cmscss
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Post by cmscss on Dec 20, 2017 14:33:24 GMT -5
Will triple check the wiring tomorrow (just to come back fresh) but so far, neither pickup works in any position.
Will report back after I've had another check of everything.
Cheers
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cmscss
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Post by cmscss on Feb 11, 2018 16:38:06 GMT -5
OK, back on this baby and found a jumper wire on the first switch from previous wiring - after removing, here's where I'm at.... 1. The neck pickup has no sound when the selector is in the nick position 2. The neck pickup has sound with the selector in the middle position but only when the series switch is down, when up, there's no sound. 3. The bridge pickup seems to work as intended. Here's a shot of the wiring incase I'm missing something basic - wasn't 100% how to do the earth so maybe that's the issue? www.dropbox.com/s/w58glurr86nul0s/Wiring.jpg?dl=0Any help or pointers in the right direction would be much appreciated. Cheers Ben
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Post by reTrEaD on Feb 11, 2018 18:14:45 GMT -5
Ben, I botched the wiring in the penultimate drawing but Sumgai and Newey spotted the error and I issued a correction. I also edited that post with a giant "DO NOT USE. DOES NOT WORK." Apparently you wired according to my botched drawing. You should have used the final version a couple of posts later. It looks like this: Note the blue wire and which terminal it connects to on the 3-way.
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cmscss
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Post by cmscss on Feb 12, 2018 12:17:05 GMT -5
Awesome, thanks heaps. The blue wire to the switch was what I was missing.
Stringing up for a full test but at least I get noise out of the pickups as expected now.
Cheers
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Post by reTrEaD on Feb 12, 2018 13:14:41 GMT -5
Good luck, Ben. Hope we'll hear good news from you soon!
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cmscss
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Post by cmscss on Feb 14, 2018 15:48:52 GMT -5
OK, so everything works except the volume is always on full.
Taking apart now to double check everything.
Cheers
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Post by reTrEaD on Feb 14, 2018 16:20:30 GMT -5
Hi Ben,
If you look on the drawing, the third terminal of the volume pot is folded back and attached to the case. If that doesn't make a good connection to the other grounds which are soldered to the back of the volume pot, it will result in the symptom you described. Volume full, regardless of knob position.
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cmscss
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Post by cmscss on Jun 10, 2018 13:53:38 GMT -5
Thanks for that, I totally missed that lug so soldered a wire to the ground but there's now no sound at full volume?
As I turn the pot down, the sound kicks in and the volume decreases as you'd expect - but at full volume there's nothing.
What causes this? No idea what I'm doing sorry!
Any help would be much appreciated.
Cheers
Ben
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Post by newey on Jun 10, 2018 23:03:44 GMT -5
Faulty pot would be my first guess. It's possible you damaged it while soldering to it. You can test the pot functioning with a multimeter but you would need to disconnect it first.
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Post by reTrEaD on Jun 10, 2018 23:36:56 GMT -5
Thanks for that, I totally missed that lug so soldered a wire to the ground but there's now no sound at full volume? As I turn the pot down, the sound kicks in and the volume decreases as you'd expect - but at full volume there's nothing. What causes this? No idea what I'm doing sorry! Any help would be much appreciated. Cheers Ben My guess would be that during the soldering, flux has migrated from the terminal area to the end of the resistive element. Flux itself is not conductive. The wiper is making contact with the carbon until the last part of the rotation at the CW end of the element. But at the very end, the flux is preventing the wiper from making contact. You can make a resistance measurement between the wiper and CW lug and verify this is happening when you rotate the knob. But the fix will be to replace the pot. Attempting to remove the flux is likely to cause more problems and the price of a new pot is probably less than the value of your time.
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Post by newey on Jun 11, 2018 5:51:55 GMT -5
But, would this not make it effectively a no-load pot, and thereby give max volume when on full? After all, one can make a no-load pot by scraping off the end of the resistive element. Why would flux covering it be any different?
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Post by reTrEaD on Jun 11, 2018 10:13:08 GMT -5
Hey newey , it's different because a tone control and volume control are configured differently. A treble-cut tone control has the input and output tied together. The pot and cap create a shunt. Disconnecting the wiper would give you full tone. A volume control does not have the input and output tied together. The pot is used as a voltage divider. Disconnecting the wiper will give you no sound because there's no longer a path for the signal to get to the output jack.
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Post by newey on Jun 11, 2018 11:51:55 GMT -5
OK, good explanation.
