Jimmy Page wiring problem..

[KrisTLD]

Hi all!

yes, another post about problems with wiring up the Jimmy Page 4 push/pull setup. :smack:
I have been a strat guy for a while but recently wanted something beefier sounding. so a couple of months ago I bought a used Epi Standard Plus Les Paul as sort of a project guitar. I wanted to see how good I could get the Epi compared to a real Gibson after getting it set up by a good tech, swapping out nut/bridge and swapping out all the electronics. Since I have always been a big Zeppelin fan I decided on giving the Page wiring scheme a try. I got an Alnico II Pro for the neck and a Pearly Gates for the bridge. Looked up a couple of wiring diagrams from different forums and chose one that seemed to be the most "trustworthy".

For parts I have:
4x Bourns 500k log push/pull pots
2x TAD .022mfd Orange Drops
Switchcraft switch and jack

So I wired everything up using this thread I found as a guideline:
http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/ton...ribute-plus-blow-blow-wiring-demo-photos.html
(Great thread and a very good explanation on the whole project.)
...and it didn't work. Here are the problems with it:
- the signal is extremely weak. so weak that i cant tell if the coilsplitting is happening or not.
- the tone pots have no effect on the tone. but their switches do seem to work.. again the signal is so weak I can't really tell if they are doing what they are supposed to.. I can just hear some minor "switching" in the gain and tone quality.

After checking all the solder joints and making sure I got the wire colors right etc etc.. I figured it must be that there is a mistake in the diagram. So I found another scheme online and wired it up. ..as far as I could tell I got exactly the same results.

I spent an hour Googling again and found the Jimmy Page wiring diagram from the Seymour Duncan website. Wired everything up again thinking "this must be the one.. finally!"
... and I got exactly the same results as the first two times. So I am just about ready to go back to the trusty strat for good. Anyone here know what the problem might be? It basically sounds like there is a "filter" somewhere that only lets one tenth of the signal through.
I know it isn't the pickups because I installed them in the guitar the "normal" way before I started all this and everything sounded great. All I can think of is that it might be the pots or one of them.. but as far as I could I tested them with a multimeter and they all worked fine.

:dunno:

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Kris

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Jimmy Page wiring problem..

If you wired it three completely different ways and had the same results, it's time to identify what was the same in all three wirings:

the pots?
the switches?
the wire?
the pickups, certainly

Did you start from scratch each time, or did you leave some of it wired up and just change a few specific wires around? Anything that wasn't changed between each wiring job is suspect.

 

[KrisTLD]

Re: Jimmy Page wiring problem..

The only things I left intact after the first wiring was the pots onto the grounding "harness".. (as in a square out of thicker wire holding the pots in the right shape for the holes), the toggleswitch and the jack. Everything going on in between the pots I rewired every time. I did use some of the pieces of wire again but I don't see how any of this would cause the effects I described.

 

[KrisTLD]

Re: Jimmy Page wiring problem..

GOT IT! Finally found the problem..

When I did the initial wiring I also replaced the old stock toggle switch with a Switchcraft one. However the new switch is a little bigger than the stock Epi one so it touched the inside walls of the switch cavity. I knew the black paint in the cavity is conductive so I taped the whole switch off.. BUT! I didn't notice that one of the solder joints had a really small sharp tip that pierced the tape and touched the black paint.

 

[Artie]

Re: Jimmy Page wiring problem..

Cool. Nice trouble-shooting. That same problem has bit me in the butt before.

 

[poit57]

Re: Jimmy Page wiring problem..

While swapping out my pickups, I was thinking of wiring for coil tapping. I decided to attempted the Jimmy Page wiring instead. There are so many different wiring diagrams and mods based on the Jimmy Page setup, but I tried the one on the Seymour Duncan wiring diagram page because it seemed like the most clearly illustrated that I could find: http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=jp_style

Here are the issues I'm running into:
1. The bridge pickup is silent when the volume pot is pushed in and only outputs a signal when the pot is pulled.
2. When I pull the neck tone pot, it kills the output from the neck pickup.

I have tried my best to make sure all solder joints are solid and there are no shorts and that everything is grounded, but there are so many wires that I'm not sure where to look to fix these issues.

I think I'm just going to go with the much more simple coild tapping and forget the Jimmy Page version. I was just wondering if anyone knew what would be a could place to check before I attempt to start over.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Jimmy Page wiring problem..

1. The bridge pickup is silent when the volume pot is pushed in and only outputs a signal when the pot is pulled.

One possibility is bridge white is not completely soldered to red on the switch, so it will only operate in single coil mode when pulled.

2. When I pull the neck tone pot, it kills the output from the neck pickup.

Neck tone puts both neck and bridge in series, so the pickup selector has to be on both pickups or you will get no sound.

Clear detailed photos of the wiring is the only other way anyone can help here.