little trouble

[humanbn]

I rewired a tele about a month ago with a 4 way switch and the in-series mod. About a week ago the 2nd position of the switch, only neck pickup on, stopped working; if you put your ear to the amp you can hear a bit of sound coming through but nothing of much volume. I have checked all the wires and everyone carries a current. All the pickups work. I'm wondering how I should go about testing the switch. I'm going to remove it from all the wires and I would like to put an ohm meter on the posts to check them. I'm confused, however, as to which posts I should be checking in each position. I know that they will be the posts diagonal to the lever but I must admit that I am still a bit confused. Any ideas will be appreciated. If someone tells me I don't need to remove the switch that would be great; providing that it is truth.

[sumgai]

bean,

Before you do anything else, read through this link first:

guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.cgi?board=reference&action=display&thread=1176413665

Do the testing as laid out by Chris, then tell us what you found, here in this thread. More definitive answers will be forthcoming.

HTH



sumgai

[humanbn]

I read what the link took me to. Not sure what you're trying to tell me. I should check the ohms of the pickups? I'm pretty sure that's not the problem.

[sumgai]

bean;

Not sure what you're trying to tell me. I should check the ohms of the pickups?

Chris's treatise will tell you lots of things. F'rinstance, if the circuit is open or shorted in the switch's suspect position....... If it's shorted, then it's likely that the switch has been jostled against the cavity shielding, or some equally easy-to-fix thing. If it's open, and if the pups work in the other positions, then it's for sure the switch has gone South on you.

The described method of diagnosis is "the easy way" to tell if pups are wired together correctly (series vs. parallel - it can't tell about phasing). A switch-related failure isn't quite as easy to diagnose, but if you can get a more-or-less normal reading from each of the pickups in at least one of the switch positions, then you know the pups are very likely to be good. (That's assuming that the volume and tone controls are also behaving themselves. ) The only thing left are any switches that might be in the circuit.... Q.E.D. A short in Position 2 would show as 0Ω, an open would show as "OL". So, which is it?

Assuming that you have the Neck connected in combination with another pickup in one of the remaining switch positions, does the Neck appear to be working at all?

Actually, now that I think about it........ you say "tele" and "4-way switch", yet you also say "all the pickups". Perhaps a description of your layout might be helpful. I was imagining that you had a standard Tele with 2 pups, and a 4-way blade switch that had Neck, Neck + Bridge, Neck * Bridge, and Bridge - is that about right? Or did I assume too much?



HTH



sumgai

[humanbn]

That would be the correct setup. Standard tele. Both pickups work in other positions; in series, bridge only, bridge and neck. This would lead me to believe that there is current going to and from each pickup and traveling to the switch; however, it is not leaving the switch in position 2, or neck pickup only.

[sumgai]

bean,

OK, then a meter reading is gonna tell you, proof positive, that the switch itself is bad ("OL" at the output jack), or that there's a short from one of the Position 2 terminals to ground (0Ω at the output jack). Yes, both cases will mean opening up the patient, but at least you know where to look. A terminal might be bent up away from contacting the common conductor ("P" in some diagrams), or it may have broken away entirely. If the whole thing worked at one time, then a mere bent terminal is not too likely.

A short to ground could be located either on the switch (an over-sized solder joint, connecting two things that shouldn't be connected?); or it could be making contact with another wire going elsewhere inside the cavity; or it could be hitting the cavity shield itself, etc. Here's where visual inspection is the name of the game.

But my whole thrust in giving you the link to Chris's post was to give you a starting point..... to whittle down the number of possible faults before you dive under the covers. That's what separates the men from the Nutz - the ability to think ahead, thus getting the job done without blowing things up! ;D

HTH



sumgai

[humanbn]

Thanks for the test advice. I really wanted to take the time to use my meter on each individual post of the switch though so I could gain a better understanding of how the current is suppose to move through it. I did this and found that I could track the current going into and out of the switch in all four positions; the switch is not bad. So then I checked the ground wires. One of these was still soldered to the volume pot but was a bit loose. I removed it scraped off some residue with a piece of sand paper then reattached the ground wire. Works fine. I did use the test that you sent me to make sure that a signal was going out of the guitar after fixing the ground wire and it was. Thanks again for the help.