Wiring problem

R

rbmk

New member
Hi everyone,

I'm trying to wire an old strat copy with a SH-1n and a SH-14. I tried to follow this diagram. When I plug into the output jack, all I get is a hum (similar to just putting a finger over the sleeve and tip of the cable when it's not plugged in). I did some minimal testing with a multimeter...none of the hot connections register continuity with the ground, so I don't think it's shorted. I tested the pots and they all register 500k like they should. I wasn't able to find any other resistence in the hot connections...

I'm attaching a picture so maybe could tell me what to test, or possibly what I've done wrong. Please feel free to make fun of my awful, awful soldering. Also, it's kind of hard to tell from this pic, but the capacitor on the neck tone is NOT shorted onto the lead. I double checked.

Thanks!

Edit: additional info - When it's plugged in and I touch anything grounded, the hum gets slightly louder.
 
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Re: Wiring problem

heat shrink that shielded wire.... its prolly touching a bunch of stuff and screwing it all up.
 
Re: Wiring problem

subanots said:
heat shrink that shielded wire.... its prolly touching a bunch of stuff and screwing it all up.
Click to expand...

That's a good idea, but if it was shorting something, wouldn't I get continuity between the ground and hot wires? (I'm not)
 
Re: Wiring problem

subanots said:
heat shrink that shielded wire.... its prolly touching a bunch of stuff and screwing it all up.
Click to expand...


Doesn't look like it, in that pic at least. There's nothing glaringly obvious I can see wrong with that.
Give it a wee bit for others to reply, someone might spot a wrong connection.
If not, I'd just rewire the lot to the diagram.

It COULD be the case you've ruined a pot with your soldering...They're kinda burnt looking now that I think about it...

Is that an actual wooden pickguard you've got there?
 
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Re: Wiring problem

Diocletian said:
Is that an actual wooden pickguard you've got there?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the adivce :)

It is a wooden pick guard...I made it myself with a coping saw and a lot of sweat. I should probably shield it but I didn't think about it before I mounted everything.

The guitar itself is an old plywood piece of junk I bought when I was 16. I'm rebuilding it for fun.

Oh, and I'm hoping the pots are okay...they still measure 500k Ω when turned all the way down.
 
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Re: Wiring problem

Diocletian said:
Doesn't look like it, in that pic at least. There's nothing glaringly obvious I can see wrong with that.
Give it a wee bit for others to reply, someone might spot a wrong connection.
If not, I'd just rewire the lot to the diagram.

It COULD be the case you've ruined a pot with your soldering...They're kinda burnt looking now that I think about it...

Is that an actual wooden pickguard you've got there?
Click to expand...

Looks like rosin core solder to me; you'd get the brown gunk from it.



Can't really see anything that'd cause the buzz, unless you've got the hot and ground going to the jack reversed at the jack? Is the ground from the spring claw hooked up?
 
Re: Wiring problem

DrNewcenstein said:
Looks like rosin core solder to me; you'd get the brown gunk from it.



Can't really see anything that'd cause the buzz, unless you've got the hot and ground going to the jack reversed at the jack? Is the ground from the spring claw hooked up?
Click to expand...

It is rosin core solder, so yeah, that's where the gunk is coming from. And actually, I think the volume pot might be shot. I could have sworn I tested it at 500k earlier, but now it's registering less than 10k. I might as well put in a new jack too, since I'm going to the store...it's the original one from the guitar, which is over 20 years old.

Thanks for everyone's help.
 
Re: Wiring problem

Well, jack's cannot go bad unless they're the little plastic-housed ones, but you usually find those in pedals, not guitars.

You may have dropped a glob of solder down between the wafers of the jack and thus are shorting it out, or as I said, you've got hot and ground reversed.
 
Re: Wiring problem

I will test that again tonight. I didn't think it was an issue because I tested continuity from the main ground connection (back of the volume pot) to the sleeve connection on the jack, and it was fine...same for the hot connection to the output of the switch. I'm going to rewire it tonight, just to be sure.

Thanks again for all the responses.
 
Re: Wiring problem

So, I finally got it working...thanks everyone for the help. The jack was wired correctly, but it was broken. In addition to that, the volume pot was broken.

Since someone asked about the pick guard, here it is put together. As you can see, it's a giant piece of plywood with a plywood pickguard. I figure if its flawed, you might as well go balls-out with it, eh? If nothing else, it's unique looking.
 
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Re: Wiring problem

very cool guitar man
thanks for posting, i was planning on resurrecting my first guitar (a plywood squier strat) and was wondering how it'd look
 
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