Is it the pickup?

DDR4LYF

I have the privilege of repairing a friends vintage lap steel. I think the pickup is screwed. How do I make sure? I have taken everything apart and checked that the pots and caps are fine.

I checked on the net about pickup testing and they say you should test in impedance of the pickup. This pickup is giving 500kOhm. It should be between 0.5 and 20kOhm according to the sites I checked. There is a faint sound coming out, but a small amp cranked still doesn't give much of a sound.

It is an epiphone electar century lap steel (made 1939-1949).

Any help would be great! Also, is it possible to get the pickup rewound or something like that? I want to keep it as original as possible.

http://www.epiphonewiki.com/index.php?title=Electar_Century_Lap_Steel

The plain black one.

Gearhead

500kOhm is probably your volt meter's way of telling you there is no connection.
Chances are you can repair the pup since the likelihood of a wire on the inside failing is slim. I'm saying, there is a wire broken on the outer side of the pup windings; opening up the pup and (very carefully!) unwrapping the insides is going to show you where there's a problem quickly. The next challenge will be to solder up this hair thin wire; the key here is to put the iron at a very low temperature and scrape the coating off of the wire before soldering.

DDR4LYF

Update. The reading is actually zero. Apparently touching the ends with your fingers changes the resistance... Anyway... It is showing a zero resistance, as a faulty pickup should.

Gearhead wrote 500kOhm is probably your volt meter's way of telling you there is no connection.

Does your diagnosis still stand?

Gearhead

DDR4LYF wrote Update. The reading is actually zero. Apparently touching the ends with your fingers changes the resistance... Anyway... It is showing a zero resistance, as a faulty pickup should.
Gearhead wrote 500kOhm is probably your volt meter's way of telling you there is no connection.
Does your diagnosis still stand?

Even more so, if it were zero then your fingers touching the ends would not matter. See what your meter does when your put the ends together and compare it to holding them in mid air.

AlanRatcliffe

If it needs a rewind, Jason Lollar in the US is your best bet - he's the authority on lap/pedal-steel guitar pups (also possible he has a replacement pickup for you).
But obviously sending it to the US and back is a serious and time-consuming proposition, so it might be worth having a look yourself see if it's anything obvious and easily fixed, such as a dry joint where the wires from the coil are joined to the lead.

DDR4LYF

Update: Andy Barnes who is an Amp tech up here in Joburg can rewind the pickup for me. I have sent stuff to him before and always been really happy with his work. So just need to check how much it will be and then go for it!!! So exciting!!!!