Need some wiring help on EX7 kit

So, we have a pitbull exa7 7 string kit. We have elected to replace the pickups in the kit with Dimarzio Dreamcatcher and Rainmaker pickups. The rest of the electronics are the same.

We got everything wired up following the pitbull videos
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRSIEMUUjAA
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRt1ney2nxc
Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOYtEiM2f0A&t=341s


Got it all together and found that we had a ton of noise coming from the amp, and found that the volume potentiometer wouldn't take the volume to 0. It would turn up the noise and the strings, but it at the lowest levels we still had a fair amount of signal.

I've enclosed my wiring diagram on how I connected everything.

https://i.imgur.com/4xThfTJ.jpg

I verified ground on the volume pot. I resoldered all of the grounds/earths on the volume pot.

As it stands now
1). I have no pickup going to the amp unless I ground the hot connector (middle lug) on the volume pot to the top of the pot. And when I do this, I get a lot of noise

2). My volume potentiometer will not take the volume to zero.


I've soldered and resoldered numerous times and simply cannot figure this out.

Your diagram doesn’t show an explicit ground link from either the back of the tone pot or the jack ground to the back of the volume pot. So, unless it’s been omitted from the sketch or there is cavity shielding linking the ground points, you’ll need to add that link so the volume pot is actually grounded.

Photos of the wiring really help in this situation.

I didn't have either in the wiring as it wasn't mentioned in the videos.

Today, I placed a jumper wire connecting the tone and the volume pots together and it removes the hum and noise...but I also get nothing from the pickups.

Also tried the ground jumper from the ground on the input jack to the volume pot on the back and just like above, it took away the static and noise, but I am getting nothing from the pickups either.

I'll post some pics later on the wiring.

At present I have everything outside of the cavity except for 3 way switch. I don't have shielding in the cavity at present to physically ground the pots together.

Here are the wiring pictures
https://i.imgur.com/XRCXI5n.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/1S7x0OY.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/KnwXd6a.jpg

Ooops, that's an interesting way of wiring things up :-(
Lots wrong, and maybe some right and your sketch is incomplete.
PBG have a few wiring diagrams on their website, and one may be fairly close to what you need, OK it's for one humbucker and one single, but since the humbucker isn't being "tapped" then this one should get you going:
http://pitbullguitars.com/wp-content...-1H1S1v1t3.pdf

As has already said applying screening to the inside of all the cavities will help cut out the dreaded mains hum - you can either sue screening paint or metal foil (copper or aluminium work OK). I tend not to rely on the screening to act as aground conductor preferring to use wire between the various earth points.

@robsmith,

As to how I decided on how to wire things up, I followed those 3 YouTube videos above right from Pitbull's own channel on how to wire up the EXA guitar from Pitbull.

So, I'm looking at the diagram that you linked to, and I think it matches exactly with how I am wired and the sketch I provided.

--Both of my pickups ground to the back of the volume pot, and the hot wires go to each end of the 3 way switch (check)
--one lug on the volume pot is bent back and grounded to the volume pot (check)
--one lug on the tone pot is going to one lug on the volume pot (check)
--a capacitor is on the middle lug of the tone pot and grounded to the back of the tone pot (check)
--the middle lug on the 3 way switch goes to the tone pot (on the same lug that the tone pot and vol pot are connected using (check)
--the 3 way switch ground is connected to the back of the volume pot (check)
--the hot wire on the tip (outside lug) goes to the center lug on the volume pot (check)
--The earth wire on the sleeve (inside lug) goes to ground on the top of the tone pot (check)

Edit: the only thing I can see that I left off my sketch was the ground wire to the bridge. I do have that it place. However, I have it grounding to the volume pot instead of the tone pot < I assume that is okay as ground is ground.

Keep the suggestions coming guys, I appreciate all the help (as always).


