Help with LP-1 pickups

[Andyport]

At the wiring up stage and have noticed a problem with the pickups, lucky before i soldered them in.
My neck pickup (yellow wire) has the thicker surround, while the bridge pickup (red wire) has the thinner surround.
Isn't that the reverse of how they should be?
I'm assuming the surrounds have been matched up wrongly....or could the wires have been reversed?
Anyway a newbie can easily tell the two humbuckers apart?
If it is the surrounds, i assume its simply a matter of unscrewing and swapping them over?

Thanks for any help.

[Gavin1393]

Sounds like they have been swopped over.......

[keloooe]

Swapping the surrounds isn't that hard, but it can get tricky if you don't have the right approach to it

[wokkaboy]

yes Andy the thicker surround should be on the bridge pickup (red wire) so just unscrew them and be careful the spring doesn't pop off and you lose it, I've done that before !

[Andyport]

Thanks guys....swapped the surrounds no problems...didn't loose any springs!
Finished the wiring. Too late to test it now, will do that tomorrow night.
Hope its all ok.

[Andyport]

Have tested the wiring and unfortunately the neck pickup is not working.
What is unusual though is that the bridge pickup works, but when the 3 way switch is in the middle position it cuts out.
So the 3 way switch is only working in the bridge pickup position...not for either the neck or middle position.
Have checked and double checked that all wires are in the correct place and soldered solidly.
Any ideas of what it could be? Could it be the actual switch that is at fault?

[WeirdBits]

Sounds like the 'hot' of the neck pickup is being grounded somewhere, which means it would also ground the bridge pickup when the switch is in the middle position... hence no sound when the switch is in the neck or middle position.

I'd double check to make sure that all wires are hooked up correctly, then do a careful check to ensure no stray strands from the neck pickup ground wire are somehow contacting the hot lead or a pot lug etc. If you still can't find the problem, disconnect the neck pickup entirely and see if you get sound from the bridge in the middle position etc. that should help narrow it down.

[Gavin1393]

/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from Andyport on July 18, 2013, 18:09
Have tested the wiring and unfortunately the neck pickup is not working.
What is unusual though is that the bridge pickup works, but when the 3 way switch is in the middle position it cuts out.
So the 3 way switch is only working in the bridge pickup position...not for either the neck or middle position.
Have checked and double checked that all wires are in the correct place and soldered solidly.
Any ideas of what it could be? Could it be the actual switch that is at fault?

Andy, please post some clear pictures of the wiring. but also check the following:
-that you have connected the output Jack correctly in terms of the hot wire and ground.
-that you do not have a ground loop...
-check the resistance of each pickup with a meter, please record the readings you got. Should be between 6k and 12k. if you get below 1k it's shorting somewhere.
- you may have cooked the switch. This is especially true if you soldered and then resoldered the switch, or if you didn't use a 'heatsink' when soldering.

gav

[Andyport]

Still having hassles!!
Disconnected the neck pickup which immediately enabled the bridge pickup to work in the centre switch position.
Resoldered the neck pickup, and now still have the bridge pickup working in both bridge and centre switch positions.
But still no neck pickup sound in either neck or centre position.
Obviously making some progress, as the bridge pickup now functions as it should...
But what could be the cause of no sound at all from the neck?
Sorry guys, but as an electrician , i make a good signwriter...lol

[Gavin1393]

Have you checked through the list I gave you? I see no photo's? The problem points clearly to a short somewhere. I bet if you measured the resistance of the pickups from the pickup plate you would get the full resistance range i quoted above. Then if you measure it again from hotwire to ground at the point where the pickup meets the volume pots it will be drastically reduced, thus indicating a short and thus NO resistance and therefore NO sound......

The last time this happened to me reversing the wiring at the output jack solved my problem...i'd wired up the live wire using black wax coated pull back wire which I usually use for my ground and had forgotten! Wired the ground to the live and live to ground and wondered why in position 4 and 5 at the neck of my strat I got nothing from the neck pup....sound familiar?