Pickup Wiring Issue

[bjfly17]

I recently did some small work to my guitar and I developed a problem that I need help troubleshooting. Specifically, I installed a new pickup selector switch and a new input jack. I took care to try to resolder the wires to the new equipment in the same patterns as I found them; however, it seems that I may have made a mistake. Here is what I am facing:

Position 1 - Neck (up): functions correctly
Position 2 - Both (center): dominated by neck pickup, decreasing bridge volume knob to silent is almost unperceivable, decrease of neck volume knob to silent completely mutes all output from both pickups
Position 3 - Bridge (down): weak volume, thin sound, decrease of volume knob ramps off to silent very quickly

The guitar wasn't previously in this state, so obviously, I rewired something wrong and was hoping it was a simple fix that someone with more knowledge could help me out with. I can post pictures of the wiring if needed.

Let me know if anyone has any advice!

[big_teee]

Sounds like a bad volume Pot on the Bridge pickup.
It's not uncommon for a pot to go bad when soldering the leads on the Pot.
If you have a multimeter and can check ohms on the pot that will prove it.
There are all kinds of tutorials on u-tube.
Here is one.

[Jeeves]

What style of guitar is it?? I'm assuming because it's a 3 way switch and each pickup has a volume pot this is a Les Paul style control, so I'll give you some tips for checking that type of switch

It could be that your solder job on the bridge pickup connection wasn't done well. Sometimes just touching that up with new solder (removing the old if you can) will solve it. If that's not the case look close at the metal tabs on the inside of the switch - the ones that move side to side as you go between switch positions. Sometimes they don't make full contact when they are supposed to and you get weak or no signal, or cutting in and out as it touches or not. Go to the bridge position of the switch and try pushing the metal tab to see if it makes a proper connection. If so bend it slightly to make it work correctly, though not so much that it can't move off when you want just the neck pickup.

As for the middle position, the common wiring there is when either volume is rolled off there is no output

[Paleo Pete]

As for the middle position, the common wiring there is when either volume is rolled off there is no output

Thanks for confirming that Jeeves, I was thinking so but couldn't remember. I don't have a Les Paul and my 2 humbucker Cort only has one volume knob so I Can't go check it...

Here is a Gibson page with wiring schematics for a long list of guitars and pickup configurations.

Schematics

[bjfly17]

What style of guitar is it?? I'm assuming because it's a 3 way switch and each pickup has a volume pot this is a Les Paul style control, so I'll give you some tips for checking that type of switch

It could be that your solder job on the bridge pickup connection wasn't done well. Sometimes just touching that up with new solder (removing the old if you can) will solve it. If that's not the case look close at the metal tabs on the inside of the switch - the ones that move side to side as you go between switch positions. Sometimes they don't make full contact when they are supposed to and you get weak or no signal, or cutting in and out as it touches or not. Go to the bridge position of the switch and try pushing the metal tab to see if it makes a proper connection. If so bend it slightly to make it work correctly, though not so much that it can't move off when you want just the neck pickup.

As for the middle position, the common wiring there is when either volume is rolled off there is no output

Thanks for all the input guys. Sadly, I don't have access to a multimeter, so I can't check it that easily.

Yes, it is a Les Paul style control. I will investigate the recommendations you made before I change out to a new pot. I appreciate the detailed advice.

As far as the middle position rolling off completely when one knob is turned, I guess that makes sense in a way. However, I am almost positive it wasn't like that previously. And as I mentioned, when in the middle position, the bridge has a very small presence in the mix.

Again, I'll check it out.. But any other thoughts?

Thanks again guys.

[Jeeves]

Yes, it is a Les Paul style control. I will investigate the recommendations you made before I change out to a new pot. I appreciate the detailed advice.

As far as the middle position rolling off completely when one knob is turned, I guess that makes sense in a way. However, I am almost positive it wasn't like that previously. And as I mentioned, when in the middle position, the bridge has a very small presence in the mix.

