DJP - flying v

[Trevor Davies]

Wow, that looks wonderful. Great job.

[DJP]

Thanks - it worked out in the end. Green is a wierd colour to work with though.

[McCreed]

Some clear close-up photos of your wiring (and the diagram you used) would help us troubleshoot and advise.

FYI Tonerider should have wiring diagrams for all their pickups on their website.

[DJP]

I used this one I found.
The capacitor on the tone pot is located differently to two other diagrams (its on the output lug here).
The tonerider pickup wiring diagrams were actually good. I think its me and my woeful soldering. I added a treble bleed to each volume pot - which really challenged my soldering in limited space !

[DJP]

Are the live wires from the tone pot and 3way switch and jack on the wrong potentiometer lug in this diagram ?

[McCreed]

Are the live wires from the tone pot and 3way switch and jack on the wrong potentiometer lug in this diagram ?

Looks right to me.

I added a treble bleed to each volume pot - which really challenged my soldering in limited space !

With rear cavity type guitars (LP, EX etc) it's good to try and do as much soldering outside of the cavity as possible. You can mount the pots to a piece of cardboard or MDF or whatever in their respective positions; solder your caps and interconnecting wires; (switch if possible); then drop the pots into the cavity to do the pickup & ground wires last.

Saves a lot of frustration and allows better access with the soldering iron.

[Simon Barden]

Wiring diagram is fine.

[DJP]

Thanks Simon. I think my plan was the same. It was the execution that failed.
I think it was the tangling when I took it from the card template that started my problems. Plus - I could have used less solder points by being more sensible with the earth points (some wires could have been at the same point and some twisted). The slim hot lead from the pickups was a problem. It kept snapping.
Will try and clean up the job tomorrow with a little luck.

[Simon Barden]

I’ve often taken to using one piece of stiff but thin wire, making a loop in one end and soldering the other end to the pot. Then I solder several ground wires to the loop. A lot easier to solder to than a pot rear. Especially useful on Strat volume pots where you’ve got three pickup wires or screens to connect as a minimum.

[DJP]

That is a useful tip Simon. I can see how it could create some space. I will have another go at the weekend. I cannot be that far off - I did get the odd note out of it - just need to find the issue.
Otherwise - the guitar seems great - frets all nice and level, was able to set intonation quite quickly and it "feels" quite good. The few notes I got out of it seemed to sound nice tonewise.