Arrrrgh!

[dannysgrandpa]

Wiring up a tele for a friend. Noiseless pickups, stacked vol/tone pots, gibson style 3-way switch.
Pickups have 3 wires each. Neck: black, green and white. Bridge: black, green, red.
followed the diagram that came with the pickups except for the switch. Wired accordingly, neck, bridge, both and grounded it to the tone pot. Only the bridge pickup works. Only in the bridge position on the switch.
No neck, no both. In either position. Desoldered the neck pickup and touched it to the bridge post on the switch and it cancelled out the bridge pickup. Am I missing something, or do I have a bad switch?
Thoughts? I am new to the forum and any advice, diagrams, or ideas are greatly appreciated.
Cheers!

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Arrrrgh!

Sounds like a short to ground somewhere. Recheck your wiring.


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[dannysgrandpa]

Re: Arrrrgh!

So, I have wired this thing six ways to Sunday. Redone all the grounds, still, no neck pickup! Undid everything. Checked for continuity at both ends of all the neck pickup wires. Everything checks out. I have looked at so many diagrams and am about to give up. I have wired 30- 40 guitars in the past few years with no issues, but they have all been traditional/standard wirings. The only thing differenot is the switch this time.
Kinda losing my mind on this one.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Arrrrgh!

Is the switch or one of the pots messed up?

 

[Zheddar]

Re: Arrrrgh!

I purchased a switchcraft switch a little while ago that would only do the bridge or both pickups at the same time. Sometimes the mechanical connections on those three way switches can be screwed up. I ended up having to bend a metal part a little way from where it should make contact because it was simply always making contact. I don't know if that's the issue your dealing with, but you could also try connecting the neck pickup to where the bridge one is connected and see if only the neck is then working when you have the switch in the bridge position. But I would bet it's probably the switch or a bad pickup, with the switch being the much more likely candidate.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Arrrrgh!

Have you made sure lead isn't touching the ground somewhere.

I't's really annoying when you make sure everything is set right and put it together and it doesn't work. Recheck and nothing. Then after hours realize the lead from pot or switch hits the cavity shielding...

 

[Mincer]

Re: Arrrrgh!

Can you try wiring the neck pickup directly to the jack to see if it is working?

 

[dannysgrandpa]

Re: Arrrrgh!

Can you try wiring the neck pickup directly to the jack to see if it is working?

Tried going direct from the neck pickup to output jack. Nothing. But checked all the leads from the pickup with a multi meter and have continuity, even from the pickup plate side. Switch has been replaced with a new unit and same problem. Now, I was looking at the diagram that came with the pickups and noticed that the Fender 3-way isn't grounded. The Gibson style is always grounded in diagrams. What if I just don't ground the switch?????? Hmmmmm...I have my doubts.

 

[dannysgrandpa]

Re: Arrrrgh!

 

[AlexR]

Re: Arrrrgh!

When you say the wires have continuity.....are you reading an ohms value consistent with what the pickup says it should be??

Continuity is usually a term used for making sure connections are sound and that you are not getting an open circuit.

 

[dannysgrandpa]

Re: Arrrrgh!

When you say the wires have continuity.....are you reading an ohms value consistent with what the pickup says it should be??

Continuity is usually a term used for making sure connections are sound and that you are not getting an open circuit.

Just continuity so far. I'm really busy and check things as I get the chance. Will check the ohms values tonight after work.
Do the diagrams above give you any ideas? The hand drawing is my own that I derived from my research and experience of the two switches.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Arrrrgh!

The wiring seems fine. You seem to have got the switch details even drawn correctly!! With the thicker tab as the ground and the clamped together leaves as the output.

The fact that you have attached the pickup to the jack and you still have no sound is pointing toward the pickup itself having issue. Without the wiring in there you eliminate it as being the issue.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Arrrrgh!

Tried going direct from the neck pickup to output jack. Nothing. But checked all the leads from the pickup with a multi meter and have continuity, even from the pickup plate side. Switch has been replaced with a new unit and same problem. Now, I was looking at the diagram that came with the pickups and noticed that the Fender 3-way isn't grounded. The Gibson style is always grounded in diagrams. What if I just don't ground the switch?????? Hmmmmm...I have my doubts.

If neck to jack direct doesnt have signal, no ground except to the jack, then something is up with the pup.

UNLESS... hmm does the dang thing have a metal cover on it? Did you test continuity with or without the cover?

Was the jack wired to anything else, whether on or off? Did you remove any other connections to both the neck pup AND the jack before testing direct to jack wiring?

If any of this raises doubts at all, start by DISconnecting ALL common grounds. No bridge ground, no pot ground, no switch ground, no pickup cover ground, no grounded shielding anywhere... if it starts working, you shorted some stuff to ground

 

[dannysgrandpa]

Re: Arrrrgh!

Thanks everyone. Turns out it was a bad pickup. Brand new neck pickup in a set direct from Fender...hmmm. The thing sounds awesome now!!!!!
Again, thanks for your skill and advice. Cheers!