How would I wire a two conductor pickup replacing push pull pot pickups

75lespaul

75lespaul

New member
Hey guys. Got a two pickup, one volume, one tone Schecter and the tone is push/pull. I wired in my my two conductor Custom Shop Duncans (just a black wire and bare braid) and the neck position is good, but both the middle selection and the bridge selection get me both pickups on. I wired the bridge to one side of the three way and the braid to back of volume pot. Nothing on the tone pot. Where did I go wrong? I don't have a normal tone pot to replace the push pull with at the moment.
 
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If it were me I would ground the pickup wire braided sheaths to the back(s) of the pot(s), then route the hots directly to the switch inputs, keeping the braids clear of the switch.

The outer braid can be pulled back to expose more of the inner wire. I would, personally, put heat shrink over the braid, at least inside the control cavity, to avoid shorts.

The output from the switch goes to the volume pot in with the tone pot wired in parallel after that, Telecaster style.

It's up to you to decide whether you want to connect the tone cap to the volume pot input lug or the output lug. Premier Guitar explains the options here:
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https://www.premierguitar.com/diy/mod-garage/tone-pot-wiring
 
Is it a 3-way blade switch or toggle switch? Sound like a short somewhere.

Need some clear pics showing all of the wires and connections.
 
If it's a 3-way toggle like a standard Tele switch, the I suggest wiring it like a Tele. If its one of those other 3-ways, find a wring diagram on line and copy it.

Just be sure to ground the braided outer sheaths to the back of a pot and keep them clear of the switch or anything else. Like I said, putting heat shrink over the braid will help prevent shorts when you close the thing up.
 
A bit of a shot in the dark but a friends guitar had similar symptoms when it was delivered new. As it was an excellent deal (last one) and the guitar was otherwise perfect he did not want to return it and claim a refund. . Issue was actually quite simple. A thin stray whisp of solder between the bridge lug and centre lug on the 3 way . Easily fixed with a few wipes of sandpaper between the terminals to break the connection.
 
Gstring said:
A bit of a shot in the dark but a friends guitar had similar symptoms when it was delivered new. As it was an excellent deal (last one) and the guitar was otherwise perfect he did not want to return it and claim a refund. . Issue was actually quite simple. A thin stray whisp of solder between the bridge lug and centre lug on the 3 way . Easily fixed with a few wipes of sandpaper between the terminals to break the connection.
Click to expand...

Yes.

He didn't answer my post, but it could only happen if he has a blade switch (I can't think of any scenario where this could happen if he has a toggle). A short between two lugs on a blade switch is most likely.
 
Guitar Doc

As one of the more knowledgeable contributors I suspect you have made a rare error transposing blade for toggle. When I do things like that it normally can be attributed to one glass of Bourbon more than I should have. :9:

The guitar I worked on was an Ibanez AF 95 which of course has a toggle 3 way. I usually HATE working on semi hollow bodies and fiddling things thru the f holes but it was actually surprisings easy to hook out the 3 way. After, of course, attaching the recovery line.
 
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