sixstringsling
New member
First of all I just want to apologize if this should go in another section, I'm new here and if I missed the I'm stupid and need help area I apologize.
Second, thank you very much in advance for reading! I greatly appreciate it.
I recently bought the hot rodded humbucker set with JBs to replace stock epi pickups in my Epi LCP Custom. I followed the wiring diagram on Seymour Duncan's website and just went with the standard schematic, 2 pickup / 2 volume / 2 tone / 3-way switch diagram.
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=2h_2v_2t_3w
While I am not skilled with assembling components and my soldering may be ugly, I do have a little experience building effects pedals and those have turned out working just fine (I know that doesn't mean this pup install will be too, just illustrating I'm not a complete novice).
I followed the diagram to a "T" 3 times. First, I uninstalled the stock pickups and installed the new ones along with a new switch (gibson part). After buttoning up, I plugged it in (tried two different amps) and the neck pickup sounds great, but the bridge pickup was dead or at least I could not get it to pick up any sound - even tapping on it with my finger and then lightly with a metal screwdriver.
This morning, I went out and bought replacement pots (the original ones had become a bit scratchy) half because I intended to buy them the day before (but the store was out) and part because I just wanted new components in the guitar (again, gibson pots). After desoldering all the connections, I again meticulously followed the wiring diagram and set everything up again - taking special care to make sure that each lead or wire was in the exact spot according to the diagram.
I half-buttoned up this time and plugged it in. I set the switch to center and tapped on both pickups and heard noise. Great I thought! Buttoned up (left the plastic covers off though) and plugged it in again to check. Same problem as before though. The neck pickup sounded like it was working great, but the bridge pickup... nothing. Although I did mess with the gain and volume on the amp and when full blast I could hear the strings but they were very quiet and sounded very thin.
So, I desoldered again (what's that definition of insanity again?), and cleaned up my contact points and leads as best I could, studied the wiring diagram , and began again. I got everything done as best I could and secured the pots, switch, and jack and took it over to my amp. Same issue as attempt number two.
I'm seriously perplexed. I started each time with clean contact points, I lightly tinned the leads before each contact, cleaned and abraised the contact points on the back of the pots, was careful to try and get my solder joints as best as I could.
I could understand a bad solder point, cold joint, whatever you call it, but the same issue three times tells me there's something wrong and even if my soldering is ugly it seems too much of a coincidence that the same issue happened three times. The pickup does work, I'm fairly certain of that, and I don't see how the diagram could be wrong. I'm definitely missing something.
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=2h_2v_2t_3w
Any help will be most appreciated. Thanks!
Second, thank you very much in advance for reading! I greatly appreciate it.
I recently bought the hot rodded humbucker set with JBs to replace stock epi pickups in my Epi LCP Custom. I followed the wiring diagram on Seymour Duncan's website and just went with the standard schematic, 2 pickup / 2 volume / 2 tone / 3-way switch diagram.
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=2h_2v_2t_3w
While I am not skilled with assembling components and my soldering may be ugly, I do have a little experience building effects pedals and those have turned out working just fine (I know that doesn't mean this pup install will be too, just illustrating I'm not a complete novice).
I followed the diagram to a "T" 3 times. First, I uninstalled the stock pickups and installed the new ones along with a new switch (gibson part). After buttoning up, I plugged it in (tried two different amps) and the neck pickup sounds great, but the bridge pickup was dead or at least I could not get it to pick up any sound - even tapping on it with my finger and then lightly with a metal screwdriver.
This morning, I went out and bought replacement pots (the original ones had become a bit scratchy) half because I intended to buy them the day before (but the store was out) and part because I just wanted new components in the guitar (again, gibson pots). After desoldering all the connections, I again meticulously followed the wiring diagram and set everything up again - taking special care to make sure that each lead or wire was in the exact spot according to the diagram.
I half-buttoned up this time and plugged it in. I set the switch to center and tapped on both pickups and heard noise. Great I thought! Buttoned up (left the plastic covers off though) and plugged it in again to check. Same problem as before though. The neck pickup sounded like it was working great, but the bridge pickup... nothing. Although I did mess with the gain and volume on the amp and when full blast I could hear the strings but they were very quiet and sounded very thin.
So, I desoldered again (what's that definition of insanity again?), and cleaned up my contact points and leads as best I could, studied the wiring diagram , and began again. I got everything done as best I could and secured the pots, switch, and jack and took it over to my amp. Same issue as attempt number two.
I'm seriously perplexed. I started each time with clean contact points, I lightly tinned the leads before each contact, cleaned and abraised the contact points on the back of the pots, was careful to try and get my solder joints as best as I could.
I could understand a bad solder point, cold joint, whatever you call it, but the same issue three times tells me there's something wrong and even if my soldering is ugly it seems too much of a coincidence that the same issue happened three times. The pickup does work, I'm fairly certain of that, and I don't see how the diagram could be wrong. I'm definitely missing something.
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=2h_2v_2t_3w
Any help will be most appreciated. Thanks!
