new pickguard tone pots will not work///where to begin trouble shooting

[semi-hollowbody2018]

Fender Strat
New pickguard with
trembucker in bridge (DPDT micro toggle for series/split/parallel WORKS AS IT SHOULD)
2 lil 59's in mid and neck
crl 5 way lever switch
cts 500k pots...master volume (works as it should)
Tone (mid and neck)
Tone (bridge)

orignally put a .001 uF cap on both tone pots...they didnt do anything so changed them to .022uF...still dont do anything

Each tone pot has its own cap...cap is grounded to back of pot, and other leg goes to pot outer lug
all grounds go to volume, then i ground vol to tone, and tone to tone
there is NO noise and the pickups output is where it should be

but i have yet to have either tone pot do anything

what could be likely cuplrit...

 

[jeremy]

a good pic of the wiring would help but itll have to be hosted unfortunately. how are the tone pots connected to the pups?

 

[semi-hollowbody2018]

a good pic of the wiring would help but itll have to be hosted unfortunately. how are the tone pots connected to the pups?

the pups connect to the back of a 5 way lever switch
the pots to the front of the 5 way switch
there is a jumper from pup side to pot side for master volume
the pot side of the switch connects to the tone pots...neck to pot, jumper from mid to neck, and from bridge to pot

standard strat tone pot wiring...
1rst pot = master volume
2nd pot = neck and mid tone
3rd pot = bridge tone

 

[Adieu]

Does something perhaps short out against the shielding?

 

[semi-hollowbody2018]

Does something perhaps short out against the shielding?

my next step is to pull it back out and test it...will have to be the screwdriver tap method so im hoping i can tell if the tone works
if the switch lugs are contacting the shield painted route, i guess i can use heat shrink to insulate...jeeze this route being so small has been a pain in the arse...

 

[Teleplayer]

Did you wire a link between the "common" lugs on each side of the 5-way switch?

Also check your tone capacitor has an adequate connection to the ground at the back of the volume pot.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

Make sure all the pots, tones and volumes, are grounded to each other. A non-grounded tone pot does nothing.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

 

[semi-hollowbody2018]

Does something perhaps short out against the shielding?

i pulled it out and tried to test the tone pots by tapping screwdriver on the pickups...still not working

there is NO noise, the master volume and pickups work the way they should
its just the tone pots...so im going to rewire the wires from switch to tone pots...if that doesnt work im going to replace the pots and caps...it sucks cuz you cant really multimeter test pots or caps when they are soldered up

 

[ErikH]

Actually, you can. I doubt it's the caps though and if the pots are new, there's a 98% chance it's simply wired incorrectly somewhere. You can test the pot with a DMM by putting the probes on the middle and outside lugs. See if the value of the pot changes when turning it.

Here's an easy test. Use each tone pot as a master tone. The take the middle one, connect it to the volume pot input (same lug the 5-way connects to). Tap the pickup with a screwdriver will adjusting the tone pot. Repeat for the lower tone pot. If they work, the issue is with the switch wiring. If they don't, the issue is with the tone pot wiring or the pot itself.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

Once again, check you have the ground wires in place. Do not assume the pickguard backing is an effective ground.

In that SD diagram I posted, you can change where the tone pots connect. Lots of options, but I think my fave with three single coils would be either one master tone and use the second pot as a blender, or wiring them to the neck and bridge only. For an HSS I would wire one to the humbucker and the second to one or both single coils. YMMV of course.

By wiring the single coils to the neck and bridge alone, not to the middle at all, this happens. You actually get active tone controls in P-1 (bridge), P-2 (bridge and middle), P-4 (middle and neck) and P-5 (neck). That's because the pickups connect in parallel and the tone pot is also therefore connected in parallel. It also means you can only have one active tone pot at a time. It does, however, mean in P-3 (middle only) that you have no tone control at all.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

One last thing, make sure you are using a HIGH wattage soldering iron to solder to the pot casings. You need a short, sharp, intense blast of heat. You don't want to "gently warm" the pots as this will cook the internals.

 

[semi-hollowbody2018]

Once again, check you have the ground wires in place. Do not assume the pickguard backing is an effective ground.

In that SD diagram I posted, you can change where the tone pots connect. Lots of options, but I think my fave with three single coils would be either one master tone and use the second pot as a blender, or wiring them to the neck and bridge only. For an HSS I would wire one to the humbucker and the second to one or both single coils. YMMV of course.

By wiring the single coils to the neck and bridge alone, not to the middle at all, this happens. You actually get active tone controls in P-1 (bridge), P-2 (bridge and middle), P-4 (middle and neck) and P-5 (neck). That's because the pickups connect in parallel and the tone pot is also therefore connected in parallel. It also means you can only have one active tone pot at a time. It does, however, mean in P-3 (middle only) that you have no tone control at all.

bridge humbucker
mid mini humbucker
neck mini humbucker

tone 1 is bridge
tone 2 is mid and neck...jumper on the switch...when i rewire i might try just running 2 leads from switch to tone 2 lug instead of jumper

my iron melts solder on the back of pots in a couple secoonds so im not on there long

i have pickup grounds, ground from microswitch, ground from trem claw, ground from cavity, and ground from jack soldered to back of volume pot
another ground from volume to tone pot, and from tone pot to tone pot
all that grounding to vol pot and i had no issues so its weird only the tone pots would have grounding issues...volume pot switch micrto switch and all 3 pickups work fine with no noise...its just these darned tone pots lol

 

[semi-hollowbody2018]

i noticed solder dripped down the lugs on both tone pots...the lugs the cap connects to...the lugs that the switch connect too dont have solder drip...i wicked up as much as i could...wonder if this destroyed the wafer...when i rewire im gonna remove everything from the tone pots and then test with multimeter...

 

[semi-hollowbody2018]

I disconnected both tone pots from switch and all grounds...removed the caps from each and tested with multimeter...both 500k pots are fine...i dont think my multimeter has a setting to test the caps...i used alligator clip heat sinks when i installed and removed them so i doubt i fried them...gonna check to make sure pickups and master volume still work then rewire the tone pots...

is there a way to test the switch with multimeter?

 

[beaubrummels]

Switches you just test continuity with each setting and make sure only the lugs you expect to have continuity do.

 

[semi-hollowbody2018]

Bad crl switch...5 way lever
no continuity between one side and the other

 

[Teleplayer]

There is not supposed to be continuity between one side and the other. That's why SD diagram shows the grey wire link on their diagrams. Unfortunately the colour used is almost invisible.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

^ Yup. For a regulat Strat make sure there's a "jumper" from the "common" or "always on" or "out" on the input side to the corresponding lug on the tone side. They're at opposite ends of the switch.

Sorry if this is stating the bleeding obvious by the way, but it's amazing what ANYONE overlooks sometimes. There was a refinery explosion here in TX about 20 years ago caused by overflowing oil tanks. Someone installed level /overfill sensors on the tanks. Bloody huge tanks at that. Someone else installed the cables between the control room and the feet of the tanks. No-one remembered to hire anyone to hook up the cables to the sensors, and... kaboom!

 

[semi-hollowbody2018]

so with that jumper going from common to common, if I test switch lug on one side (bridge pickup) and switch lug on other side (bridge tone) with lever set to bridge position, I wont get continuity?
I can see where the lever contacts the lugs in each position, and there was no continuity...tried all 5 lever positions...