Testing a 3 way switch on Epi SG

[7turns]

I"m not getting any signal from the bridge position of my 3 way switch. The pickup in the bridge used to be in the neck so it's good. The solder joint looks ok so I'm thiniking that the switch must be the problem. I tested it in following fashion: I set my meter to beep when the circuit is completed and attached one lead to the center post on the volume pot for the appropriate position of the switch. I connected the other lead to the post on the switch. Both the middle, neck and bridge positions beeped the meter so I'm guessing the switch is ok. I hope....
I next tested the volume pot for the bridge p/u and found it only ranged from 1.4-2.1 k, not the 0-500k range it roughly should have.
I just kinda put this little test procedure together last night and i'm wondering if I've done it correctly leading me to replace the vol. pot and not the 3 way....

So those of you out there who know what your doing...did I get close to doing it right?
thanks,
matt

 

[Merodack]

Re: Testing a 3 way switch on Epi SG

I had a similar problem with my Epi Firebird last week, the neck and middle positions suddenly died. One of the neck pickup wires to the volume pot was loose but making contact, so I unsoldered both to test the PU. It turned out that the problem was actually that the OTHER two wires (the ones that are taped together in a 4-wire humbucker with no split) had drifted apart over time. Twisted them back together and all was well. I also realised that I could test the impedence of the PUs without taking them out of the circuit ; it's probably not completely accurate, but it lets you know whether they're alive or not.

 

[7turns]

Re: Testing a 3 way switch on Epi SG

I found I can test the impedence on installed pickups too some months back. Definitely a helpful test. I know the pickups are ok since I just switched the bridge and neck pickups to see how they sounded. ( I was using a '59n in the bridge, which sounds quite good. Check the specs and you'll see it's pretty close to those of APH-1b. ) Both of these are 2 conductor models so it's only the ground and live wires to attach.
So it's either the bad pot or bad switch it would appear. I'll admit I'm not the best at soldering but before it went out the bridge position worked for a few minutes, then I switched to neck position. When I switched back there wasn't any signal.
Maybe I should just get one of the kits from stew mac and completely rewire the whole thing. They have 4 pots, 1 switch and wire all in a package. I'd prefer not to take this route unless necessary.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Testing a 3 way switch on Epi SG

I had a lot of problems with the pots and switches in my epis so i disconnected them and just wired the bridge pickups to a new Gibson usa pot and a new jack.. After doing that i got rid of most of the noise and all of the troubles.... soon i'll add the neck pickups back in with new switches but for now it made such a huge improvement. I thought i had a bad switch in my Epi Exployer but it was the edge of the pot touching the grounded sides of the electronic cavity......

WhoFan