JD Problem ...please help!

[Aaron Cheney]

Just installed a JD in my American Series tele. Had a few problems. Here's the chain of events: I knew going in that it wouldn't match with the Fender neck p/u, so before I even installed it I switched the ground wire on the backplate from the black wire to the yellow. I had a hard time getting the new solder to stick to the brass plate. In fact I never got it to really stay put, but I know the wire is making contact with it.

Then I installed it with the black as the live wire and yellow as ground. Put everything back together and it sounds great...but here's the deal: if I let go of the strings and bridge so nothing is grounded and i touch the pole pieces on the pickup it hums like mad. It's not a little hum...it's a LOT. If I then touch the bridge or stings the humming stops. I also noticed that in the middle position it hum cancels, which the stock pickups never did...they hummed just the same in all three positions.

I don't think it's a bad pickup. I'm having this exact same problem with a set of Dimarzio Area pickups I just put in a strat. Could all these problems possibly be my crappy Radio Shack soldering iron maybe not getting hot enough or something?

I am totally puzzled and stumped by this. Can anybody help??

Thanks,
A

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: JD Problem ...please help!

It sounds to me like some of your ground connections aren't, well, connected.

Go back and make sure everything is soldered properly.

 

[Aaron Cheney]

Re: JD Problem ...please help!

Yep...my first thought was a grounding problem too. I double checked and all the grounding seems fine. Could the problem be a "cold solder" if my iron isn't getting hot enough? How would I identify that?

A