Something weird going on with my new pickups.

[matt99camero]

I just got a 59n/C-5b for Christmas. I got it wired up and it sounded great for the first couple days. All of the sudden when I pluged in to my amp the other day and turned it up a bit I got nothing. I had to turn my amp all the way up to get any sound but it was like the volume was barily up. Same thing on the distortion channel except what sound I was getting was clean. Same thing on my little practice amp, gain all the way up but it was still clean. My soldering isn't the best but everything I've done in the past has been fine. All the wires were still conected and everything looked fine. Could it be a pot that's screwed up? I just wired them in the regular configuration. Anybody have any ideas what it could be?

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Something weird going on with my new pickups.

Could be a pot but I would guess a cold solder joint, or you have some part of the wiring exposed and touching ground. Retouch all of your solder points and make sure anything exposed is insulated to avoid a short.

 

[matt99camero]

Re: Something weird going on with my new pickups.

I was wondering, since the outer covering on the 59 is is the ground, it should be kept from touching all other parts right?

 

[Reckless Abandon]

Re: Something weird going on with my new pickups.

I was wondering, since the outer covering on the 59 is is the ground, it should be kept from touching all other parts right?

yes

 

[matt99camero]

Re: Something weird going on with my new pickups.

Ok so what if at first I didn't keep it seperate from everything. I don't know what it might have touched. After I realized that(duh) it was kinda too late. Could I have screwed something up for good?

 

[tone4days]

Re: Something weird going on with my new pickups.

i doubt it's screwed for good .. just get in there and tidy it up, make sure the solder joints are shiny, and i bet it'll be fine

good luck and let us know
cheers,
t4d

 

[matt99camero]

Re: Something weird going on with my new pickups.

I resolder everything as good as I can at the moment and still no better. It's like they have only a tiny bit of output. But since they are putting out a little bit would that mean they are still ok? It's probably my wiring. I'm gonna clean everything up really good tomarrow and try it again. I know the pots surface probably needs cleaned so I guess I could use a little light sand paper?

My main problem is getting something that will hold the wires in place while I solder them. Sometims they pop up so I just get something with the hand that had the solder and hold them down with that and put the wire back in there. I know that's not at all the right way but what an the heck do you use? I've heard about clamps but what kind of clamps can you get inside a crowded cavity? I'm really confused and mad.

 

[Kent S.]

Re: Something weird going on with my new pickups.

Best place to ground that braid is to the back of a pot ... helps to hold it in place also (so it doesn't touch anything hot, which would mute the guitar) ...
Sounds like you have a crappy connection somewhere (kinda like the weak signal you get from a cable that's crap ... then you wiggle it and the signal comes back) ... Have you tried it on another amp? If the problem is the same it's the guitar wiring, if not it's the amp ... that and just double check your work ... you can always check your connections on a meter.
If you still can't nail it down, try bypassing the pups (or pup selector) directly to the output jack ... if you got nothing there then there is a problem with the pups of some sort.

 

[flank]

Re: Something weird going on with my new pickups.

yea, id bypass the whole circuit and try both pickups to the output jack......its an easy task and you'll find out if something happened to them mysteriously or whatever heh.....doesnt seem like you did anything to hurt either of the pickups......

 

[Lightning]

Re: Something weird going on with my new pickups.

Matt, Realize Kent doesn't assume anything but I will…I will assume you didn't plug your guitar into the power amp output of your amp so your pickups are fine or at worse case you've fused two conductors together leading out of the pickup by over heating during soldering. But for starters do you have access to a meter?

 

[matt99camero]

Re: Something weird going on with my new pickups.

Well I just spent 2 hours redoing all the wiring. Cleaned the back of the pots so their was no oxidation, made sure all my solders were nice a shiny. This is the best kob I've ever done and still I get the same thing. I don't think the pups are out of phase of if that would even cause them to do that. It's gotta be something I'm doing wrong with my wiring or soldering. It's just weird how they worked when I first put them in and all the sudden they quit. I'm thinking I'm gonna have to take it to a tech and get it fixed right cause I have no idea.

 

[flank]

Re: Something weird going on with my new pickups.

did you try each pickup individually, straigh to the output jack?......cause then you could find out whether you have a bad pot or whether the pickups themselves are somehow messed up

 

[matt99camero]

Re: Something weird going on with my new pickups.

I would have no idea how to do that? I need to buy a meter.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Something weird going on with my new pickups.

make sure the contacts of the pots arent touching the sides of the cavity, that can sometimes cause problems.
flanks suggestion isnt bad idea, that way youll know that the pups are ok and that its just the wiring thats the issue

 

[matt99camero]

Re: Something weird going on with my new pickups.

I think I might just pull these pups out and put the stock ones back in and see if everything still works then.

 

[\m/(00)\m/]

Re: Something weird going on with my new pickups.

this is what happens when you get really drunk beforehand

 

[jeremy]

Re: Something weird going on with my new pickups.

i think going straight to the jack might be a better start. i doubt the pups are the problem since they worked when you first put them in. im guessing there is a bad connection/grounding issue

 

[matt99camero]

Re: Something weird going on with my new pickups.

this is what happens when you get really drunk beforehand

LOL. I'll remember that next time. I would try the going straight to the jack thing if I knew how to do it. Something is telling me nothing is messed up I'm just not doing something right on the wiring/soldering end of things. I guess this is part of learning how to do it though, and at least it's only a $200 guitar. Thanks alot for trying to help me out though.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Something weird going on with my new pickups.

umm, alcohol. fun stuff most of the time, sometimes not so much.

to go straight to the jack wire the hot wire to the tip and ground wire to the sleeve

 

[Lightning]

Re: Something weird going on with my new pickups.

I just got back from an open mic. Dude sold it to me as they had the house gig on Monday night and 2 Mondays a month their guitar player had school. There band practices in the shed across from us. Very professional local band so I figured I was walking into a paying gig...yea man on a Monday...I'll do a paying Monday night at a bowling ally!

Okay, I walk in with Neal (see avatar) and this Joni Mitchell style chick is playing solo. Damn, different tuning for each tune, killer chord voicings, and lyrics that I found offensive to my manhood. Worse, there's 25 chicks there that are singing along. So I says to Neal…we gota have a plan…1) No drinking 2) I got a few Joni tricks I learned from the Mingus and Don Juan albums 3) Remember that Indian stuff we were doing the other day.

So it's our turn and if that chick can retune for every tune guess what so can we. We went serious lounge on um. While no respectable metal player would have blown off the territory we were exploring we even had the 80 year old cat that was running the pool table bored. The Joni Mitchell Chick was glued...I mean knocked out...I'd look at the chick and she'd squeeze her arms together with her legs doing that little shy thing.

It was time to drop the bomb. I apologized for going lounge on the audience and forth set a blues number my bass player back in high school wrote. Somewhat a female protest song called I got drunk last night that ends with the murder of this dudes old lady.

Man People I didn't even know were singing along...this smoking harmonica player got up and added his thing...yea!

So the morrow of this story is it is safe (while it may be a waste of serious peoples time) to drink and be on the forum…but…it is absolutely stupid to work on your guitar drunk.

I have endeavored many complicated wiring projects and my worst fear is scratching or hot solder hitting the guitar finish (from not removing solder before detaching wires).

In the end my wiring always works, may not the first time but I can always find my mistake cause I have a meter.

I cannot make an analogy to pissing into the wind here cause it's so much easier to unlace your boots and change pants than what your going through.

BUY A METER!!! Babe...we'll walk you through the next step.