The pickup wires for the neck pickup are currently disconnected, which can be seen in the pictures
The pickup wires for the neck pickup are currently disconnected, which can be seen in the pictures
It's messy, but I can't see anything
I assume you have a multimeter? If so, might as well start by measuring the neck pickup resistance (probably between 7k and 10k).
Then check the volume pot resistance, using the two outer tabs. As you've got humbuckers, the pots should be 500k, so somewhere between 400k and 600k (assuming ±20% tolerance pots). Then turning the pot shaft, measure the resistance between ground and the centre tab on the volume pot, which should sweep between 0 ohms and the full pot resistance value.
If all those tests give decent values, then the fault must have been to do with the pickup wiring connection to the volume pot. So test those if you can, and report back.
Which lug should the pickup wire be connected to on the pot? I just want to make sure l had that connected in the correct place before I go and test everything, and pickup a multimeter
The one at the end opposite to the grounded lug. If you’d soldered it to the middle lug along with the wire to the selector switch, tge you’d just get full volume almost all of the travel until very near fully off. Fully off, the signal will be grounded and disappear.
You did check that the volume pot was turned up when you tested the switch? It’s easy enough to have it turned off. I’ve done it myself.
I did make sure to adjust the volume pot while I was testing it, to ensure it was turned up
I was able to get the wiring issues all sorted out a couple nights ago, and everything seems to be working well. Thanks for the help and information Simon.
That's good news.
Out of curiosity, what was the problem?
Making the world a better place; one guitar at a time...
I'm not 100% sure what the problem was, but I ended up trying to clean up the solder points and wires on the neck volume pot, and whether the connection wasn't great until I did that, and that's why it stopped working. Also, I think the output jack was also getting grounded out in the cavity, a small amount of the electrical tape I covered the shielding with, had gotten peeled up, so I covered that up as well. It may have been grounding out another place as well because I tried to make the wires more organized for when I put the pickguard on the body. So, between those things I did, it seemed to fix the problem, and I am now very close to finishing my guitar, need to add the string trees and do a setup
Well, the important thing is that it's working!
Your suspicion about cleaning up the solder on the pot may very well have been a big part of the problem. When I see dirty great blobs of solder, it sends up red flags for me. High potential for cold solder joints or shorts. I'm not trying to be critical, just honest.
Good soldering technique takes practise and an appropriately sized iron. I've seen some jobs that could only be qualified as "art".
My skill level is far from an artform but has steadily improved over 20 years of doing it and still improving!
Glad it's all sorted, and look forward to seeing the guitar all completed.
Cheers,
Mick
Making the world a better place; one guitar at a time...
I started out my working life modifying PCBs for several months, so I’ve had a good grounding in soldering, as well as having expert tuition and good soldering stations available to me. Still doesn’t stop me from making the occasional mistake. It really is worth while just practising soldering joints until it becomes really easy for you and you get a lot neater. It certainly is a process where you can always do with at least one more hand to hold things, so using tape to hold pieces in place or getting one of those soldering aids with positionable arms and crocodile clips is a good idea.
Glad you finally got it working!
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