No output? newbie needs help

[Teds Dad]

help please
i cant get any sound output.
i 'think' i have followed the instructions. i have pulled it apart and re-soldered it again and still nothing. i thought it may be the jack wires around the wrong way but i have tried both ways and that didnt help.
the two hot wires are in the switch. the two earths are on the pot?? doing my head in..
can someone have a look at the picture attached and see if i have anything around the wrong way.

if you are around blacktown and see a flying tele this afternoon.. you will know i have spat it!!!

[dave.king1]

3 way or 5 way switch, my money is on the hot wires to the switch being incorrect

My Tele with humbuckers had me bewildered but Google came to the rescue.

I'll fire the PC up and find the circuit for you if need be but I'm pretty sure it was on the Seymour Duncan web site

BTW my PBH4 kit had the factory wired bit done by Stevie Wonder, absolutely nothing like the wiring diagram that is on the web site.
Pots wired in reverse and shunting each other down so output volume was minimal but easy fixed

[Teds Dad]

standard 3 way switch - its just the stock TL-1 this is meant to be the easiest one!! i only had to solder 6 wires, thats the bit that is p%ssin me off..
i have the coated wires from pups to switch, bare to earth on pot.

[gavinturner]

I have found that if you solder an output jack to a cople of wires with aligator clips it makes a good troubleshooting rig. You can connect to the pickups themselves and test their signal, then to the output of the volume pot, then to the output leads etc. Allows you to narrow down the cause.

Good luck.

cheers,
Gav.

[Teds Dad]

it might be a dumb question (not really electrical savvy)...
Does a pick up straight to a jack provide sound or just a signal?

[Nickosaurus]

yep it will sound like a pickup at full volume/tone if you wire it direct, bypassing all the goop in the middle.

not sure if your switch has 8 lugs (never made a PBG tele) but this is a nice diagram to help diagnose.

http://edsguitarlounge.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/standard_tele.jpg

If you have a multimeter you can also follow the signal from the pickups through the circuit to see where it gets killed. Put one probe on the pickup's hot wire and one to ground and follow from pickup selector, to volume lugs, to tone lugs, to output (that is - changing the 'hot' probe's contact to each of those)

[dingobass]

Gives you maximum gruntage :)

I have done a few builds with no volume or tone control, just straight from the pup to output.

Check to make sure you have the jack wired the right way round... One of the most common wiring dramas..
And also check for any shorts across pot lugs etc.. I had one once that was just a single strand of wire floating around.
That bugger took up the best part of the day to track down as the wire is finer than a human hair and also camouflages really well against shielding tape etc.......

[WeirdBits]

It's a lefty Tele, right? So it looks like you've got the lug corrections correct for the lefty pot turns (or is the image just reversed). Can you post a couple more pics of the control plate, ideally one showing the other side of the switch etc? The bare ground on the red pickup wire could be shorting, but some of the lug connections could also be touching the control plate (which itself is a ground via the pot casings). The output wire from the switch to the volume pot lug is a bit hard to see but it appears that lug and its tone pot connection could be a bit rough.

First check for any shorts or accidental ground touches. If you can't find anything then I'd disconnect the red wire linking the volume and tone pot lugs to remove the tone pot from the circuit, get it working with just the volume and then add the tone back in.

[Teds Dad]

thanks everyone
i found the issue... switch output wire didn't have a good connection..
here i was checking all my soldering and it was one already done!!

[Nickosaurus]

It's usually something simple but frustrating none the less. :D good to hear you sorted it

[andrewdosborne]

Good work 'Teds Dad'! These electrical issues can be a nightmare to diagnose/locate so you have done well in tracking this down. You mentioned pups direct to output jack earlier. I have a Tele set up as an Esquire. One switch position is bridge pup direct to output jack. It has a very edgy raw sound that takes a lot of taming (and makes your hair stand on end) but sounds awesome!

[keloooe]

yep it will sound like a pickup at full volume/tone if you wire it direct, bypassing all the goop in the middle.

actually no it will be brighter as when you max the volume, there is still signal loss! The Jackpot (StewMac sell it) is a pot that can allow you to bypass everything in a similar fashion! I should try it out one day...

[GeneralKaos]

Its always the last thing you check.........

[GeneralKaos]

.....Because then you stop checking!! ;)

[stan]

well done fixing this