Need Help with Pick ups

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   I own a : jackson sl1 w/ alder body and maple neck, floating floyd rose trem.   

Recently I was practicing my guitar and I started noticing the decibels fluxuating sporadically. Within seconds of each other, sometimes normal levels, sometimes medium, sometimes hardly generating any sound at all.  I will note, this happened shortly after I thumped the strings with the side of my palm (it's a habit from playing acoustic guitar). I assumed this had something to do with the malfunction.  

I have yet to open it up and try some soldering.  That is because I would like to swap out my pick ups anyway.  I was hoping to go for a much more "milkyer" tone... if you will.  Something more like Vai's spaceyer sounds, or tony macalpines sounds with Planet X.  I guess the best way to describe it is, I want a very fat synth sound, if possible.  I was looking into dimarzio.  Any suggestions???

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leifthewarrior Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: September 03 2008 Location: Missouri Status: Offline Points: 29	Topic: Need Help with Pick ups Posted: September 29 2010 at 23:07
	I own a : jackson sl1 w/ alder body and maple neck, floating floyd rose trem. Recently I was practicing my guitar and I started noticing the decibels fluxuating sporadically. Within seconds of each other, sometimes normal levels, sometimes medium, sometimes hardly generating any sound at all. I will note, this happened shortly after I thumped the strings with the side of my palm (it's a habit from playing acoustic guitar). I assumed this had something to do with the malfunction. I have yet to open it up and try some soldering. That is because I would like to swap out my pick ups anyway. I was hoping to go for a much more "milkyer" tone... if you will. Something more like Vai's spaceyer sounds, or tony macalpines sounds with Planet X. I guess the best way to describe it is, I want a very fat synth sound, if possible. I was looking into dimarzio. Any suggestions???

Triceratopsoil Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: April 03 2010 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 18016	Posted: September 29 2010 at 23:37
	Dimarzio Air Norton neck pickup, Dimarzio Super Distortion bridge pickup. That's the setup I would use. Does your Jackson have active pickups? It might just need a battery change. If you don't know what active pickups are, check if there is a battery If you want to go with something other than Dimarzios, Seymour Duncans are always a good bet. Either a Jazz or a '59 in the neck position, and either a JB or a Custom 5 in the bridge position. Edited by Triceratopsoil - September 29 2010 at 23:38

leifthewarrior Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: September 03 2008 Location: Missouri Status: Offline Points: 29	Posted: September 30 2010 at 11:23
	Thank you for the suggestions. I will look into those model's and see how I like them. The pickups are passive. I just opened up the guitar to see if there are any shorts, I haven't came across anything yet. I'm still unsure what is happening, I will be conducting my own research into this matter. But all help is welcome!!!

Triceratopsoil Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: April 03 2010 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 18016	Posted: September 30 2010 at 20:51
	it isn't totally unheard of for pickups to lose their magnetism and slowly grow weaker until they die, but I've never heard of fluctuating volumes like that. If you can't find a short, it's possible that the problem lies with your input jack or volume pot; that's all I can think of. I guess if you buy new pickups and still have problems, this will be a good indication of that. You might need an experienced tech to take a look at it, if you can't find anything wrong electrically

AnchovyRun Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: June 10 2009 Location: Atlantis Status: Offline Points: 437	Posted: October 04 2010 at 14:47
	I also believe it to be volume pot related. By solution would be to buy the air norton and either the super distortion or d sonic (all from dimarzio), bring it all to the shop, get it installed and tell the technician to fix your pots. Not only will the volume stay constant, your guitar will feel and sound like new.
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