Pickup Problems

[ACz2448]

Hey guys...long time gleaner of knowledge from these forums, first time poster. So, I don't know if this is even in the right section, but I'm running into some problems fixing my buddies kramer guitar. The neck humbucker just...isn't working. I went through all of the electronics, and there is definite continuity between the hot wire from the pickup all the way through the output jack, but i'm still not getting any sound from it. The only thing that I have not done yet is hook up another pickup to test the wiring in the cavity, but i'm fairly sure that somehow the pickup is screwed. It is a kramer quad rail pickup (yes, I know they're not awesome, but it's not my guitar) and I was wondering if there was any way for me to test the pickup itself - without taking it apart - to see if it's bad. Thanks in advance guys!

[jrockbridge]

I have no idea what you have and haven't tried, so I'll throw some things out there.  Good trouble shooting dictates that you must eliminate the possibility that something else is at fault.  Example, it could be a bad cable.  So, eliminate all other variables by testing with another guitar.  

One way you can test a pickup is to wire it straight to the jack.  That way, you eliminate all other variables.  

If you've tested the guitar cable with another guitar, made sure you haven't left the amp on standbys and the pickup is wired straight to the jack, you should be getting sound.  If you do get sound wired direct to jack, you've probably got some type of problem in the guitar circuit, like a bad solder connection or a bad pot.  If you can't get sound wired direct, chances are you have a bad pickup.

[orourke]

I don't work on guitars but I hang out with a friend who does it for a living. He always keeps a spare jack on his work bench, so he can make a quick and dirty connection to a little practice amp. He taps the pickup with a screwdriver to see if it's live.