Rewiring an old SG kit. Had experienced buzzing/feedback when touching pickups, strings, switch etc. Unsoldered everything (and did a repaint - well it was a good opportunity) but having re-soldered all the electronics, now have NO Sound at all! Checked that I had the live and earth from switch to o/jack round the right way but can't understand what I may have done to cause total loss of sound. Any ideas? Cheers. GF.
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If you post pics, It will be easier to diagnose from this side of the computer.
Do you have the cavities shielded? If it's dead quiet with no sound, my first guess would be a short to ground.
Sometimes it's as simple as a pot has rotated when tightening up the nut and one lug has made contact with the shielding tape/paint.
Or it could be a dodgy solder joint. I'm sure someone here can figure it out if we can see it.
Look forward to your next post.
Making the world a better place; one guitar at a time...
Hi McCreed and thanks for the feedback. Have checked all solder contacts and all seem strong connections. Back of pots are a bit of a solder mess as you can see. Have posted pics of control panel and wiring diagram I've worked from (modern wiring as opposed to 50's style). Still no sound. The earth from bridge post is connected to the back of Neck Tone pot.
Black SG in question.
Now that’s a party I want to go to....nice herd GreyFloyd!Originally Posted by GreyFloyd
Black SG in question.
FrankenLab
Hand crafting guitars, because Death Rays are expensive.
Hi Grey Floyd,
It is difficult to see in the pictures - but I think the two red wires from the volume outputs to the selector switch are both dry joints at the switch end. The dark circle around the joint is characteristic of a dry joint. If they are, they will need to be resoldered to a higher temperature.
I hope this helps.
Last edited by Trevor Davies; 26-02-2021 at 06:45 PM.
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The little voices in my head keep telling me "build more guitars"
Tried re-soldering to no avail. Soldering is not my best forte; the irons (I have both a 25W and a 40W) never seem to get as hot as those I see on videos where the solder seems to just melt at first touch; in my case I can hold the iron on for a long while before anmy action occurs - frustrating. This SG has been re-painted (and therefore un-wired) several times. I'm wondering whether I could have 'burnt out' the pots and switch with so many re-solders! Think I might source some new components and try again.
Hi GreyFloyd,
do you have access to a multimeter? You can use it to test the solder connections and the individual components resistance and "burn out".
There are some at Jaycar from $10 - I'm not sure how good they are. I think the one I use was about $30.
PitBull Builds: FVB-4, LP-1SS, FBM-1, AG-2, TB-4, SSCM-1, TLA-1, TL-1TB, STA-1HT, DSCM-1 Truckster, ST-1, STA-1, MBM-1.
Scratch Builds: Pine Explorer, Axe Bass, Mr Scary, Scratchy Tele's.
The little voices in my head keep telling me "build more guitars"
Sorry, just got back onto this thread. Trevor has made a good observation and his suggestion of a multimeter is where I was going to go as well.
As for "burning out" the pots, I won't say it can't happen, but it's actually a rare incident. A 40w iron should be enough, but with the amount solder you have already pooled on those pots doesn't help as the existing solder is adding mass to the object you're trying to heat.
As an alternative to buying all new components, I would suggest de-soldering everything and cleaning off as much of the solder as possible. If you have a solder sucker, use that to clean off the lugs. For the back of the pots, it may require a multi-step process of solder sucker (or braid), scraping with a blade and then sandpaper.
After cleaning the pots, flush them out with contact cleaner and blow them out with air to ensure no solder dust has not been trapped inside.
Now, back to the multimeter... measure/test the pots. If they're all within tolerance, start rewiring and soldering.
Work methodically as if you are watching the flow of the signal paths through the circuit from start to finish.
This is from another thread I recently replied to re: soldering:
Practice is a great idea if you've never done any soldering (I should listen to my own advice there). Buy some jump wire and a couple of cheap pots (Jaycar?) and practice on them.
One key thing to remember is "heat the work, not the solder". For example, soldering a wire to a pot lug: place the soldering tip to the lug > allow the lug to heat up (a few seconds max) then touch the solder wire to the lug (not the tip).
Another tip is to make a template (cardboard will do) to hold the pots in the positions they'll be when mounted in the guitar. Then place and secure the template to your workbench/desk etc so you're not chasing the pieces all across your bench.
Making the world a better place; one guitar at a time...
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