[carlitos_way]

Hi everyone,
I am Carlo from Italy.
I bought a wonderful '78 RD Artist bass a few months ago, but the bridge pickup sometimes becomes almost mute and gives a loud buzz.
I believe that the problem is in the pu itself beacause I can solve the problem picking with fingers on the pickup.
They said me that is impossible to repair it as the coil is hardly epoxy glued.
Can someone suggest me what to do? or selling a spare one? or knowing some store o seller who has one of those pickups?
Thanks in advance and ciao!

Carlo

[Repairman77]

Hi Carlo; you could try earthing that pick-up with a piece of wire to the metal parts of one of the potentiometers.
However if the pick-up has an open circuit coil it will need replacing.
Mike.

[jules]

Yeah, sounds like an earthing issue.

They shouldn't just break, but the pin/socket connectors that connect them to the moog board with are a bit more fragile.

You may find a loose connection there. I had problems with these connections on one of my RDs, and had to replace the sockets. Nothing too hard.

[Repairman77]

Carlo, while you have the guitar electrics apart you could try measuring the resistance of the pick-up coil if you have a digital volt meter.
You will have to unsolder one of the connections to the pick-up as while its connected to the board or other components it will give you a false reading.
I would expect it to be in the region of 2kohm to 8kohm.
Mike.

[Shaggy]

+1 on the above, but if you have replace the p/u you'd be very lucky indeed to find an original series V - I looked in vain when I used to have an RD Artist modded with chrome EB-3 pickups. Best bet probably the black Bartolini TB (Thunderbird replacement) ones - should fit in the pickguard holes, but have slightly more rounded corners.
Seem to be any number of NOS Standard model p/u's knocking around on ebay though - shame!

[jules]

Originally Posted by Repairman77

You will have to unsolder one of the connections to the pick-up

The RD Artist is unusual, in that it is joined with molex connectors so it just unclips. No un-soldering required. You can see them here RD Artist electrics - The wires can fall out of the socket. Getting them in is hard, but you can get new sockets that fit from electronics stores.

[Repairman77]

Originally Posted by jules

The RD Artist is unusual, in that it is joined with molex connectors so it just unclips. No un-soldering required. You can see them here RD Artist electrics - The wires can fall out of the socket. Getting them in is hard, but you can get new sockets that fit from electronics stores.

They're horrible connectors (especially those that are not gold plated). They use them in transistorised amps as well.
I'd certainly unplug them one at a time and do them with switch cleaner and plug them in and out half a dozen times.
Could account for the OP's problem.

Mike.

[Barklessdog]

I had a similar issue once and it turned out that the blade selector switches were not making proper contact. A slight adjustment to the blade cured the issue. One tech told me my board was bad too, but an electronics guy I worked with once figured out it was just the pickup selector contact in the one position.

Its easy to try that first.

[jules]

Originally Posted by Barklessdog

I had a similar issue once and it turned out that the blade selector switches were not making proper contact.

Yep, i've had that too. Especially if you don't use it in a while. The later versions with the enclosed mini toggles are more reliable that way.

[carlitos_way]

Thank you all guys!
I'll try all your advice and let you know...
I hope that the problem is less serious then what I thought.. sorry for my english
Carlo

Great!!! you suggestions seem working, the pickup sounds ok!!!! thanks a lot to you all guys!!!

Meanwile I found a pair of original pickups from a guy from US for 300$... what do you think, they are very rare, maybe it would be a good idea to get them for spare parts?