Rear neck pickup stops working periodically.

[Don Smith]

I have a 1960’s Fender pedal steel guitar with two necks

The Neck switch works and then doesn’t, on the rear neck,

When it stops working I turn off my amp and then without touching anything, when I turn on my amp later, it works.

I cleaned the pots and the switch.
And I checked all the wiring and solder joints, except I can’t access the pickup wires, without removing the strings and removing the pickups.

Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Don

[Jim Pitman]

If you have a meter, even an unsophisticated ohm meter, put it on the ohm function with range set to be able to measure in the 5 to 50k range if analog needle type. Most PSG pickups are 10kohm to 20kohm. I suspect the old fender to be on the low side even as low as 5k.
With meter hooked up to the pickup leads at the output jack, tap on the pickup and see if it reads OL or the needle goes to infinite speraticaly.
You might try heating it up with a hair dryer, same test.
Mighty fine wire used. Unfortunately it could go open anywhere in the coil wind and is not so fixable. Often times it goes open at the transition from the magnet wire to the heavier lead wire at a turret. This is fixable since the wire is accessible.
Or could be your switch or jack. With meter across the tip and sleave as before. actuate the switch and see if the reading changes. Most pickups in a dual pickup guitar are not the same resistance.

[Don Smith]

Thanks so much for your help and expertise.
I will try that approach.

[Dave Grafe]

Has to be a bad connection between the lower pickup and the switch, the switch itself on its way out, or a broken pickup winding. Definitely nothing to do with your amp, VP or cables if it behaves exactly as you say.