140B with no sound, but reacts to shortage between reeds and pickup

[Rumi]

I've got a strange problem. There is almost no sound in the newly acquired 140B, but the noise in the volume pot gets amplified (so the amp does its job), and when I put my finger across a reed and the pickup, I hear loud pops.

I've read that there can be no sound when a reed shortens with the pickups. But then my "finger shortage" would make no difference, correct?

The reeds seem to be quite wide for the pickups, there is virtually no gap on either side of the reeds. And at least one reed is vibrating against the pickup. Maybe they are incorrect reeds? Was there a model with wider reeds than the 200/140B etc?

What troubleshooting procedure or steps would you recommend?

Thank you!

[cinnanon]

Try to isolate the problem by disconnecting the treble reedbar in the middle (just the pickup connection, not the ground connection). The gap on either side of the reeds is quite small, so that's normal. You should see daylight between either side of the reed and pickup when shining a flashlight underneath.