Have you done the Jimmy Page wiring?

[BrianS.]

If so, what problems, if any, did you have?

I'm working on doing this to a Les Paul right now for the first time. I have Bourns push pulls and have added in Stew-Mac Treble Bleed circuits on the volume controls.

I wired it all up and had a lot of noise unless touching the strings. Classic "ground wire disconnected from bridge" problem. However, the ground wire is connected properly. Also, when I pulled up the bridge tone control, there was no sound. I'm not a noob, and have wired many guitars over the years...not to say that I'm immune to making mistakes...but I did check the basics and I do know my way around a wiring diagram.

Anyway, I could not see a problem with the wiring, but I didn't like how I did the layout, so I rewired the entire circuit, hoping that I missed something the first time around. Once done, I have the exact same problem...noisy when not touching the strings and the sound cuts out when I pull up the bridge tone control.

I've tested continuity between bridge and circuit ground, as well as between the pot casings and the DPDT switch casings. I've also traced my circuit more than once. What the hell am I overlooking!!??

Looking for experiences and advice. Thanks.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Have you done the Jimmy Page wiring?

My first wiring was two push-pulls in a 335 (parallel and phase). The second was the Jimmy Page system in an LP. Both went smoothly, despite my total lack of soldering, electrical experience, and wiring diagrams. Take your take and follow the diagram closely. All of the pots, switch, and jack have to be interconnected to each other in one big loop. Obviously something was missed. It's a common mistake. Just connecting the main ground wire from the bridge to a pot isn't enough. Is there a ground wire between each volume and tone? Between the bridge volume/tone and the neck's?

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Have you done the Jimmy Page wiring?

I've done the Page wiring before. Also, there are several variants of the Page wiring floating around. Which diagram are you using?

Did you ground the pickup bare to ground, rather than tying it with the green? One thing to watch out for with Page wiring is because it has phase reverse and series switches, you don't want to put the green and bare together. You need the pickup bare to go to ground always, while the green will go to the switches to be reversed or applied to positive to put the pickups in series.

In most diagrams I've seen, bridge tone is the phase reverse, so if you are getting no sound, ground or positive is getting disconnected when switched. I'd have to see really really clear pictures of your wiring to have a chance at telling, but even with photos it might be hard as the Page switch wiring is pretty dense to look at even in person.

(FYI - when I had a similar problem it was back at the pickup wires where they first were soldered into the Page wiring harness. So my whole switch harness was good, but the initial solder job of the pickup wires into the switches was bad. In my case all I had to do was touch one or two pickup wire connections with a hot solder iron to reflow the solder and it all started working. Which blew my mind because all that worked on the first try, meanwhile it took me 2 days to get a simple Les Paul 50's wiring job to work.)

 

[BrianS.]

Re: Have you done the Jimmy Page wiring?

Thanks for the responses. Yes, everything seems to be grounded properly and yes, I kept the bare and green wires separate. I followed the Duncan diagram found here: http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=jp_style.

Once I get it figured out I'll post my results. Thanks.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Have you done the Jimmy Page wiring?

The Duncan diagram looks flawed to me. The way bridge positive gets connected to hot seems backwards, likewise with neck positive - they both end up on the center lug of the volume pots. Also, you probably caught it, but it omits all the ground connections linking the backs of the pots that are needed to eventually get to the jack ground.

 

[Zhaggy]

Re: Have you done the Jimmy Page wiring?

I had a tech do a Jimmy Page inspired wiring and some more to my LP (It has 3 humbuckers, 3 triple shots and 4 push-pulls, 190+ coil combos) 2 of the push-pull's turn the middle humbucker on either on it's own or with the neck and bridge pickups. Other wise it's basically the Jimmy Page wiring. So without the middle pickup it's just a 2 humbucker LP with Phase and seires/parallel switches. I used one of the diagrams from SD. (Is there more than one here?)

Before the tech began working he called me and said that if he followed the diagram exactly it would have a problem. I not 100% sure if I'm totally right here but I the point is made. When you engage the series/parallel switch and put the 3-way toggle in the neck (or was it the bridge) position, there should be no sound. Of course you don't need to ever use it as it's the whole point to use both pickups with that switch. I don't know if this is common knowledge or not but I remember checking it then (it's several years ago) and yes that was correct. So even if one did the wiring correctly there is this one setup of switch positions that mutes the guitar. He said it could be fixed with one jump wire from somewhere to somewhere. He did it and it worked.

