Backwards Cap?

[Carl]

I have been working on the Strat lover's strat. I have all the wiring correct as far as i can tell. When I plug in to the amp, i have to turn it up to max power to get any sound. But, I can tell that all my switching positions are correct, problem is, very low volume output. I hooked up a meeter to the output jack and i get a good pot reading of 250K. And my pups check out too. The only thing may be a backwards cap on my neck pot. Could this cap cause my sound to be almost nonexistant?

-Troubled guitar modder

[Mini-Strat_Maine]

carl said:

I hooked up a meeter to the output jack and i get a good pot reading of 250K. And my pups check out too. The only thing may be a backwards cap on my neck pot. Could this cap cause my sound to be almost nonexistant?

AFAIK, the only way a cap can be backward (wrong polarity) is if it's an electrolytic, one of the can-shaped buggers. Those aren't a good choice for use in guitar mods, anyway. If I remember correctly, they act like a resistor when reverse-biased, at least up to the point where they go up in smoke.

What type cap did you use?

[Carl]

I used the same type that come standard with a strat. I wonder what else could cause my low volume? I feel like im so close.

[JohnH]

I hooked up a meeter to the output jack and i get a good pot reading of 250K

If vol is set to max, you should be gettng a resistance based on the pups, ie 5-9k for one pup, or half that for two in parallel

[Carl]

I put one lead on the +output jack and one on the -output jack. When I turn the vol pot I get from 0 to 250K resistance. Am I supposed to get a reading of my pups when i do this and not my pot? Im a little new to this.

[Carl]

Im guessing i made a mistake on my wiring. From the origional diagram
I came up with what I thought it should look like.

[Carl]

Ok. I was searching through the troubleshooting guides on the original guitar nuts website and found that when the vol and tones are all turned up, and you measure between the two output terminals, you should get the resistance of your pups that are selected. If the meter reads 250K in the bridge position like I am getting, it means "Open pickup coil, bad switch, or broken wiring between pickup and switch."
If the meter reads 250k in the bridge and middle position it means "This would have to be a bad switch or else both pickups or wiring from both pickups to switch would have to be bad. If both pickups passed their solo tests then this can only be a bad or nonstandard switch."
That sucks...

[bam]

it doesn't mean that you've fried your pups/controls. try to re-check and insulate the wirings first (i.e. make sure that there's no unwanted contacts)