Again, I'll check it out.. But any other thoughts?

Thanks again guys.

Did you do anything to the volume pot for this job? from the sounds of the original post all you did was replace the switch (and a jack). if that's the case, and you didn't touch anything on the volume pot, I have a very hard time seeing how the pot could be bad now. You would melt your switch before you could send enough heat down the wire to damage the pot.

Also, the wiring to decide if both pickups cut out when one volume pot is rolled off in the middle position is done at the pot, not the switch. So if you didn't touch the pot wiring it will be however it was before.

If you could post a couple pics of the switch wiring and the pots/control cavity that would be helpful

[big_teee]

If you don't have the proper test equipment and tools, I recommend that you take it to a guitar tech.
Most Guitar shops have qualified techs that can fix that in a few minutes.
In standard 60s type LP wiring rolling either vol pot off will ground the output and kill both pickups.
If you wire the pots for independant vol. (50s) wiring, then rolling one off will not kill both pickups.
Also if you're going to gear up to work on your own guitars, you can get a DMM at wal-mart for under $15.
GL,
T

[Jeeves]

If you don't have the proper test equipment and tools, I recommend that you take it to a guitar tech.
Most Guitar shops have qualified techs that can fix that in a few minutes.
T

Also very true. It's fun and interesting to try to figure these things out for yourself but at some point it's best to let someone with more experience take over to avoid bigger problems. And in a lot of cases if you show the tech you've been trying to do it and made attempts to figure it out they will take some time to explain where you went wrong and maybe even cut you some slack on the bill

[big_teee]

Also very true. It's fun and interesting to try to figure these things out for yourself but at some point it's best to let someone with more experience take over to avoid bigger problems. And in a lot of cases if you show the tech you've been trying to do it and made attempts to figure it out they will take some time to explain where you went wrong and maybe even cut you some slack on the bill

I always charge more if someone has been Dicking with it!

[Paleo Pete]

I always charge more if someone has been Dicking with it!

Me too, especially with computers...

Off topic, but when I had my computer shop I put up a sign.

Shop labor - $30 per hour.

With you looking over my shoulder - $60 per hour.

Nobody every stuck around...lol

[bjfly17]

The muting due to turning of one knob would make sense to me in theory, IF it worked for both knobs. However, it's only the neck pickup knob that mutes it, the bridge knob has no effect..

I checked my switch and all the tabs are good, wiring seems good. I'm beginning to believe that one or both the pots weren't installed properly (by me..). This guitar has been out of service for quite a while so I'm not sure if I screwed it up when I was first learning to operate on it a few years back or what.. I did notice something peculiar about my bridge knob though - the ground tab is soldered directly to its own pot casing, no wire. I'm not sure that this would affect it in this manner, but that wasn't my doing so I didn't know.

On the off chance that you can look past my terrible solder job and the bad quality pictures to diagnose what is going wrong:






All in all, it should be and will be taken to a tech to fix this issue - you guys are right. But I thought it wouldn't hurt to see if these pictures yielded any last advice before I admit my electrical incompetency

Thanks again for all the help!

[bjfly17]

And as far as that goes, I may just take the time to do some more research and try to rewire everything from scratch. It couldn't hurt - right now it's a melting pot of inconsistent wiring from Korea, unsuccessful guitar techs, and my own crash course in soldering over the years. I was just trying to avoid investing the time and money into that, but it may be cheaper than paying someone else to do it.

[big_teee]

That doesn't look that bad.
All Pot backs get pretty gobbed up, if you solder on them much.
I would do what your saying, rewire it if you want.
With a multi meter, and a Seymour duncan wiring diagram and maybe a youtube vid, you can save some money.
I rewire imports all the time, and I always rip everything out and start over.
Put in good parts, like CTS Pots, and good quality wire.
Here are the SD diagrams.Wiring Diagrams - Seymour Duncan
Good Luck,
T