Somebody please help me!

[andyash]

hi, i'm a newbie here and need help. i've recently upgraded the pups in my strat to 2 dimarzio fast tracks and a paf pro in the bridge. the fast tracks work perfectly but the paf doesn't. even with distortion on and volume up to 11 it sounds like its on a clean channel with volume turned down low. I did have to extend the hot wire so it could reach the selector switch so could this be at fault? it's my first time extending a wire so if someone could give me some pointers on how to extend it or if you think you know what's wrong please drop me a line.

thanks in advance

andy

[Mini-Strat_Maine]

Welcome aboard, Andy.
I answered you over on "the other GN," but this forum is where all the really serious electronics wizards hang out. (And I'm not one; I just follow some of these guys around, to see what I can learn. ;D )
GuitarNoise is a great community, too. Very civilized, especially compared to one other I've used but finally got disgusted with.
This one is the best place to get a wiring problem diagnosed, with 'Noise being a very close second.

[JohnH]

Hi Andy,

There shouldnt be anything too hard in this, but it could be either a fault in the connections, or some wires misplaced/not connected.

Just check the following - appologies if you have already sussed this out, but a mix up with what wires go where would account for your problem:

The Paf pro, according to its specs, has four coloured wires, one each to each end of each coil, plus a bare wire. The colour arrangement is specific to DiMarzio, and for a standard humbucker configuration, should be

• green and bare both to ground (usually back of volume pot)
  
• black and white are connected together, taped off and not connected to anything else
  
• red is hot, and would go to the 5-way switch on your Srtat
  

For making connections between wires or to extend them, a good soldered joint is needed. Strip the ends a few mm, and tin with solder, place the wires end to end, with the tinned ends overlapping, and solder them. The solder joint will be stronger than the wire. Then slip some insulation sleeving over the joint, or tape it wth electrical tape. There is very little consequence as to the type of wire tha you use for extending - ie, the extra wire length in itself is definatley not the cause of the problem.

Finally, the other source of lost signal, if the wiring configuration checks out, and the connections are solid, is short circuits - bits of wire touching things they should not, gunk around connections.

Do you have a diagram that you are working off for the connections?

The Dimarzio page for the fast-tracks has this, for three fasttracks installed in a Strat. The fast-tracks also seem to have four conductor wiring with the same colours, so you could use this diagram, even though the bridge pup is a paf pro:

www.dimarzio.com/media/diagrams/A.pdf

Good luck, I hope that helps

John