter how filthy.....

Oh...you...mean...the guitar

John, you do remember the snafu that Thorny discovered with sub-standard pots being installed in more than one if his Electras... which several other of the lads over there confirmed as well?

http://www.rivercityamps.com/electraforum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=6958

Is it crazy to surmise that a similar gremlin could be at work in some Westies causing this weak output?

Iceman wrote:...sub-standard pots...Is it crazy to surmise that a similar gremlin could be at work in some Westies causing this weak output?

Very doubtful. My pups were measured in isolation, i.e., after removal from the guitar.

The lower the pot value the more bass/mids you'll hear. The ubc's are shrill sounding because of the low output pup with 500k pots letting even more treble through.
You'd be better off with 250k pots on the ubc's

... is in dire need of some TLC!! I took it out for
those pix I posted and realised that I hadn't touched it for about 5 years
and hadn't cleaned it the last time I played it and put it away...

Yukky!!!

So... while I had it pulled apart, here are some pix...



MMK 53s, neck and bridge. For some reason I thought it had a 61 an a 53... what a dickhead!!



that brass bridge plate is 9mm thick and checked in flush with the surface...



Cowboy chord area is deeply gunked up... it's like that to about the 15th fret!



Mine has a separate battery compartment, which incidentally, was used once, in 1981 and hasn't been since!



The rats nest that is the control cavity. Note that the circuit board has never been attached to the cover plate...



Importers sticker on the inside of the cover plate...



cover plate screws; note corrosion where the alloy plate meets the steel screws!!



TRC. Mahogany, perhaps?!



I
don't think the frets will take another dressing, so a quick polish is
about as much as it's gonna get!! I remember it being as slick as
gorilla snot to play...



Cleaning the gunk off the board...