Squier Musicmaster low output

[soulrabbi]

Hi all,

I just bought a Squier Vista Musicmaster bass. When I received it, plugged it in and found the tone control acted more like a volume. When rolled back there was barely any output but when rolled forward it gave a horrible harsh tone.

I had already booked it in for a setup at my local guitar shop so I asked the bloke to investigate. He told me that the electronics had been totally botched, volume and tone were wired in series and it was generally a bit of a mess. I left it with him and he figured it out, wired it up correctly and gave it a setup.

I collected it today and it sounds and feels loads better but the output, whilst vastly improved, is still low. I think he said he measured about 4/4.5k from the pickup. But I'm sure I've read in other forums people measuring about 8k or something from these Vista Tone pickups.

I did ask what else could be the problem but he said it could be all sorts. Possibly the pickup was knackered and someone had tried to rewind it in the past. Although he hadn't investigated any further, he just said that the wiring was such a mess that anything was possible and he just wanted to get it working for me for now without running up a huge bill.

Suffice to say, I have taken up the issue with the seller who had described as being in full working order and claimed it had been set up and the electronics professionally checked over!

But my question is: any ideas what could be responsible for the low output? Faulty pickup? Something up with volume pot? Have i just misread somewhere about the high output of these basses?

Any help greatly appreciated.

[MoonBassAlpha]

4.5k is quite weedy for a single coil. Any cheap Strat pickup from your parts bin would probably do better than that.

[Jono Bolton]

I'd say if the tech has wired it up correctly and the output is still low, it's the pickup. I'd just pull it out and replace it with this if I were you:

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/238112-wizard-high-output-51-precision-pick-up/page__p__2475658__hl__wizard%2051__fromsearch__1#entry2475658"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/238112-wizard-high-output-51-precision-pick-up/page__p__2475658__hl__wizard%2051__fromsearch__1#entry2475658[/url]

[soulrabbi]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I think the 51 pb pickups are longer than the vista tone. Would mean modding the pickguard and the pole pieces would be too far apart for the string spacing in the musicmaster.

May have to stick in a hotrails or something.

Edited July 22, 2014 by soulrabbi

[redstriper]

I have a Squier Bronco in which I replaced the pick up for a Brandoni cool rails.
When I fitted the new pick up it had very low output because I wired it wrong and it took 2 more goes to get it right.
It could be that yours is wired wrong too and it's easy to check - I'm no electrician but I managed to fit mine and change the wiring 3 times without any soldering.
If not, I recommend the Brandoni cool rails as a good replacement for £40 including next day delivery.

Just a thought [size=4] [/size]

[kerley]

I also have a Squier Bronco and the standard pickup in that was very weak and low volume. I replaced it with a hot rails but found that was too much and settled on a Texas noiseless single coil strat pickup from Axesrus which is around 8K and sounds great. More clarity than the humbucker but stronger than the original pickup.

[Chiliwailer]

Could be worth sending it to decent pickup maker for a custom rewind, meaning you can chose the level and tone character you're seeking whilst not having to replace the pickup or do any mods to the guard or body - Bare Knuckle do the job well for rewinds.