Testing pickups and other electronics...

[Zaki]

I a thinking about buying a 88-key Mark I, which needs quite a bit of restoration.
It has a tendency to create some nasty noises (like static electricity), which I suspect is caused by one (or more) bad pickup(s). How can I test the pickups, can I measure them in some way with a ohm-meter, or something like that?

[james]

The easy way to test the pickups is to turn on the amp, remove the harp cover, turn the volume up and tap the magnet end of each pickup with a screwdriver.  You should hear the tapping clearly through the amp: if you don't, the pickup needs to be rewired, rewound or replaced.

[Zaki]

hmmm... seems a bit too basic for me. Wouldn't it be the same (or better) just to play that individual note related to the pickup?

The case is, that the Rhodes makes weird noises which are very audible when played through a PA, but unnoticeable, when played through an amp. I've experienced similair noises on my perfect working MKII, when the harp is up and you're working on it while it is connected to a set of speakers. The noises can be descriped as "electro-static" noises - kind of like if you put electronic equipment on top of the rhodes, just not THAT audible. But still really annoying, and eliminating the possibility of using it for studio-recordings.

I was thinking, that there are really not much electronics inside excepts for the pickups and some kind of "capacitor" sitting at the upper octave. I still suspect that something might be wrong with the capacitor (which may not even be a capacitor), but since there are 88 pickups, chances are greater that something is wrong with one of them.

Therefore I was asking for some way to test the indiviual pickups.