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Author Topic:  Olson 'monkey stick' p'up tone cntrl not working
Steven Welborn

 

From:
Ojai,CA USA
Post  Posted 7 Sep 2019 11:44 am    
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Just acquired a nice 1950 Epi Zenith with an Olsen 'monkey-on-a-stick' pickup. Anyone know the internals of these p'ups? The tone control is not working. The resistance reads at 4.15K. I wonder if that's normal for these floating p'ups. A P90 of this era would be 7 or 8K. Also wonder if these are ever re-maged or re-wound by anyone i.e. Lollar or ?


Last edited by Steven Welborn on 8 Sep 2019 1:23 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Bill A. Moore


From:
Silver City, New Mexico, USA
Post  Posted 7 Sep 2019 12:49 pm    
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If it's 70+ years old, you sure might check the cap. Those old caps dry out!
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Steven Welborn

 

From:
Ojai,CA USA
Post  Posted 7 Sep 2019 1:19 pm    
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I can't find much info on the Olsons, but 4.15k sounds too weak or under wound. Learning more about these. The Dearmond RC 1100 at 6.7k would do the guitar a lot more justice I'd think.

http://web.archive.org/web/20130518100511/http://music-electronics-forum.com/t31801


Last edited by Steven Welborn on 8 Sep 2019 1:23 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Bill A. Moore


From:
Silver City, New Mexico, USA
Post  Posted 8 Sep 2019 5:15 am    
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I assume you've had the cover off, if you're measuring pickup resistance, does the tone pot have the full sweep of resistance?
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Steven Welborn

 

From:
Ojai,CA USA
Post  Posted 8 Sep 2019 7:19 am    
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Haven't had the cover off yet. The guitar shop owner said the non working tone pot was fixed open (full resistance) but I think he just assumed that's the case. I haven't heard anything about Olsen floaters and it sounds like the RC 1100 RI is the one to get in any case. I will remove the cover and check the pot's though.
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Michael Brebes

 

From:
Northridge CA
Post  Posted 8 Sep 2019 12:24 pm    
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Measuring across the output connector on the attached cable, the measured resistance should not change with turning the tone pot. The control section needs to be opened up to measure the tone pot. That will verify whether the pot is working or not. If it measures fine throughout the travel, then the tone capacitor is bad and needs to be replaced.
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Michael Brebes
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Steven Welborn

 

From:
Ojai,CA USA
Post  Posted 8 Sep 2019 1:22 pm    
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tone pot checks ok. It's the cap. thanks !
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Donny Hinson

 

From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
Post  Posted 8 Sep 2019 3:40 pm     Re: Olson 'monkey stick' p'up tone cntrl not working
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Steven Welborn wrote:
Anyone know the internals of these p'ups?


If it's like most of the sliding pickups, it's 6 short rod magnets, two .032" separator plates, and a coil of wire.

Quote:
The resistance reads at 4.15K. I wonder if that's normal for these floating p'ups. A P90 of this era would be 7 or 8K.


Well, it ain't a P90, and I don't know why you used a P90 for comparison. You'll have to unhook one pickup wire from the pot to measure the coil DC resistance accurately. Measuring at the plug keeps the volume pot resistance in parallel with the coil, so you'll get a lower resistance reading than what the pickup really is, and that will also vary with the value of the pot.

I'd say anything around around a 4k reading is fine. Some older guitar pickups were even down in the 3k range.

And yes, they are easily rewound.
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