Nitebob
Okay....so the Cort got a nice little top 'refinish'...
New strings...and sounding gorgeous...and although I was planning to use it mostly for recording (Ovation sounds very thin when mic'd), I was disappointed yesterday when I plugged it in and all I got was occasional crackle when wiggling the battery :'(
So the guitar is basically worthless to anybody but me...
So here is what I thought:
RC has piezo's with a 14mm diameter, connect 3 (impedance of 1 Ohm each) of them (ala K&K) and...
1) Run it through a Artec preamp from Terryd... (1 Ohm impedance)
2) Try and get an endpin preamp and just run through an EQ...
3) Forget it, donate it, sell the Ovation and buy something else...
4) Try and swop the Ovation for a jack of all trades guit...
I am very open to suggestions here....
I was planning to sell the Ovation anyways and use the Cort as backup while I shop around...
Any advice would be appreciated
AlanRatcliffe
I think you'll find 1 MEGohm, rather than 1 Ohm.As long as your source impedance is at most half what your input impedance is, it'll be OK (although contact transducers don't often sound good).
Was it working before the refin? Maybe something has been dislodged. Also, if the refinisher has damaged it, you should have recourse there...
Have you checked to see if it is the pickup, jack socket, battery or preamp that is the problem? If it's the latter, you can connect the existing pickup directly to the output jack - You can always use an external preamp/DI for now. If it's the first you can just get a cheap replacement UST.
Nitebob
Hi Alan.
I did the re-finish myself. :-[ Light coat to get some shine, and 'better' hide some dings.
I checked the connections myself and couldn't see anything 'obviously wrong'...though I must say I've placed the poor UST under sever scrutiny as you might assume from some other posts of mine.
My gut says it is the UST:
When I plug it into an amp, and turn the volume up on the preamp (not the amp itself), the static goes louder. Thus it seems that preamp and endpin is functioning normally?
AlanRatcliffe
(Ah - It's all coming together in my mind now. Cort MR-F, finish touchup, etc.)
The point where the wires join a UST is pretty delicate and damaged easily with any handling. When I was repairing, probably 50% of repairs to customer DIY install jobs resulted in me having to replace a damaged pickup.
Plug a minijack into the preamp input, plug the output into the amp and touch the tip lug - see if it hums. If it does, everything else is OK.
If it is the pickup, just buy one of the cheap USTs (Artec, etc.) sans preamp, and replace.
Nitebob
Thanks Alan,
Don't see any jack, pickup is soldered straight into the Classic 4 preamp.
But the area you mentioned (where pickup and wires join) was fiddled with a lot (by me :-[) Feel rather sheepish, but I'll consider it schoolfees.
Will get an Artec pickup for it.
Thanx again for the help!!! ?
