The Steel Guitar Forum

Saturday night at sound check, I set up my steel. I havn't set it up since the week previous. When I powered up, the E9 neck tone was very thin and bright. The C6 neck was as fat as usual. I looked under the guitar and sprayed cleaner and re-soldered one wire on the switch, but no change. I managed to get through the night by going direct into my amp, but it was tough. I was on the road so Saturday, at sound check, the steel performed fine. Did the problem fix itself, because it seemed to break itself. Or was this something strange about that stage Friday? Would an olm meter tell me if my pickup is bad? Has anyone had a problem with the pickup switch on Emmons?
(this may be an electronics question)

Yes Chris, an ohm meter would help. Should the problem ever reoccur, you could check the DC resistance of the pickup...it should be between 15,000 and 25,000 ohms. This sounds like a bad connection somewhere, maybe within the pickup itself. Normally, the only problems with pickups are loose windings, of open windings, neither of which would cause the problem you describe.

Chris,

If your guitar has a neck selector switch,
that would be a prime suspect.

Rex

I guess I should have read your entire post.

I had an Emmons that would do that on one pickup. It turned out to be the tone control switch.

rx

I had a pickup on my MSA that the windings came un raveled and my c6th neck sounded more trebel than the e9th. I changed the pickup and solved the problem.

I played an outdoor gig a few years back. It was 112 degrees. (Had to keep the bar in a wet rag in the shade on breaks, or it would get so hot you could not hang on to it without getting a burn). Anyway, the enamel on the wire of my C-6th coil melted, letting the wires touch. The pickup shorted out at 5000 ohms.. Had to have the pickup rewired. You ever hear Ralph Mooney on the C-6th.