Wiring/pickup issue?

[BloodRose]

Hey all! I have a charvel that Ive loaded Duncans in.. Ive always been pretty good with wiring and have changed way too many pickups. My only real downside with wiring is Im sure I use too much solder and am alil sloppy as far as looks go. Not nice clean little drops like a good tech, but never had any probs.. However. My Charvel has an issue. sometimes when I switch to the neck pup, it either isnt present or is faint. I switch again to mid or bridge and back to neck and boom.. Not a ton of play on the guitar, so doubt switch is shot. figuring a bad solder or something.. Any tips? Thanks

[beaubrummels]

I would set the switch to the neck and tug on the neck wires a little bit to see if it's not making full contact all the time.

Is it a toggle or blade switch? If it's a toggle switch, I'd also look closely at the 'tangs' or 'flanges' (or whatever you call them) to see if they're not making proper contact, or possibly contacting another ground wire when in the neck position. (I've had this happen on an SG where the toggle switch was pressing against the braided ground of a pickup. I've also had blade switches in a Telecaster and Strat come in contact with wires they weren't supposed to and ground out.)

[ThreeChordWonder]

Does it affect neck alone or neck plus middle? Is it an intermittent fault or constant?

If it sounds fine neck alone but goes thin and weak on neck plus middle (or neck and bridge) and constant, it's possibly a phase issue. You should reverse the wiring on one pickup.

If it's intermittent and or affecting the neck alone it's a bad solder joint or possibly a bad switch.

[eclecticsynergy]

If jiggling the connections doesn't reveal any problem and the guitar uses a blade switch, try a quick spray of Deoxit.

[ArtieToo]

Not nice clean little drops like a good tech . . .

I realize that you may be being "tongue-in-cheek", but just in case: soldering should NEVER be "little drops." The soldering iron tip should touch both wire and contact, then you touch the solder to all three, and it should flow into the connection. Just an FYI.

[GuitarDoc]

^. That's it. Flow like water.

[GuitarDoc]

Any tips? Thanks[/I]

First; Hit the connections again with a hot iron and "flow" the solder. If there's too much solder, remove it with a solder wick...it doesn't help anything to have a blob of solder.
Second; If that doesn't help, and if it'd a toggle, check the contacts of the switch. Make sure it is functioning as it's supposed to and that there isn't any crud, dust, stray wires anywhere in it. The switch connections CAN be bent to make the switch perform correctly...caution, a little goes a long way.