djhollowman
Apprentice Shielder
7 outta 6 cats preferred it.....
Posts: 29
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Post by djhollowman on Mar 28, 2006 16:06:24 GMT -5
Hi everyone! Here's a photo of the wiring of my BC Rich Assassin. It's a H-S-S, 1vol, 1tone, 5-way lever config. I'm replacing all the pickups with actives - an EMG89 in the bridge and a pair of active singles in the middle and neck positions. The problem is that when I move the 5-way to the middle only, middle and neck, and neck only positions I'm still getting the bridge pickup sounding as well!! I'm thinking I've wired the 5-way incorrectly, but it's the same as from before I replaced the pickups. The 3 red wires to the left side of the switch are the pickup outputs, and the blue one next to them goes to the vol pot, same lug as the white wire from the jack socket. Perhaps I'm fundamentally wrong in my assumption of how the switch connects??? Any thoughts most welcomed!! Thank you!!
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Post by eljib on Mar 28, 2006 16:20:36 GMT -5
I'm not familiar with this model but your problem sounds like you've got a "neck on" switch in the "ON" position. This could be accomplished with the use of a DPDT push/pull pot, which is what it looks like you've got for the volume control. Again, I don't know this model, and I'm not suggesting you don't know your own axe, but could it be that your switchable pot (volume) controls a bridge pup "always on" switch?
Just a thought.
-Aaron
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djhollowman
Apprentice Shielder
7 outta 6 cats preferred it.....
Posts: 29
Likes: 0
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Post by djhollowman on Mar 29, 2006 2:02:01 GMT -5
Hi Aaron, the volume pot is a push/pull - it's the one I got with the EMG89 kit which I installed in the bridge. It's wired according to their instruction leaflet so that it's humbucker when switch is down and single coil when switch is up. Any other thoughts? Thanks.
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Post by flateric on Mar 29, 2006 3:30:41 GMT -5
I'd recheck the wiring to the push-pull lugs, thats probably the most likely place to have soldered wrong if the bridge pup is on all the time, looks like it might be feeding direct to the vol and short-cutting the 5-way. Can you post a schematic of what you have actually done (rather than what it is supposed to be)?
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djhollowman
Apprentice Shielder
7 outta 6 cats preferred it.....
Posts: 29
Likes: 0
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Post by djhollowman on Mar 29, 2006 7:47:41 GMT -5
Hi, here's how I've wired the push/pull: Now that is from EMG's instructions, but that is how I've wired it. (You get 2 wiring options: up for humb and down for single coil, or vice versa) The tab marked "output" I have connected to the 5-way switch, in position "A3" if you look at my original picture of the guitar. Notice that the pot comes as standard with a short wire connected between the "output" tab and the centre of the vol pot? Should I unhook that one?? At the moment I have the white wire from the socket going to the lower tab of the vol pot ("lower" as seen in this picture!), but should it go to the centre tab?? I also have the ground from the 5-way (blue wire in original photo) going to the "lower" vol pot tab, is this right?? Thanks guys!
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Post by sumgai on Mar 29, 2006 21:12:36 GMT -5
djhollowman, <sighs>Yes, unhook it. That's carrying signal from the pickup directly to what should be the master volume's output lug. In the case of your diagram, the volume control is wired backwards, but that's a small thing. More importantly, you need to route the DPDT's output to the main 5-way switch, and the input of the master volume should come from only one place, that being Lug 0 of Section A.
The output of the 5-way switch, Lug 0 of Section A, should be going to the "lower" terminal of volume control, the center terminal of that pot should be going to the output jack, via the white wire in this case, and the upper terminal should be grounded (as pictured). That will straighten out your wiring, bringing it in line with conventionally accepted 'best wiring practices'. HTH
sumgai
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djhollowman
Apprentice Shielder
7 outta 6 cats preferred it.....
Posts: 29
Likes: 0
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Post by djhollowman on Mar 31, 2006 2:05:55 GMT -5
Sumgai - I tried what you suggested and it works beautifully! Many thanks!! You DA MAN!! Thank you all guys!
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Post by sumgai on Mar 31, 2006 3:20:04 GMT -5
djhollowman,
You're welcome! Glad it all worked out OK for you. ;D
sumgai
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Post by Runewalker on Mar 31, 2006 11:14:57 GMT -5
Alright Sumgai! Slam dunk Success!
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Post by UnklMickey on Mar 31, 2006 14:26:06 GMT -5
Alright Sumgai! Slam dunk Success! yeah man! but let's not forget to acknowledge Eljib and Flateric who asked the right questions, to get this thing focussed on the heart of the problem. looks like a real team effort from where i sit. from the original post on this thread, one would have guessed (i did) the problem to be a solder bridge between 0 and 3 on the 5-way switch. good job all! unk
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Post by sumgai on Apr 2, 2006 20:20:40 GMT -5
unk, Actually, when I first read the post and saw the picture, I figured about the same thing. In fact, I even downloaded the photo to my machine, took it into PaintShopPro, and enlarged it. It still looks to me like there's a chunk of solder beteen those two lugs that would be the answer, if djhollowman hadn't already signaled success. But you're correct as usual, it's always a team effort here, no matter how many points one has earned. ;D sumgai
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djhollowman
Apprentice Shielder
7 outta 6 cats preferred it.....
Posts: 29
Likes: 0
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Post by djhollowman on Apr 3, 2006 7:24:29 GMT -5
Hi guys, just want to thank ALL of you who helped me with this!! I know what you mean about those 2 lugs nearly being joined with solder, and believe me it's a lot neater now! Also, I find it interesting that the suggestion which solved the problem is different to the suggestions I got from EMG themselves - they had the white jack socket wire going to a different point on the vol pot, and they also had the little wire from the push/pull pickup output to the vol pot already in place. Would that be because it would have to be like that if the EMG89 was your only pickup in the guitar? (ie no switches) Anyway, at least they do actually bother trying to help, unlike some large electronics firms! But the solution was to be found in these hallowed pages -yay! Incidentally, EMG emailled me a diagram in which the push/pull was to be used as a tone control, in an attempt to help with my problem, but I didn't need to use it. Right, onto my next project..............thanks again all!!
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Post by sumgai on Apr 3, 2006 17:26:47 GMT -5
dj, Since I'm sure you'll be back here to continue reading this little saga.... Let me point out right now that not every one of us thinks the same way about any one thing. The principles of electricity and electronics are all pretty much cast in stone, but so help me, for every three electrical engineers you find, they'll give you four versions of how to do something! Which is to say, EMG thinks one way, and maybe it's successful for them, but I think a little differently, that's all. Where we differ between us is that I tend to not go NASA over something that should be simple, like a guitar pickup wiring scheme. ;D (Although I do like to play "Rube Goldberg" on occasion!) I can't speak for anyone else here, perhaps they see things like I do, though I suspect not. But that's the beauty of this place, eh? sumgai
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Post by UnklMickey on Apr 3, 2006 17:31:35 GMT -5
...for every three electrical engineers you find, they'll give you four versions of how to do something! ... if i'm one of the three, that's only true if the other two have nothing to say! LSH... unk
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Post by sumgai on Apr 3, 2006 19:20:06 GMT -5
unk, Touché!
sumgai
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