So I plugged my SG in this evening.....

[ggwwbb]

and got nothing from the bridge pickup except some very quiet, tinny sounds out of it, not enough to register my tuner. The volume pot seems to be working. Any suggestions on what the problem is? I wiggled the wiring a little bit and didn't find any loose connections. I have a sneaking suspicion that the pickup itself may be the problem. What do you think?

[atomicmassunit]

Use a meter and track it town. Rarely does a pickup go out, I'd suspect the switch, or a wiring problem, something grounded out.

[3th3r]

When my SG was new, the original Busrtucker started cutting out after about a month. I unsoldered it from the pot and tested the resistance, which was about half what it should be. One coil was not working obviously. But why?

Hoping that it was only a shoddy soldering job by a Gibson tech, and not actually a broken coil wire, I removed the nickel cover, resoldered the coil wires. I tested the resistance again, and success! I was back in business. I soldered the cover back on, and the Burstbucker never failed again.

[Sweetfinger]

If your tone knob now seems to work like a volume as well, your pickup is dead with an open coil.

[Cymbaline]

A friend had that happen with his Precision Bass, and it turned out to be the tone capacitor of all things.

[ggwwbb]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I will get the multimeter out tonight, and start checking things. The last time I played it, everything worked just fine, but I know that stupid stuff like that can happen at any time.

[Brazen]

Don't forget the selector switch. They can be the problem.

[Grandturk]

Did you jiggle the switch?

[ggwwbb]

Yep, wiggled the switch several times. Didn't help.

If it is the tone capacitor, can it just be eliminated or does it have to be there?

[Burruss]

The same thing happened to my SG. I took it to a tech, and he replaced every pot on it. He ordered a part from Gibson that was like a board and had all the pots attached to it. Idk if that helps at all, but it never acted up again.

[Burruss]

What year is your SG?

[ggwwbb]

Its a 2008.

[semi-hollowbody]

I have had same problems with bridge and neck pups on various guitars...for me its ALWAYS been a switch...deoxit always fixes it...oxidatiion can wreak havoc on mechanical contacts

[ggwwbb]

I measured the output with my meter and the bridge pickup measures 7.74, the neck pickup measures 13.39. The wiring seems to have continuity throughout, so if it looks as tho its the pickup itself, right?

[ggwwbb]

I just went back and checked the capacitor itself....its bad, continuity on both sides of it, but nothing going thru it. Can I just eliminate it or does it have to be there? If it doesn't have to be there, what can I expect it to sound like if I leave it out?