Kramer KS-400

My head of department has given me another job to do.
He wanted to know if it was worth upgrading/giving his Kramer some maintenance or buying a F. Squier to use as a knock about guitar.
Initially I wasn’t too impressed by the Kramer and went to my local guitar store for a comparison with what F. Squires they had in stock (which was almost nothing due to current circumstances). I wasn’t impressed by them either. Result = save your money and let’s see what I can do with your Kramer.

Badly needs a fret level.
5 way switch sounds dust filled. I guess that requires replacing.
Action is way high. Straightening the neck makes it feel much more playable straight away. If I can reduce the fret buzz it might turn out to be a playable instrument.
Pickup heights were all over the place and there was suspicion the springs were busted, but that was not the case and has been rectified.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DarkMark

Initially I wasn’t too impressed by the Kramer and went to my local guitar store for a comparison with what F. Squires they had in stock (which was almost nothing due to current circumstances). I wasn’t impressed by them either. Result = save your money and let’s see what I can do with your Kramer.

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Good ol' CashConverters.
https://www.cashconverters.com.au/sh...r/000900212600

https://www.cashconverters.com.au/sh...r/032600158186

cheers, Mark.

Nice price!
However, the boss has held on to this guitar for years and I think he would like to use it again.

Photo for reference. Interesting, I thought 250K pots were the go with single coil pickups. This has 500K pots.

There are many layers to this guitar.

Ok, I copied the wiring from the original switch onto the new all parts switch.
Good news-no scratchy noise switching between pickups.
Bad news-
Neck position = bridge on tap test.
Neck and middle = bridge and neck.
Middle = silence.
Bridge and middle = silence.
Bridge = silence.

Help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I do have a multimeter if that can help but I’ll need dumb instructions on how to use it.

Here Is my wiring (cringe).

The big picture.

Diagram of original wiring which I copied.

There certainly appears to be a wire not connected at one end. The yellow one in the diagram that runs from the common contact on one side to the common contact on the other. I can see a black wire on the top left contact which should run down to the bottom right contact, but disappears somewhere that I can't see. However, that generally means that the tone controls won't be connected, not the pickups

But the pics are too low res and too much stuff in the way (all those wire number labels) to really see what's going on.

Your diagram also fails to show the tone pot capacitor and some linking wiring.

Better pics from different angles and labels removed might help. Try and move the wiring so that all the connections can be seen.

However, checking against the diagram for the CRL switch, it looks like you've simply got the connections reversed on the switch, as the common connections are at the opposite ends. So on each side, swap the two outer connections over e.g. wires 1 and 4 and the two inner connections over e.g. 2 and 3, on both sides. And make sure there's that yellow connection between wire 4 (new position) and the opposite end tab to that shown in the diagram.

Ok, I’ve referred to the tone rider wiring diagram for st kits and it’s ALMOST the same. My wires are on the opposite side of the diagram (pickup wires on right side instead of left side etc) will this make a difference? I’ve copied the wiring from the previous switch so I don’t understand how things have gone wrong. Surely a 5 way switch would have a standard construction?

Looks to me like the Kramer switch has its commons on the opposite ends compared to the CRL style. Go with the Tonerider diagram rather than trying to copy the old layout.

As I don’t have yellow wire, I’ve used a black wire to replace the yellow wire which runs from the tab at one end to the far end tab on the opposite side (the same tab which red wire 4 joins).

Ok, will do!
Thanks Simon and WeirdBits.

They do, but the common connection is on opposite ends on the two sides of the switch, so you can't simply move them across to the nearest tag on the other side.

You need to rotate the switch 180° to get the right connections for the pickups on the side you've connected them to, whilst you've flipped it down the centreline.

Here's the basic diagram.

Attachment 36865

here's the switch:

Attachment 36866

It seems you've 'flipped' the connections:

Attachment 36867

Whilst you actually needed to rotate them like this:

Attachment 36868

When all else fails...read the manuals!
That was a good little learning experience about the variation in electronic components.
Switch working as it should in the tap test.
Frets levelled and crowned.
Fretboard oiled.
Turns out there is one pickup spring missing after all, so I’ll bodge something up today, restring, set up and it should be ready to return.
Thanks for the interest and help.

One other detail.
The screw holes in the switch were too big for the scratch plate screws so a couple of 3M nut are holding the switch to the plate now.
Last photo for the record.