What am I doing wrong?

[Ludwigvan]

Hey guys, can someone please help me? My brain is about to melt...

To cut a long story short: After trying to install a very complicated pickup switching system (that didn't work) I began simplifying the circuit to troubleshoot the problem. Eventually I got down to one tone, one volume and the three way selector. Everything worked as it should apart from the volume pot. It didn't lower the volume all the way, in fact it nearly sounded like a tone control. So suspecting the tone pot was having an adverse effect I took it out of the circuit. Same problem. Surely the volume pot was faulty! I replaced it with another one and the problem remained.

I've gone over the diagrams and circuit a million times and I can't see what I'm doing wrong. It's as simple a circuit as could be.

The guitar is an Indie Les Paul-a-like with two humbuckers. Help!

 

[Sanford]

Re: What am I doing wrong?

I'm not sure what you're doing without a picture of your wiring, but here's a link to a diagram of what it should look like:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=2h_1v_1t_3w

 

[Artie]

Re: What am I doing wrong?

Everything worked as it should apart from the volume pot. It didn't lower the volume all the way, in fact it nearly sounded like a tone control.

This is a classic problem caused by the lug of the volume pot not being grounded properly. Often times, someone will ground to the back of the pot, but forget to run that ground to the output jack. The "sleeve" lug of the output jack is the only true ground on a guitar. Make sure you have that connection.

 

[Ludwigvan]

Re: What am I doing wrong?

Yep, that's the diagram I used Sanford.

Thanks ArtieToo. I did ground to the output jack but I guess it's possible that I connected to the wrong lug. I'll give it a try and see what happens!

Advice highly appreciated by the way!

 

[Ludwigvan]

Re: What am I doing wrong?

So I've tried both 'spare' lugs on the output jack and no joy at all. It's a little messy in there, purely to make connections easier for experimentation.

If you look at the first picture the top black wire is the 3 way selector. The north and south lug are attached to the hot connections on the pickups (They're DiMarzios - Red is hot) and the middle connection of the selector is attached to the left volume pot lug (as the lugs face you). The middle lug is then connected to the hot lug on the output jack.

It's all attached in a very basic way for trouble-shooting so excuse the mess!

Please help, I've been at this since Saturday night!

 

[jeremy]

Re: What am I doing wrong?

your problem is you have a stereo jack. if there is three tabs you have a stereo jack.

go get a mono jack

 

[Ludwigvan]

Re: What am I doing wrong?

Is that all? Nightmare!

When I got the guitar it had an active/passive switch (I've removed the active part, ugh, not for me!) so would I be right in assuming that I needed a stereo jack to accommodate the active part? I only ask before it was working perfectly before I gutted it all out.

 

[Dr.K]

Re: What am I doing wrong?

Replace your cap too. You burnt it with your iron. Been there, done that. lol

 

[Ludwigvan]

Re: What am I doing wrong?

Thanks guys.

You have to learn, so you may as well do it now!

 

[Ludwigvan]

Re: What am I doing wrong?

So I swapped it for a mono jack and replaced my cap. No difference. Any ideas?

 

[Artie]

Re: What am I doing wrong?

At this point, you really need to acquire a meter. (They're cheap.) Start doing some basic troubleshooting. I strongly recommend getting one pair of those clip-on style meter leads. Connect the black clip-on to the threaded portion of the output jack and then use the "pointy" red meter lead to confirm continuity to all ground points. They won't necessarily be "zero", but they should be less than 5 ohms. Then measure the resistance of the volume pot and pickups. (Leave the ground lead where it is.) One side of the volume pot should read close to zero. The other side should read approximately the value of the pot. The middle lead should sweep through its value as you turn it.

Measure the bridge pup while the neck is selected. Measure the neck while the bridge is selected.

Tell us what you get from there.

 

[LtKojak]

Re: What am I doing wrong?

So I swapped it for a mono jack and replaced my cap. No difference. Any ideas?

Rip everything apart, clean the mess and start over.

Really, that's the best you can do at this point. Been there, done that. REALLY!

HTH,

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: What am I doing wrong?

Poor solder connections. Not enough heat to make it flow thin.

I agree with Kojak, start over from scratch and make sure the solder flows, not just builds up.