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Finished the whole guitar, wired it up the same way I've done for years, no sound - check p/up signal 00.0 - dud pickups? is there something different about HB pickups? do I really have to send them back to Oz to get a new pair? what a let down.Attachment 43539Attachment 43540
How have you wired it? Some photos of your wiring would help.
The stock humbucker wire colours are:
Black = hot
Red & White = series link between coils (leave joined and insulate the tip)
Green & Bare = ground
The stereo barrel jack is a little different from standard, in this case it’s usually the two shorter lugs that are your hot and ground and you leave the longer lug unused.
Alternatively, if you’ve shielded the cavities, you may have a signal wire grounding on the shielding.
A reading of 0 ohms indicates a short between signal and ground. It may be a wiring connection error or it may be a loose strand of wire bridging contacts or it could be wiring touching shielding. Faulty pickups would normally be open circuit, so give an overload or overrange reading on your multimeter.
As Wierdy says, check the output jack connections. Being a TRS ‘stereo’ type, a standard TS instrument jack will short the R(ring) and S(sleeve) connections on the output jack, so if you’ve wired to those instead of the T (tip) and S, you’ll get a signal short.
I always double check barrel jack connections using an inserted TRS jack cable and a multimeter as on some jacks, the difference in length between the two short tabs is minimal. The physical arrangement of the pins on a Switchcraft jack tends to have the central connection as T, the outer one as S and the one in the middle as R, but other makes can vary. So I find it always best to check myself.
You can link the R and S connection together to provide a bit of extra contact security for your ground connection.
ahhh - see what you did there? - I'll check the jack, its stereo and fooled me so it'll be the culprit - thanks
Took earth wire from long terminal - hot and earth to the shorter term/reversed them - signal still - 00.0- I have shielded the cavity so - tomorrow I'll try that - tomorrow . . :eek:
I'd disconnect the wires from the socket and see if you get a short between the two output wires. If you do, it's a control wiring or shielding issue, If not, then it's something to do with the output jack.
I'd then stick a jack in and see what combination of terminals give you an open circuit between them and a short circuit. If you've got a TRS lead then you can check exactly which terminal connections are T, R and S. If not, then I'd link the two terminals that are shorted with a TS jack in and connect the ground lead to those and the signal lead to the other terminal.
If you find that all the terminals are shorted together, then the socket is faulty. Just make sure that the end of the barrel jack pokes out beyond it's mounting nut. If it's recessed slightly, then the tip of the jack won't make good contact with the tip contact within the jack.
Attachment 43551 - I'm hoping someone can see the problem - Ive rewired the jack a few different ways = my meter is alway 00.00 - even the pickup - you'll have to excuse my soldering and unfamiliarity witth electric language - but my question is - why is there no signal from either p/up when using the meter - I mean not connected to anything . . Ive even wired the p/up directly to the jack and nothing .
There are several things wrong going on there. Mostly caused by interconnecting the pots via the wrong solder lugs on the pots, and at least one of the volume pots (top left) is grounded by the wrong lug. I'm also not sure why there are 3 wires going to the output jack
I would suggest de-soldering the lot and starting over; cross-reference to the pot lug reference chart I've attached; and methodically following the wiring diagram again.
Attachment 43552
Ive soldered them the same way as my jazz - Ive always earthed the top right lug to the pot - hot signal in the middle with out put - using separate wires for each pot - 2 wires to the jack - and again - why is there no signal from the actual pickup? = I'll start agin, yes - but I dont see the problem. When I put the meter on the HB p/up from my guiatr I get 8.5 - when doing the same to these bass p/ups its 00. Thats my question.
No - youre right - I've earthed the wrong terminal on the volume pots - oh the shame. . . :cool: Got my sunday morning lined up . .
Referring to this PBG wiring diagram, it looks different to what you have done:
2HB + 2V + 2T
With the volume pots in reverse, you should get full output with both volumes set to 0. Set to 10, the signal will be directly connected to ground by the pot, and with both volumes set to 10, you will read a dead short. So if you haven't already attacked them, just set the volumes to 0 and you should get a sound (just to confirm there's no other issue).
And you really need a nut on the rear of the barrel jack to keep it in place. (Yes, the hole for it should have been drilled out at the factory to present a flat surface for the jack but that would be too simple). But that barrel is going to come loose over time if it's just a friction fit, which you don't want. I'd try and fabricate a small wedge with a hole in the middle.
THANKYOU GENTLEMEN - BASS SOUNDS AMAZING - SO SENSITIVE AND DEEP AS THE MISSUS WOULD SAY .. NO PARTAKING OF RECREATIONAL SUBSTANCES BEFORE SOLDERING! as she would also say.... CTS pots and switcraft jack (actually I was in a band called Switchcraft Jack - use to play on a steam train) on order . . Attachment 43553
So what was the issue, or rather, how did you fix it? (if you don't mind sharing... :p)
I’d assume just reversing the outer lug connections on the volume pots. As original, volume knobs fully ‘up’ would be no volume and pickup output signal would be grounded, giving the 0 ohms reading at the output jack. But maybe also checking the connections to the output socket as well. There could have been two issues giving the same result.
But it would be nice to know exactly what the issue(s) were.
Very glad to know it’s all up and running. Nice when it works first time, but you do tend to learn more when it doesn’t. :)