Fender Meteora Wiring Nightmare

[colt]

Ok I am new here and I have an issue. I have a Fender Meteora and I love this guitar. It’s my little fender Les Paul a combo of all the things I love. That said the wiring was bad and I got a ton of pops and cracks on the bridge pickup constantly. So after trying every fix I could find I decided to order a custom wiring harness from Hoagland custom. The issue I am having now is I can’t make heads or tails of how to actually finish the job here of hooking up the new harness. I can’t find a diagram that actually helps me know what goes where. I need to attach the pickups and the 3 way switch. If I can figure out how to add photos I will post them. Please help me save my baby!

[reTrEaD]

Hello colt . Welcome to GN2.

Sept 23, 2023 19:35:47 GMT -5 colt said:

So after trying every fix I could find I decided to order a custom wiring harness from Hoagland custom. The issue I am having now is I can’t make heads or tails of how to actually finish the job here of hooking up the new harness.

My first suggestion would be to contact Hoagland for support. After all, you did purchase the wiring harness from them, right?

I was able to find a link to a Fender Meteora service manual (MAR 3, 2018 - Rev. A) but it's drastically different from what I see in your first image. So I doubt if that will help you. Page 3 shows two standard volume controls, a push-push switch, and a tone control with an S-1 4PDT push-push switch on the pot.

Your image looks like a volume control with a S-1 switch, two tone controls, and no separate push-push switch.

www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/Original/10001/SM_0143823000_Meteora_HH_PF.PDF


I did stumble across this image which does look similar to your first image:



But I doubt you can reliably discern the exact wiring from that.

fwiw, that image came from this listing, on Reverb:
reverb.com/item/62086967-fender-player-plus-meteora-loaded-pickguard-fireball-humbucking-pickups-s-1

[mikecg]

Hello Colt,

Did you manage to sort out your wiring problem?

I have searched for a pro diagram for your Meteora without success, so I have had a stab at making a DIY one - and I hope you find it useful, here it is:

[aliberesco]

Hi, I want to swap the original meteora pickups with TV Jones and have the same problem, can't find a way to rewire. The diagram made by mikecg demands a whole new wiring but is very useful except for one thing, the 3 way toggle switch is different, because the one included with meteora has 5 poles and they're 2 (green, yellow), 2 (white, red) and 1 (black), and the new one has only 4, 1 green, 1 yellow, 1 red, and 1 black. So, i't impossible to wire them as the diagram says without leaving a fifth white wire alone. Do you know what can I do to make it work? Thanks in advance.

[mikecg]

Hello aliberesco,

First, we need to get some clarity on humbucker wiring colours, and these will always be for four wire pickups.

In my wiring diagram I have assumed a pickup with the following:

Red = hot 
White (shown as yellow) joined to black = split connection
green = ground

As far as I can tell, these colours should be correct for your 'TV Jones' pickups, but you should double check.

If you have a switch with 5 lugs, then it is likely that you have two single pole (on/off) switches, and a ground connection, that may be connected to the switch body.

If you have a simple DVM you can use it to check the switch function using the continuity setting on the DVM.

As long as you have two single pole switches (i.e four lugs) you can wire it as shown in the diagram.

If the fifth lug is indeed a ground lug, then you should connect that to a suitable star ground point, usually a nearby pot cover or ground lug.