Originally Posted by
Simon Barden
Select the bridge pickup (so the neck pup remains unconnected to the volume and tone pots), then measure the resistance between a pot back and the neck pickup hot connection to the switch. That will give the coil resistance and if its somewhere in the 4k-10kohm region, then the pickup is OK.
If it's open circuit, then the coil has become either become disconnected or a coil wire has been broken in the process of cover removal.
If it's a short circuit, then somehow the coil connections have become linked, possibly with a wisp of loose wire.