Maybe you're having the same problem or something similar. This is just how it went down with me and thought I'd share it. Maybe it'll help.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Have you done the Jimmy Page wiring?

When you engage the series/parallel switch and put the 3-way toggle in the neck (or was it the bridge) position, there should be no sound. Of course you don't need to ever use it as it's the whole point to use both pickups with that switch. I don't know if this is common knowledge or not but I remember checking it then (it's several years ago) and yes that was correct. So even if one did the wiring correctly there is this one setup of switch positions that mutes the guitar. He said it could be fixed with one jump wire from somewhere to somewhere. He did it and it worked.

On the original Jimmy Page wiring, if the neck pickup alone was selected, pushing the switch for series (which is on the pickguard) would not yield any sound - both pickups had to be on to be put in series. And initially it puts them in series out of phase. You have to switch both switches on the pickguard to get series in phase. I don't believe the Duncan diagram has the no-sound problem (I'm not 100% certain on that, however, as I haven't wired that one in any of my guitars, just inspected the diagram closely.)

 

[PizzaMaker]

Re: Have you done the Jimmy Page wiring?

Thanks for the responses. Yes, everything seems to be grounded properly and yes, I kept the bare and green wires separate. I followed the Duncan diagram found here: http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=jp_style.

Once I get it figured out I'll post my results. Thanks.

I had similar issues with the duncan wiring diagram which were linked to the bridge earth. I moved the bridge earth to the tailpiece, filing off some of the plating to get better contact and using a drill I did the same on the string holes. This fixed it although it seemed to be a noisy circuit still, just not as pronounced as when the earth was at the bridge.

I really think this wiring will benefit from proper shielding in the cavity and on the cover, connecting the earth to the shielding as well.

In the end I moved to a 6 switch setup allowing for series/parallel between the individual coils on each pup. I put mini toggles in the middle of the knob cluster as I don't have (or want) a pick guard on my LP. This proved a much quieter circuit with more tone options.

I was going to do the same on an Epi 335 but when I get to it I'll be using triple Shot rings and just 2 push/pulls for series/parallel between the pups to the same effect but with the added bonus of coil selection.

 

[BrianS.]

Re: Have you done the Jimmy Page wiring?

Well, my entire issue was because of a faulty Bourns pot!! The bridge pot was intermittent and making lots of noise. I swapped it out and all my problems went away.

There is still the "blank" position when the bridge pup is selected and the "series" knob is engaged, but that is normal from what I've read.

There's some really cool tones with this set up. Really like the out of phase tones.

 

[Troyce]

Re: Have you done the Jimmy Page wiring?

In this image (the link to the JP diagram) which side of the 3-way switch is in view? That is, is it a top view or bottom view - makes a difference with the two outer wires of the three in a row.

That asked, here's how I have my Seymour-Duncan kit wired up, attached. I did not display the pre-wired wires. Does anyone see anything wrong with this?

I bought the kit from eBay, Sigler Music, and used the noted diagram - I think! - to wire it accurately. I have checked and re-checked it two dozen times. However, all I get from the amp is a lot of loud humming and sputtering, which decreases greatly when I touch any metal on the guitar.

I've checked the bridge ground wire for ohms, reads almost zero. There is also continuity between the switch knob metal shafts and ground; should there be?

 

[AlexR]

Re: Have you done the Jimmy Page wiring?

Look at the switch. You will see there are various metal wafers which you can trace to the operation of the switch and its contacts. What has most likely happened is that you have attached the ground (chassis) of the switch to the hot (tip) of the output jack. Typically the output has two wafers that you have to bend together, and the ground is a thicker contact.

 

[sariguella]

Re: Have you done the Jimmy Page wiring?

Hello, I have the same problem, I bought the parts in 920D, can you solve your noise problem?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Have you done the Jimmy Page wiring?

Hello, I have the same problem, I bought the parts in 920D, can you solve your noise problem?

Welcome to the Forum!

Consider this a bump...maybe there is someone here who has had the same problem. You may want to post pics to see if anyone can spot something obvious.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Have you done the Jimmy Page wiring?

The obvious problem I see is it doesn't appear the 920D kit has the switch options wired up, only the initial connections between the pots. The second obvious problem, assuming the first is true, is Troyce's handmade diagram would effectively keep the bridge pickup out of the circuit, meanwhile the neck appears to be wired backwards on the pot lugs.