hb-102(magswapped-A2), VERY low output

C

cortmarshall

New member
I've got the HB-102(JB-like) in the bridge, and a jazz neck with a three-way toggle (recently rewired with the new pups), and the bridge has barely any output when by itself. The only way to get any sound is to crank the volume all the way up and have the strings touching the pickup. In the middle switch position the bridge knob affects the tone quite a lot but I really can't tell if the pickup is actually coming through any more than usual(master volume(and I'm clueless haha)). I checked the wiring and it's fine, tried flipping the polarity(in case i put it in wrong) and the problem persists. It didn't do this before the magswap and rewiring(did it all at the same time). Any ideas on what could be wrong/how to check it and/or fix it????????????? (My apologies for the overuse of parentheses (i like them:naughty:))
 
Re: hb-102(magswapped-A2), VERY low output

Did you solder together and tape off the white and red wires on your humbucker?
 
Re: hb-102(magswapped-A2), VERY low output

Are you using any wire smaller than 24 gauge anywhere? If so you could be bottle-necking the flow of electricity.
 
Re: hb-102(magswapped-A2), VERY low output

Nope. Just mainly 24 with a little 22 in spots. No places where it drops from 22 to 24, but a few where it opens up to 22. Is it possible that there might be a problem with the magnet?
 
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Re: hb-102(magswapped-A2), VERY low output

On the DDs, black is ground, green is hot. On regular SDs, green is ground, black is hot. Did you reverse them? Also, check and make sure when you did the mag swap that you didn't accidentally loosen up the wires on the coils themselves.
 
Re: hb-102(magswapped-A2), VERY low output

dominus said:
On the DDs, black is ground, green is hot. On regular SDs, green is ground, black is hot.
Click to expand...
Well now, that would've been nice to know(lol). That would definitely be the problem though. I'll attend to that one soon. (Man I feel like an idiot:banghead:)
 
Re: hb-102(magswapped-A2), VERY low output

Explanation #1 - The connections to the selector switch could be weak, broken or in physical contact with the shielding materials lining the switch rout.

Explanation #2 - You may have physically damaged one of the connecting wires between the two coils of your pickup (between the coils and the 4 con + shield output cable).

*

On a DD HB-102, having the black and green conductors reversed makes no difference to the output UNLESS the bare grounding wire has also been connected to a contact intended for the signal. Even then, you should get a signal but inadequate screening. (The metal HB cover becomes a crude RF aerial.)

The whole point of having 4 con plus independent bare ground is that you can combine the two coils in numerous permutations. If the black and bare wires are physically joined inside the pickup, the wiring might as well have been 3 con + shield.
 
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Re: hb-102(magswapped-A2), VERY low output

Funkfingers said:
Explanation #2 - You may have physically damaged one of the connecting wires between the two coils of your pickup (between the coils and the 4 con + shield output cable).
Click to expand...

That would be likely if the swapped hot and ground shan't affect anything(I'll redo that anyway just for kicks), I might not have been too careful when i swapped the mag. Thanks.
 
Re: hb-102(magswapped-A2), VERY low output

On my DD HB-102, the bare ground wire is pre-linked to the black conductor. It will be necessary to separate these two wires if you also wish to reverse which of the black and green conductors will be hot and which will be ground.

If your (un-named) guitar is a Les Paul copy, take a long, hard look at the three-way selector switch and how it sits inside its cavity.
 
Re: hb-102(magswapped-A2), VERY low output

ok well i finally figured it out...the actually leads inside the pickup were sliced when i did the swap. got some stuff from wymore to fix it and found a diagram to show me how. Thanks for the help guys!
 
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