Pat

No it doesn't - you do not have a continuous earth circuit.
One wire (normally the bare screen) of each pickup must be connected to the earth connection on the jack - it is normal practice to do this using the body of one or other of the pots, joining the two pot bodies together with the switch earth (if it has one), the tailpiece earth and the jack earth.
Looking at the photos you have no connection between the pickup earths and the jack earth.
Squinting at the photos & your sketch you have another problem (I think), at the jack socket it appears the blue & green wires are round the wrong way - the centre connection is the "hot", and the outer is the earth/ground.

@robsmith,

Here is a closer look at the output jack. My blue wire is my "hot" wire going to the center lug on the volume knob. The green wire is my ground going to the back of the tone pot. I though this was the correct way, but I'm doing more reading.

https://i.imgur.com/lkF7srF.jpg


I do agree that I am missing a connection from Pot to Pot, to interconnect the grounds and have a continuous ground circuil.

Quote:

---

Squinting at the photos & your sketch you have another problem (I think), at the jack socket it appears the blue & green wires are round the wrong way - the centre connection is the "hot", and the outer is the earth/ground.

---

That's not correct from what I'm seeing. The green ground wire is indeed soldered to the sleeve lug, and the blue positive wire is soldered to the tip lug.

However, other things I see are:
The two pots are not grounded together either by a single wire or via shielding, and the switch is not grounded to the pots.

I would suggest your soldering iron is sorely underpowered as the solder is not flowing well on the back of the pots. ALL of those ground connections are suspect IMO. Dodgy soldering can cause all sorts of problems.

Another suggestion I'll make is, whilst not a technical issue but rather a practical one, is the colour of your wires. If you stick to just two colours, it makes it easier to visualise the signal path(s). It doesn't have to be black & white, but if you use one colour for your positive signal and the other for your negative signal it's less confusing IME.

Personally I would not use the PBG videos as a reference. There are better resources out there IMO.
Here is a Seymour Duncan diagram for your configuration:
Attachment 42593

Just be aware that the SD wire colours are different from Dimarzio (SD: positive = black, DMZ: positive = red). Just follow the same signal paths and you'll be right.
Also note that the diagram shows a different 3-way switch, but the connections follow the same as the import box toggle type.

@McCreed,

Thanks for confirming that my output jack is indeed corrected correctly. After doing some research I felt the same, but it's nice to have confirmation.

I drew out a little template and photocopied it a few times so I could draw on it. I drew out my grounds and I do admit that I am missing the interconnect between the 2 pots.
--my pickups go to the volume pot
--by bridge goes to volume pot
--my 3way switch goes to the volume pot
--the lug on the 3 way is soldered to the top of the volume pot.

--the output jack is connected to the tone pot. But it's not connected via ground to anything else. So, I'll get squared away.


I'm not great (Obviously) with the soldering iron. I think it's probably got enough heat, I just wasn't using it well. I'm going to go back and try to correct it.

I suspect a problem with my volume pot. Reason being, if I check resistance with my volt meter on the inside and the outside lug, it should read 500k, but I'm only getting a 0L. I'll desolder everything from the volume pot and then test it. If it's still fubar, I'm going to just replace that pot.

Thanks McCreed - Looking again (on a better monitor) I can see that the wiring of the jack is OK.
While the PBG videos are OKish, but don't make some things as clear as either PBG wiring diagrams or those supplied by the pickup manufacturers - it's so much easier to print out the diagram and tick-off each wire and connection as you go along than it is to keep track of things in a video.

(It's a shame that SD & D use different colour codes on their pickups, indeed even within one manufacturer there have been variations)

Thanks all.

I was testing resistence on the pots yesterday and the volume pot is not showing 500k across the left and right lugs. I usually get either 0L on my meter, or I get some wild fluctuations. My tone pot shows 489. I ordered some new volume pots and should have them Saturday.

Going to redo the wiring, as it was....but include a ground wire between the 2 pots to fix the earth issue. Hoping for a good outcome. Will update this post when I know more.

Replaced the volume pot, redid all of the wiring today, got the continuous ground working. Zero noise from the amp, volume pot working, (goes to zero). Pickup selector switch is correct.

Guitar is tuned, action is okay and he's playing.

Great result!

Here is my final wiring diagram.

https://i.imgur.com/Uvdro4K.jpg