Tims ash ST-1 linseed oil finish (First Build)

[crundes]

Well it's been a very long time since I've posted anything in my build diary so I thought I'd add a little update and ask for some more advice. Thanks again to all those who have helped me so far! Wouldn't have been able to be at the point I am now without it.

I'm soo close to being finished, I've put it all together and I'm very happy with the way it's turned out for a first effort. The pickups however don't seem to be working. I think I followed the diagrams and advice that Wokka and Scott gave me in the support section but when I pugged it in for the first time today I got nothing.... The pickups themselves make noise when I touch them and they correspond correctly with the 5 way switch but no sounds comes out of the amp.

I've attached photos of the wiring I've done and some photos of how the guitar is looking now.

[crundes]

photos of the wiring

[crundes]

last one..

[WeirdBits]

Quote from crundes on June 4, 2014, 12:26
[...] The pickups themselves make noise when I touch them and they correspond correctly with the 5 way switch but no sounds comes out of the amp.

What do you mean when you say 'The pickups themselves make noise when I touch them ...', is that noise coming through the amp? The connection for the ground wire on your output jack looks a bit crusty so it could be a dry joint. You want your solder points to be nice and shiny, not dull and frosty looking.

Let us know what you mean about the pickup noise and we can then work through some problem solving steps.

[crundes]

Ah ok. So the noise isn't coming through the amp at all. It just makes a static sounding noise that comes directly from the pickup when I touch it. It's the same sort of noise I get from all my other guitars when I touch the pickups but with no sound coming through the amp.

Cheers
Tim

[SIMpleONe89]

Crundes check that your "hot" wiring isn't touching the shield. I happened to have the same thing last time and I changed wires, jacks, resoldered etc, just to find a silly mistake of one of the pot lugs touching the copper shield! Try that! Your wiring looks fine.

[gavinturner]

hi Tim,

The places I always check first:

a) are the output jack wires the correct way around? The sleave should be ground and the tip live. from your photos this looks correct.

b) are there any shorts to your shielding? Have a look and see where the pots are tightened down to the scratchplate, that the backs of the lugs aren't shorting out on the shielding. One thing you can do to stop this is to make a ring of milk-bottle plastic to go between the pot lugs and the shielding on the back of the scratchplate (if this is an issue).

Do you have a multi-meter? I would check for a short between the ground (shielding) and various hot points in the wiring. A visual inspection seems to suggest everything looks correct so it must be something like this.

If you dont have a multi-meter I find a good tool to build yourself is an output jack with two bare wires or even better two aligator clips. Then you can plug this into the amp and test your hot signal at various points along the chain from the pickups onwards. You should get a sound from a pickup if you place the output jack between the shielding and the hot output from the pickup. Then it's just a matter of tracing the signal forward until it shorts out.

hope this helps.

cheers,
Gav.

[wokkaboy]

good tips Simpleone and Gav.
Tim I'd say a good chance the output jack is being shorted out by either solder or the jack lugs touching the copper shielding. Try and bend the lugs so they are further away from the shielding. Do this carefully, don't over bend the lugs as they can snap easily.
Also what Gav said you can test various points but check all your other joins aren't being earthed on the copper shielding. The hot wire (red wire I think?) appears to be correct on the hot tip of the jack

[crundes]

Thanks heaps for the advice gents. Will try those ideas and maybe invest in a multi-meter if I'm still having no luck. I'll let you know how I go. Cheers!

[WeirdBits]

As Gav suggested, if you're going shoppng you may also want to pick up a set of alligator clip leads or equivalent, they're very useful for testing and problem tracing.