hey you, help me troubleshoot!

[matty]

Hey all! so i figure since i joined i might as well get some benefit from the forum heh. so anyways i just finished with shielding my partscaster. I put the pickguard back in and one string on and decided to just test and make sure it worked and yup, no sound at all. From what i can tell i have wired everything correctly ( double checked) and checked my solder joints which all look good.
I had used copper foil to shield the body and pickguard so is there something possibly in the circuit touching the shielding and just shorting out? Its a pretty tight space in there with not a whole lot of room to move stuff around. I had started to put electrical tape around the pots and any metal part which may touch the shielding and when i put it back in there was some sound when I touched anything metal ( pickup covers, bridge, output jack) but by the time i had all the pickguard screws back in there was nothing. I did check again to make sure i wired the output jack up right and it was not reversed.

so does no sound at all mean a short somewhere? I am fairly confident I did not make any errors wiring it up and soldering so I am wondering what else it could be?

I don't have any more time tonight to try and look at it but would welcome your opinions on what I should attempt to do to solve this. any advice is welcome

thanks, Matt

[ChrisK]

Use your digital multimeter to measure the resistance at the output jack for all switch combinations of pickups.

Set the volume control(s) to full on.

Plug a cable into the guitar's output jack.

Connect the multimeter leads to the other end of the cable.

Post the readings.


If you don't have a digital multimeter, go buy one. Working on guitar wiring without one is like driving around with your eyes closed.

If'n yer lucky, things might work out........

[matty]

yah I have been meaning to buy one of those heh...

ok so a little update. Currently it does make sound ( haven't put any strings on yet), and the noise gets louder when I touch the bridge, bare volume and tone control, pickups, and pretty much anything metal, Except that when I touch the output jack it turns dead quiet. Not quite sure what that means exactly but thats what happens.

I'll try and get a multimeter tommorrow or the next day

[ChrisK]

haven't put any strings on yet

Hmmm, is that like a clue or sumpthin'?

;D ;D ;D

[sumgai]

matty,

...... the noise gets louder when I touch the bridge, bare volume and tone control, pickups, and pretty much anything metal, Except that when I touch the output jack it turns dead quiet. Not quite sure what that means exactly but thats what happens.

It means that you've reversed the wires to the output jack. You have the signal Hot going to the ground terminal (the Sleeve) and the signal return going to the Hot terminal (the Tip) of the jack. Swap 'em, and that part of the equation will be solved.

HTH



sumgai

[ChrisK]

You should still get the multi meter.