The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi,
I just got a '59 Fender Champ lap steel. Before changing the strings I looked under the plate to look at the pickup and wiring. Everything looked original and good. But once I got the new strings on and plugged it into my amp I don't get any sound at all. I checked my amp and cable with another guitar and they work fine. What should I check next?

Thanks,
Miles

If you have an ohmmeter, try checking the ohms of your guitar... plug a cord in, then put the ohmmeter probes across the other end of the plug. It will either read 0ohms, infinite ohms, or around 6Kohms. Zero is a short, infinite is an open, and 6K is what you would normally get. You can take the plate off and start following wires, with one probe on the plate and the other probe starting at the tip connection of the jack and working back from there.

I'm hoping that you just accidentally bent your tip connection so that it doesn't touch the plug anymore... there might possibly be a broken connection... let's just hope your pickup didn't get damaged and become open. Even if it has, no big deal... options are pretty thick on the ground for this form factor, including humbuckers.