How to troubleshoot neck pickup -need to fix so I can sell this killer Strat

[RickD]

So I have a Strat with SD pups that I have to sell and I just noticed that the neck pup is not working, the guitar has 3 pups a TB-4, STK-S4 and STK-S7. Has volume, tone, tone knobs and both tones are push pull, When I switch to the neck pup guitar goes silent, but the neck pup works if I pull up on the 2nd tone knob? Going to take it apart now what should I look for?

 

[Artie]

Not a lot to go on, but I'd look for the obvious: broken wire or bad solder connection first.

 

[RickD]

Here is the guitar. a fender fsr black headstock and ebony fretboard only 300 made

 

[RickD]

Here is the underside of the pickguard prior to install, I will post pics of it after its apart soon

 

[Artie]

Did this work before, then stop working? Or has it never worked?

 

[RickD]

Did this work before, then stop working? Or has it never worked?

TBH I am not sure? I am one of those guys that uses the bridge pickup 99% of the time so I may have never noticed. I installed the loaded guard not too long ago, I got a new guitar yesterday and I LOVE it so I decided to sell this one and was testing it thoroughly last nite and that when I discovered tis issue.

 

[RickD]

OK I checked all solders with a flashlight and magnifying glass and everything looked good. Only possible issue is that the red wires for both s4 and s7 pups were not soldered to anything (see pic)

 

[Artie]

Red wires don't need to be soldered on those pups. That's for splitting only. Measure resistance between hot and ground on the neck pup. (Black and white wires.) If you have a meter.

 

[RickD]

Red wires don't need to be soldered on those pups. That's for splitting only. Measure resistance between hot and ground on the neck pup. (Black and white wires.) If you have a meter.

Ok I just hooked a meter to it and I got "11.0"

 

[RickD]

ArtieToo thanks so much BTW for taking the time to help me out -I really appreciate it!

 

[RickD]

Hmm am I nuts or is it possible that this is by design?? Ill try to explain, when you pull up the 1st tone knob it splits the JB trembucker ok that makes sense. So is it possible that the neck pup can only be activated by pulling up on the 2nd tone pot? That would allow you to use the neck and bridge at the same time and it would also allow you to use all 3 pups at the same time by putting the 5-way in position 4? And iguess the 1st position is a killswitch maybe??

 

[Artie]

And iguess the 1st position is a killswitch maybe??

1st position shouldn't be. (Technically, that's the 5th position. Neck only.) All I can suggest is to look at it very closely. Maybe they forgot to run the jumper from the push-pull to the 5-way. Is the "neck" terminal of the 5-way connected to anything?

 

[RickD]

1st position shouldn't be. (Technically, that's the 5th position. Neck only.) All I can suggest is to look at it very closely. Maybe they forgot to run the jumper from the push-pull to the 5-way. Is the "neck" terminal of the 5-way connected to anything?

AFAIK its ok? Do these pics help?

 

[Artie]

Can you take a nice clear pic of the other side of that 5-way?

 

[RickD]

Can you take a nice clear pic of the other side of that 5-way?

Here you go

 

[Artie]

Strange. Everything looks ok. The middle push-pull splits the bridge pup. The end tone push-pull should add in the neck pup. But it should also be connected when the 5-way is in the neck position. So, put the 5-way in the neck position, and see if you have continuity between the two green arrows. And just to be safe, move the 5-way through all positions and see if you get the neck pup ever.

 

[RickD]

Strange. Everything looks ok. The middle push-pull splits the bridge pup. The end tone push-pull should add in the neck pup. But it should also be connected when the 5-way is in the neck position. So, put the 5-way in the neck position, and see if you have continuity between the two green arrows. And just to be safe, move the 5-way through all positions and see if you get the neck pup ever.

Ok with the meter set to 200k I am getting a reading of 11.0 on all 5 positions

 

[RickD]

my meter doesn't have a continuity setting, is their a way to use it for this?

 

[Artie]

"Ohms" is the same thing as continuity. Just put it on the 200 range. Then slowly click the range and see if you get a reading. You should either see close to zero, or whatever the pup DCR is.

 

[RickD]

"Ohms" is the same thing as continuity. Just put it on the 200 range. Then slowly click the range and see if you get a reading. You should either see close to zero, or whatever the pup DCR is.

Ok with meter set to 200ohms it just shows the number 1 on the left hand side of the screen, position of the switch doesn't change anything so I am guessing that means no continuity? But set to 20k and it show 11.2 (see pic)