A blue vintage Yamaha electric from our used inventory came to the bench buzzing from loose frets and from a bad ground, with the intonation off. Frets glued back in, the bridge ground chased down, setup done. The pickups tested weak and the electronics are still buzzy: an unfinished case, written as one.
- Instrument
- Vintage Yamaha electric, blue (shop stock)
- Tech
- Dave Eastwood
- Customer complaint
- Setup, loose frets, electrical issues
- String gauge
- Darco Electric 10s
- Diagnosis
- Buzzing up the neck from loose frets; buzzing from a bad ground; intonation off; two of three pickups with little output and no resistance reading
- Work performed
- Frets glued back in; bad bridge ground chased down; pickups tested; reassembled with the electrical buzz minimized; intonation and bridge height set
- Parts
- None
- Bench time
- 3 hours
- Outcome
- Setup is good; electronics still buzzy and the pickups low output
What Came In
A blue vintage Yamaha electric from our own used inventory, nicknamed the banana on the bench. It came in for a setup with loose frets and electrical problems.
What We Found
Two kinds of buzz. Frets had come loose in the board and buzzed up the neck, and the electronics buzzed from a bad ground. The intonation was off. When the pickups were tested, two of the three showed little output and no resistance reading, which is the mark of a dead coil.
What We Did
Glued the loose frets back in. Chased the bad ground to the bridge. Tested the pickups. Got the guitar back together with the electrical buzz minimized, then set the intonation and bridge height. About three hours on the bench.
Result
The setup is good. The electronics are still buzzy and the pickups are low output, in Dave's words. That is where it stands.
What does no resistance on a pickup mean?
A pickup coil is a long wire; a meter across it should read a few thousand ohms. No reading means the wire is broken somewhere inside, and no amount of cleaning or grounding brings the output back. That is a rewind or a replacement, which is why the electronics on this one are unfinished.
Related
- The Repair Vault
- Guitar Repair at Paul's Guitar Hideout
- How to Know If a Guitar Is Worth Repairing
- Kramer Aluminum-Neck Bass: A Noise the Quick Fixes Did Not Catch
- How to Tell If a Vintage Gibson's Pickups Are Original
Bring It In
Old guitar with more than one thing wrong? We will tell you what the bench can fix and what it cannot. Guitar repair at the Hideout.
Paul's Guitar Hideout is located at The Shirt Factory in Glens Falls, NY. Use the Cooper Street entrance and take the stairs up. If stairs are difficult or you're bringing in something you don't want to carry up, call or text us and we'll arrange access.
The Shirt Factory
71 Lawrence St., Suite 201B, 2nd Floor
Glens Falls, NY 12801
Wednesday–Sunday, 12–5 PM
(518) 217-8695 · info@paulsguitarhideout.com