Weirdness in Wiring

[Hagbard Celine]

I put an SSL-5 in my JV Strat. I absolutely love the tone of it. It's the 5th Bridge pup I've had in it and I think it's staying. Higher output and more balls but still Straty.

The weird thing is that if a string touches the pole piece on the low E with the bridge SSL-5 on it kills the output. Only the low E pole piece. If I pull the A string over to the E PP it shorts out and if I pull the E string over to the A PP it doesn't.

Anyone have any ideas what's wrong?
:dunno::dunno::dunno:

 

[Gingrel]

Re: Weirdness in Wiring

My guess is the hot wire inside the pickup may be touching the polepiece. Because the strings are grounded via the trem claw, touching the polepiece with the string will cause the signal to take the path of least resistance to ground i.e down the string.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Weirdness in Wiring

um if you use the trem to such a degree that the string hits the pole piece then
when the metal string touches the magnetic pole piece <it stops vibrating>
there is no sound if the strings dont vibrate

are your pickups that high?

 

[Hagbard Celine]

Re: Weirdness in Wiring

um if you use the trem to such a degree that the string hits the pole piece then
when the metal string touches the magnetic pole piece <it stops vibrating>
there is no sound if the strings dont vibrate

are your pickups that high?

No, it isn't that lame. I mean that when any string touches the low E pole piece when that pup is on it kills the output of the whole guitar - no sound at all. But it is only the low E pole.

I checked for oddities the last time I changed the strings and didn't notice that the wiring was in any way contacting the pup where it shouldn't be. It IS a Duncan mixed in with Fender pups in the other positions so I had to wire it backwards and when I put it in I also did a full shielding job on it with copper tape since I was removing a set of Lace Sensors and I didn't want the buzz to go up too much.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Weirdness in Wiring

hmmmm

lets see the trouble didnt exist before the sheilding or pickup change
so something has changed

sounds like
maybe Gingrel may be right that something hot is touching the pole

if you have a meter

try testing from the offending pole piece to the hot wire for that pickup at the switch

you may have a bare spot on the wire where maybe the soldering iron hit it
or when everything got tucked back in that is making that pole "live"

if so such a "dead short" would represent in the symptoms you describe

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Weirdness in Wiring

Take a close look at your SSL-5 polepieces. They should have a coating of clear lacquer over them to act as an insulator.

Normally, the pickup ought to be constructed with some physical barrier between the magnet/polepieces and the coil. (And not just the formvar or polysol wire coating!) This may be out of position. Hence, a path between magnet and ground that is completed by the low E string via the vibrato spring claw.

Why this only occurs when a particular string contacts a particular pole rather than any string on any pole is, indeed, a mystery.