Any wiring experts out there??

[grahamjohnston80]

I am in the finishing stages of my IC-1 kit. Finished the wiring and everything works well, except for this:

When I put the switch in the middle position the Bridge pickup doesn't work.
The Bridge pickup works fine when in the Bridge switch position.
The neck pickup works fine in both Neck and Middle positions on the switch.

I followed the LP style wiring diagrams on the Pit Bull website https://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-co...m4Pot%20v5.pdf

Any advice will be much appreciated.



I'll post some close-up images later if that helps.

[McCreed]

Really need a close up pic of both the switch and the controls wiring to diagnose.

[grahamjohnston80]

Here are the close-ups:

[McCreed]

I can't see anything obvious (still hard to see even with the close-ups) however, I would loosen the nut on the bridge volume pot (I am presuming it's the one with the red pickup wire) and turn the whole pot so the solder lugs are facing into the middle of the cavity.

They look uncomfortably close to the cavity shielding for me. If there is a short there, it could be causing some signal weirdness.

I has seen tone pots act like volume controls when they have loosened up and rotated then grounded out to the shielding paint.

[grahamjohnston80]

Thanks McCreed,

I turned around the pots as suggested. There was one ground wire loose but I think that happened when turning the pots.

I read this though: https://forum.gibson.com/topic/11106...ddle-position/

Is that just the way they are meant to be wired?

[Trevor Davies]

I also cannot see anything obvious. It is also not the way my LP is wired.

Is the white hot wire from the bridge pup definitely joined to the green wire on the 3rd lug of the pot (I cannot make it out!)

Could it be a faulty switch? You could try wiring the inputs to the switch the other way around to see if the problem then occurs on the neck pickup!

Do you have a multimeter? Check the conductance between the bridge hot wire to the switch output for both positions of the switch.

[McCreed]

I read this though: https://forum.gibson.com/topic/11106...ddle-position/

Is that just the way they are meant to be wired?

So referring to the link you posted above, and to be clear, are both your volumes on 10 and your still not getting anything out of the bridge pickup with middle switch position?

I completely forgot about the "master volume/master tone" thing in position 2. Can you tell I'm a strat player???

[grahamjohnston80]

Thank you all for your advice.

As in the link posted above, I tested the pickups by tapping with a screwdriver in the various positions and found that the bridge pickup is working in the middle position (I think because the bridge pickup was a bit lower than the neck pickup it was drowned out by the neck). The bridge volume pot still does nothing when the switch is in the middle.

I'm assuming that when in the middle position, the neck volume pot becomes a master volume for both pickups.

The switch isn't of the best quality either so I might change it out at a later date. It's quite crackily when moving between positions.

[McCreed]

I'm assuming that when in the middle position, the neck volume pot becomes a master volume for both pickups.

Actually both (or either) volume controls will act as a master volume when in the middle position on the switch, and both tone controls will act as a master tone. So if only the neck volume is working that way, there is still a problem (that have no advice for).

As mentioned in the link you posted, there are wiring schemes for independent volume controls, but the way it's wired now is probably the most common. My PRS1-TS build is wired per the PBG diagram and I don't find it a problem. It just is what it is. Then again, did I mention that I'm a strat guy???