Blackout troubles

[Sam Psycho Wise]

I wired everything as shown in the inclosed paper/wire diagram from the site. I set them up so each pickup has it's own volume & tone pots. Once I was done, I think only one of the picks are working and only that volume pot is working. The other pickup is dead when selected, and all the tone pots are also dead. I did have trouble with the (EARTH GROUNDS) on ALL pots.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Also I am a mechanic so I'm not 100% stupid when it comes to wiring diagrams and schematics. If there are any trouble shooting tips that you could help me out with that would be great!!!!!

I put the Blackouts and all included hardware into a BC Rich NJ Warlock. Also I replaced the OEM toggle switch with a Gibson toggle.

 

[Sam Psycho Wise]

Re: Blackout troubles

What contact points would I be looking for continunity at? Or does it not matter. If there is ANY resistence??

I did use coper wires for some of the wiring, could that also cause a problem?
Thanks for the help HERMETICO!!!!

 

[Sam Psycho Wise]

Re: Blackout troubles

Also I used Rosin Core Solder. Should I have used Lead Based Solder??

 

[Artie]

Re: Blackout troubles

Copper wire and rosin core solder are both perfect. You may have overheated the pots. The only good way to tell is to check them with a meter or replace them. If you replace them, you may want to skip the part about soldering to the back of them. Active pickups aren't quite as sensitive to pot grounding as passives.

 

[Sam Psycho Wise]

Re: Blackout troubles

So just solder to the terminal?

 

[Artie]

Re: Blackout troubles

Yes.

 

[Sam Psycho Wise]

Re: Blackout troubles

Thanks!!!!

 

[Sam Psycho Wise]

Re: Blackout troubles

I got home took everything apart, found all but one of my ground came undone. Pulled all wiring and checked my pots, I also burned out 2 of the 4. What do yall think about that "Cold Solder" ****?

 

[Sam Psycho Wise]

Re: Blackout troubles

Apon further diag. The Pots are fine. I rewired everything yet again, and ran a single ground to the hook of my bridge. Everything is working fine now. That's what I get for do all wiring in the AM hours....

Thats for everyones help!!!!

 

[Sam Psycho Wise]

Re: Blackout troubles

More troubles!!!! Ok now When I have my toggle in the neck position both V&T Pots contol Volume. In Bridge posistin agaib both V&T Pots control Volume. When I have it in middle posistion the Neck V&T and Bridge V control Volume, the Bridge T is dead. ANY ideas??????

 

[Artie]

Re: Blackout troubles

Weel, you still have something wired wrong.

For the tone controls acting like volume controls, check your cap values first. Accidently using a .22uf when you wanted a .022uf will cause that.

Next, look over this thread, scroll down to my post #4. He's using an active with a passive, but the concepts the same. Use the "modular" approach to wiring and you end up with just hot and ground going to your 3-way, and then on to the output jack.

Edit: Yours would look like this:

Edit 2: Use any value cap you want. The .047 was left over from the other thread.

 

[Sam Psycho Wise]

Re: Blackout troubles

I yet again wired everything up last night. And EVERYTHING WORKS!!!!!
But when I have the toggle in the middle postion both volume pots KILL ALL volume, when only using one. Is this normal????

 

[Artie]

Re: Blackout troubles

But when I have the toggle in the middle postion both volume pots KILL ALL volume, when only using one. Is this normal????

Yes. Its one of the downsides to using dual-volumes. With passive pickups you can work around this somewhat by reversing the two non-ground lugs of the volume pot. But I'm not sure you want to do this with an active pickup. The thing is, an active pickup uses a small amplifier for its output. Reversing those two lugs will mean that your "amp" will be playing "shorted to ground" when that volume is on zero. It may not hurt it, but I just don't know.

 

[Sam Psycho Wise]

Re: Blackout troubles

Thanks