Univox Hi-Flier Bass Pickup Rewind. Took Some Detective Work!

[@DylanSaliba]

Wow! I've been putting the refurbishment of my Univox HiFlier bass off for a while now. This pickup rewind just unlocked half of it for me! Now I have to figure out the tuner rivet hole. Thank you for sharing!

[@guitar_md]

Absolutely. Glad it could help! I've lucked out on more of these. The last three that came in, I was able to fix with a splice. I've come up with my own technique that I call a knot splice that I'm working on a video for. As simple as it sounds: using a strand of 42AWG to tie a knot around the broken start lead magnet wire, then fluxing and tinning. Clip the ends, and good to go -- time to re-tie around the pigtail and re-tin. Haven't rewound one since this video. I do wonder if they're all the same. The most recent was a humbucker. Unfortunately, even with the micrometer, it's so finnicky, it's hard to tell the wire gauge. Sometimes I think it's one gauge, then re-measure, and it's off...so, very tough. Have to infer a lot from the DCR / inductance. Plain old experimentation never killed anyone either. Well. In some cases I suppose it has.

[@DylanSaliba]

I'm back. I wanted to say thank you for the extra ground wire trick. It worked like a charm after the new rewind! Keep on rockin!

[@guitar_md]

Happy to be of service! I'd love to make a video on the topic soon. Makes a huge difference and with the right tools it's so easy to do. Thanks for letting me know it worked out for you!

[@M_EvoBass]

Brilliant work 😎

[@guitar_md]

Thank you!

[@jeebsa4m3]

I have a reissue with pickups like this and they’re by far my favorite sounding bass pickups, I’m thinking about getting a new bass but trying to find something similar to these to put in but I can’t find anything. Do you know of anything that you can recommend similar to these?

[@angelbergjosue8580]

great video! have you tried rewinding roland GK3 pickup?

[@guitar_md]

Thanks! I have not. I have made pickguards for them though. Very challenging. Took me a while to figure it out. Would have been a great video. I still have the routing template I made for it as well

[@bernoulli1]

Fantastic video MD!!! I also have a Univox Hi-Flyer bass, but mine is a phase III & it has humbucker pickups as opposed to single coil pickups. There is something wrong with either my neck pickup or the 3 way switch. When I test the pickups with my multimeter by plugging a guitar cable into the input jack and using the multimeter on the other end of the guitar cable, the bridge pickup position shows 10.58K. I get the exact same reading from the center “both” position but the neck position only shows .279M Does this indicate a bad neck pickup or possibly a bad three way switch? Thank you!

[@guitar_md]

It's very likely that the pickup is dead. To be sure, you can try desoldering the neck pickup from the switch, and testing it separately. That will reveal it for sure. If you're still getting the wonky reading, that's probably it for that pickup. DCR is not always 100% accurate but is *usually* accurate for diagnosing whether a pickup is working or not. I do have an older video on pickup diagnostics here in case you're interested: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jnWmeZ-bqJqinJYsi=ATPNgwVwO1sLo2hM

[@bernoulli1]

I will try disconnecting the pickup and testing it again. If it is broken, are you able to fix it as you did in this video? It is a humbucker, so it’s more complex. I was able to remove it from its casing and I can see that it has been waxed.

[@guitar_md]

@@bernoulli1 I have fixed humbuckers before. I have a video here on one I did a while back: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5qQqKOQndOtbq8si=BiVYqa_Xgvxqp_d5 Humbuckers are certainly more challenging, but mostly due to the extra amount of time and dexterity required to wire them correctly and assemble the baseplate. Having more measurements on the bridge pickup would be helpful as well. I can speculate -- but having concrete measurements takes a lot of guesswork out of things, when it comes to matching pickups. 10.58 DCR is something I could certainly work with as long as I know the wire gauge. I can test the neck humbucker wire on my micrometer, though it is subject to human error, and when dealing with such fine measurements it can be tough to discern. Anyway, yes, I can do that! If you want to take things further, you can reply to me here, but for followup in regards to shipping and all that, hit me up at: [e-mail]

[@bernoulli1]

Wow… thank you so much!!! I will try to desodder the pickup tomorrow and test it again. I will let you know. Thank you!

[@FoulOwl2112]

What tonewood do you prefer for your toothpicks? Ate you more of a traditional spruce or birch guy. Or are you a more sustainable resource minded bamboo user. Square or rounnd profile? Or perhaps one of these newer compound radius toothpickers?

[@guitar_md]

Compound radius old growth birch, 100%

[@FoulOwl2112]

@@guitar_md Right on brother. Always love your work btw.

[@bernoulli1]

Fantastic video snd excellent work! I just got a Phase III Univox Hi-Flyer bass. The phase III basses have humbuckers. I’m pretty sure that the neck pickup is bad. My multimeter shows the bridge pickup position at 10.58. The “both” position also shows 10.58 and the neck PU is coming in at .279 Does this sound like a bad neck pickup or possibly a problem with my 3 way switch? Thank you.