Quiet neck pickup, high DCR reading

[McNamara]

Hello all, I recently bought a new SE Custom 24-08. Really love everything about the guitar, except the neck pickup seemed unusually low in output compared to the bridge. Customer support suggested I check the pickup impedance with a multimeter, so I bought a cheap one to try it out. I've already passed on my findings to them, but I thought I'd post it here to see what I might be able to do apart from sending it back. The bridge read 8.2 kOhms in humbucking mode and 4.2 kOhms split. That seemed normal-ish, but the neck read 344 kOhms. This is with volume and tone knobs on full, touching the multimeter probes to the tip and sleeve of a guitar cable plugged into the output jack.

Seems like there's definitely something wrong with the neck pickup. I really don't want to send it back, as shipping both ways will take eons, but do I have any other options than replacing the pickup?

 

[JasonE]

Sounds like a defective pickup. Customer support will take care of you.

 

[McNamara]

Yes, no doubt they will. I'm hoping they can ship me a replacement pickup instead of sending the guitar back to the States, it's the only electric guitar I have here at the moment.

Are there any widely available aftermarket humbuckers that would work with the 408 wiring system?

 

[show_a_little_faith]

Did you get it from a dealer? It's possible they might be able to fix it themselves, and even if not it should definitely be under warranty so no cost to you.
Also, as far as I know there's a European PRS service center, I imagine it would be at least a little faster if you have to send it to them rather than the USA?

 

[McNamara]

Yes, got it from an official dealer. Now that you mention it, the CS emails have been coming from their European service center. I'd just rather avoid any shipping of the guitar if possible; I already got rid of the box it came in and it's a major pain shipping things in this country.

In any case, it's an excuse for me to buy another guitar while I wait for this issue to get resolved.

 

[JasonE]

Yes, got it from an official dealer. Now that you mention it, the CS emails have been coming from their European service center. I'd just rather avoid any shipping of the guitar if possible; I already got rid of the box it came in and it's a major pain shipping things in this country.

In any case, it's an excuse for me to buy another guitar while I wait for this issue to get resolved.

Go back to the dealer. They may ship it for you. PRS will reimburse them for the cost. That way it won't cost you anything and you won't have to box it up. They may also be able to fix it at the dealer if they have someone that does repairs. PRS may ship them the pickup.

 

[McNamara]

Brilliant! I'm hoping I can do just that, thanks.

 

[LunarRock]

The dealer should send you a replacement guitar, and PRS absorb the cost, imo in good faith and probably legally too.

They are not know for bad customer service, quite the opposite

 

[McNamara]

They've certainly been responsive so far, I have no doubt they'll take care of me.