ATL-1FW Wiring Advice

[ColeAalten]

Hello,

I am putting together the ATL-1FW kit for my first build and am having some issues with getting the bridge pickup working. With the wiring done the way it is in the attached photos if I tap the neck pickup with the 3 way switch on neck pickup only it makes a sound. But if the three way switch is set to both pickups or the bridge pickup then neither of the pickups will make a sound.

I have used a multimeter to check the continuity of the connections and the only thing that does not work is the poles of the bridge pickup.

I was hoping someone would have some advice for what the next steps would be? If there is other pictures or anything that I can provide to make diagnosis easier just let me know.

Thank you!

[jugglindan]

What wiring diagram are you following?
What are the wire colours from your pickups? Are they the white, red, and black wires? Which colours are from which pickup?

[ColeAalten]

What wiring diagram are you following?
What are the wire colours from your pickups? Are they the white, red, and black wires? Which colours are from which pickup?

Attached is the wiring diagram I was following. The neck pickup has a white and black wire. Currently the black wire is attached to the three way switch and the white wire to the volume pot.
The bridge pickup has a black and red wire, the black wire is to the three way switch and the red wire to the volume pot.

I originally had the wires going the other way with both black wires to the volume pot but then I changed them because I wasn't getting any sound.

[Simon Barden]

You need to switch the wires from the bridge pickup over. Black is normally the ground wire on 2-wire pickups. But the bridge pickup on a Telecaster normally has a baseplate which is connected to the ground wire, and if the bridge is grounded, then the mounting screws normally also make a connection to the baseplate and also ground it. If you've got the black wire going to the switch, then the baseplate is connected to that, and then the signal gets grounded through the bridge. In the middle position the bridge ground also grounds the neck signal, so that's why only the neck position works.

But you will probably find that the mixed position is then very thin and honky sounding. This is because the black wire from the neck pickup needs to be the ground and the white go to the switch. Reversing them reverses the signal polarity with respect to the bridge pickup, resulting in a lot of low frequency signal cancellation. It's an interesting sound, but not as useable as the noemal mixed position is.

So you had the pickups correctly wired before, but you probably had a ground wire touching a signal connection somewhere. You've screened the control cavity, and it is fairly easy for this to happen. Always a good idea to put insulating tape over the copper at any place a potentiometer or switch or jack connection could touch the copper.

Hopefully that should get you working.

[ColeAalten]

It looks like that was the solution with the wires being crossed. Once I get everything cleaned up and working I'll post a picture for viewing pleasure.

Thank you for the help!