pickups for a 1980 Special

[petel]

I have the original bridge pick-up for my 1980 Special which I know is some kind of Dimarzio PAF. The Neck pick-up died. Do i replace it with the Dimarzio 36th anniv. in order to keep it as true as possible?

[murkat]

Kinda hard for a pickup to "die".

Magnet degauss, yes.

wire tampering causing a short, etc. yes.

cold solder joint, yes.

I would have the pickup checked out before throwing it out.

Zen has done a many pickup tone reports in comparison to vintage / modern Di Marzios,

PM him, or possibly He will chime in as well as few others.....

[petel]

Thanks. I still have pick-up. I was told by a tech that it was "dead". Glad I kept it.

[serial]

Any early 80s (or late 70s) doible cream Dimarzio PAF (with the beveled slugs) will be at or pretty dead on spec. They're easy to find-there's one on EBay now for $50. The neck pickus are the tough ones to replace.

[Lockbody]

It's been a few years, but I thought the consensus was that the PAF Pro was the closest match to the old neck position Dimarzios/Slammers.

[Punkavenger]

I believe you can send it in to a reputable pick up winder and have it fixed ...

[petel]

Thanks. I have a call in to Dimarzio and they are getting back to me to see if they'll fix it.

[G Man]

Thanks. I have a call in to Dimarzio and they are getting back to me to see if they'll fix it.

That's definitely the way to go, and if they won't their are any number of pickup winders out there these days doing really nice work who should be able to do the job right.

[cynic]

As Murkat suggested it could be something as simple as a problem with the magnet.

Ever lean the guitar against a speaker cabinet? The magnets from the speakers can take a toll depending on how often and/or how close they get, and eventually can cause "dead" pickups.

Magnet swaps are really easy and there are many step by step tutorials online. Before you ship it off somewhere and end up paying for a rewind it may not need, you may want to pull the magnet from the bridge pup and slide it into the neck pup and give it a whirl.

[zenmindbeginner]

Yeah, it's most likely that you have a short or your grounding out your hot signal... damn switch might be bad.

As far as what's in DiMarzio's line that would compare, the 36th Anny is a good match for the bridge and the Air Classic is a good match for the neck.

An Antiquity Duncan bridge would actually sound really good in the neck and would give you a more authentic sound than an Air Classic. The Ant neck models are a bit dark and period correct for late 50's PAFs but the OEM pickups that DiMarzio made for Hamer were pretty bright and the bridge Antiquities are pretty close IMHO.

If your pickup really did short out... it's most likely the connection for the hook-up wire at the beginning and ends of the coils and that can be repaired fairly easily.

And don't forget that guys like Fralin will do rewinds and you could just need a rewind at worst... that would actually be a really good bet. I think that MJ at SD will rewind your DiMarzio for you... she's pretty open minded.

Lots of choices if you need to actually fix or replace the pickup but I would bet that it's 1). your switch, 2). you have a portion of your hot signal going to ground somewhere due to maybe frayed shielding or errant solder blob or 3). the solder connections for the hook up wire failed. It's least likely to be a break in the coil or a dead magnet but anything can happen. ; )

[Jakeboy]

Lots of good advice here.......here is a curve ball: if you decide to swap out both pups, see if you can find a set of vintage Bill Lawrence l500s. When I bought my 1980 Special that is what came in the guitar and they are simply awesome. The do anything and everything pickup. Period correct and just perfect IMO.

[polara]

+1 on getting it fixed. But when I bought an '81 Special with NO pickups in it I got Dimarzio 36th in both positions and was very happy. The bridge in particular kills: really clear but aggressive, just how I hear a "rawk" tone in my head. The neck is quite nice too, though I'm not the biggest fan of neck humbuckers this one isn't too bassy.

[petel]

I have a phat cat in the neck that sounds great for cleans. Thinking a humbucker would be better for drive and gain a la 60's british bands like Free, Savoy Brown etc.

I may grab a set of 36th anniversary for now to get things going.

[bubs_42]

I've had my share of Sunburst and I could not stand the 36ths'. They lasted maybe 2 days in that guitar. Only a true set of OEM Dimarzio's sounded good to me on the Dimarzio side of things. The only other pickup that was majic in a Sunburst was a SD PGB woud by MJ that Bobby Still has in the Sunburst that I sold him. I even begged for that pickup back. I just purchased another J Wound PGB that is going into my Phantom #2 Build.

The Neck pup is the Key, and I agree with Serial 100% they are a bitch to find.

[Punkavenger]

If your willing to spend the money a Bare knuckles mule sounds better than anything I've ever tried neck position/special but I have no idea how it compares to the original Dimarzio.

The rule of thumb around here is "Always follow, ZMB's advice" He spends a lot of time figuring this stuff out and truly is an expert

So what I would do is purchase a high quality vintage wiring kit with new switch etc... see how that works first. and then a Air classic to use while your original pick up is being repaired

IMHO of course