Pickup not working, please can you help?

[piratesi]

Please can someone help, I'm trying to put an SD humbucker into an Ibanez Rg series. HSH, 5 blade selector switch, 1 tone, 1 vol. I've followed the wiring diagram on the website, soldering the black wire to the 1st position of the switch, green and bare to the volume pot and red and white soldered together, no sound though.... what have I done wrong?

 

[jeremy]

first, you need to insulate the red/white connection. like electrical tape or shrink tube or whatever. black to the switch, grenn/bare to ground is correct. do you have a meter?

 

[piratesi]

Sorry I forgot to say its thee Bridge humbucker

 

[piratesi]

I have a meter but not sure how to use it properly

 

[Mincer]

Can you post the wiring diagram you are looking at?

 

[piratesi]

Sure, here it is

 

[piratesi]

When I put red and white cables to position 5 I get nothing. I'm going on terminals numbered from 1-8 left to right

 

[piratesi]

I get a connection when put red and white to terminal 4 but there's a lot of feedback

 

[EmiAba]

Are you sure you are using the right wiring diagram? Do you want to split the humbuckers or not?
If not (that's my understanding but may be wrong) try to see this diagram

https://www.seymourduncan.com/images/wiring-diagrams/HSH_5W_1V_1T.jpg

 

[piratesi]

I just want a standard humbucker, no splitting. The pickup is currently wired as per your diagram, with the black to switch terminal 1, green and bare to the bottom of the volume pot and red and white soldered together. The only difference is that I haven't taped the wires. I don't get any sound

 

[beaubrummels]

I'd try just reflowing the solder joints. A couple of them look 'cold'. Ideally, you want to make sure the metal wire is contacting the metal lugs and the solder is just there to hold it in place. You don't want the solder to be responsible for making the connection. Same with the red+white series connection. The threads of the wires need to be intertwined and the solder is just holding them in place. Then tape the red+white off so it can't touch anything metal in the wiring cavity.

 

[piratesi]

Thanks mate, I'll give it a go.

 

[piratesi]

Cracked it... I must have destroyed terminal 1 by applying too much heat or something (lesson learnt for next time), checked with a voltmeter and no connection. I only want the bridge pup so wired it into the neck terminal instead and bingo, it works! Thanks for taking the time to come back to me

 

[Mincer]

Awesome! Wiring can certainly be frustrating at times, but rewarding when it finally works.

 

[Mr. B]

Get yourself a new switch. They don't cost much, and there is no point in losing versatility in your guitar tones.

 

[magillver]

Sadly, melting guitar components is literally how I learned how to solder! It can become a pretty expensive learning curve. Personally, I'm a big fan of using a little bit of solder flux to pre-tin both your connection point and your wire ends, it really helps the solder flow more quickly, so you don't tend to cook your parts.