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cmscss
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Post by cmscss on Jun 11, 2018 14:49:18 GMT -5
Thanks guys,
Depending on which lugs are connected, I get out-of-range from 10-4 with readings from 3 down. Or out-of-range from 1-7 with readings from 8 upwards.
1. I have a CTS 250k so have lug 3 connected to ground on the pot and lug 2 connected to the jack hot, is that correct?
2. I also have a treble bleed circuit that is connected to lugs 1 & 2, is that correct?
3. Also, my tremolo ground is connected to the negative of the jack but should that go to the ground on the pot?
4. And when I was playing (volume was on full) the phase switch didn't change things much, I was expecting a thinner sound. Does this seem right or is there something for me to check?
Hopefully you can see what I've done wrong, or I'll get a new pot and start again.
Thank for your patience, much appreciated.
Cheers
Ben
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Post by newey on Jun 11, 2018 21:57:12 GMT -5
Correct. Lug 1 should be connected to the switch.
Correct.
Doesn't matter, as long as all the grounds are connected together at some point.
I thought the problem was that at full volume you had no sound? Certainly, if the phase switch is wired correctly you should hear a significant decrease in volume and a tinny,thin sound when engaged. "Didn't change things much" sounds like a problem.
I'm not clear on what you mean here. First off, are you measuring with the pot connected or disconnected?
Second, so that we are all on the same page with your testing here, please post results as follows:
First, measure from outer lug of the pot to outer lug. This should give you 250K for a 250K pot, plus or minus 10%.
Next, turn the knob full clockwise. Measure from lug 1 to 2 Record your measurement. Then,turn the knob down to about "9", and record your measurement. Turn down to "8", record your measurement, and continue thusly until you reach full counterclockwise. Report your results.
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cmscss
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Post by cmscss on Jun 12, 2018 0:40:55 GMT -5
Firstly, thank you so much for the replies, much appreciated.
This is with the pot connected to the circuit.
I should remove the pot from the wiring to test by itself right?
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cmscss
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Post by cmscss on Jun 12, 2018 0:53:29 GMT -5
OK, have just de-soldered the pot from the wiring to test.
Something is screwy here, I get OL on my multimeter for this. Just to confirm I'm not completely crazy, I use Ohms - right?
I think I should get another pot.
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Post by newey on Jun 12, 2018 5:29:29 GMT -5
Yes. If your meter is of the "auto-ranging" type, nothing to set. If not, set it at the 20KΩ setting. If you don't read approx 250K across the outer lugs, the pot is toast.
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cmscss
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Post by cmscss on Jul 2, 2018 0:03:48 GMT -5
Hey guys, Everything is now working (started afresh) so thanks for your patience and help - very much appreciated. While the out-of-phase sound is a different tone it's not as thin and trebley like I expected so will double check the wiring at some point. Now looking to use momentary switches and integrate some weird stuff into my playing if anyone's keen to help with more experiments! guitarnuts2.proboards.com/thread/8348/help-implementing-momentary-switchesAnd here's a pic of the finished guitar:- Warmoth 10/16 compound neck - Fender 62 Reissue body (stained and gun oiled) - Fender 62 Reissue pickups (would like to swap these for Farlins at some point) - Super-vee trem (works really well) Will also sort some audio files at some point as well. Cheers Ben
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Post by Ro_S on Jul 3, 2018 5:48:10 GMT -5
To me, this what a Tele should be like (but with the Tele bridge pickup) I'd keep a Strat pickup in the neck, but put a Seymour Duncan 'Twangbucker' in the bridge. Question: Due to lack of a tone control, and that pot's loading on the circuit, don't you find the bridge pickup too bright? Why did you opt to have no tone control on the bridge pickup? (I appreciate that's how a Strat was/is traditionally configured.)
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cmscss
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Post by cmscss on Jul 9, 2018 18:54:30 GMT -5
I find the Strat neck pickup to be the most interesting pickup of any guitar I've played - great clean, great crunch, great OD, and reacts to pedals in the most interesting way.
So I only use the bridge pickup for solos and high-gain (if ever). I've also never liked the quack tones of the middle pickup, so when it came time to make a frankenstein, I thought I'd remove anything I didn't use to make room for experiments.
But hey, maybe a tone knob fixes the neck pup but I'm guessing it just sounds less bright - which yes, would be an improvement but I'm not sure that's interesting?
Have been wondering about something completely different in the bridge position - any suggestions?
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Post by Ro_S on Jul 10, 2018 4:56:39 GMT -5
Have been wondering about something completely different in the bridge position - any suggestions? mini-humbucker P90 Filtertron (the latter two might have mounting complications, though)
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