kikkoet2
Rookie Solder Flinger
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
|
Post by kikkoet2 on Apr 24, 2006 10:57:55 GMT -5
Hi there- new member here, but I've used this site for a year or so.
Wondering if anyone can help me, I had installed a Fender mid boost circuit board and a Fender TBX pot in one of my Strats. Everything worked fine, but then I wanted to change bodys. After changing bodies and wiring it back up just like it was, I had a terrible distortion in the strings. I tried a different volume control pot and double and triple checked wiring.
Does anybody know how I might test the circuit board or if there's something I've missed.
I left it out of the guitar for now but I'd like to get it back in there.
Thanks for suggestions!
Kikkoet2
|
|
|
|
Post by sumgai on Apr 25, 2006 0:32:56 GMT -5
kikky, Hi, and  to the forums. Well, welcome to more than just "using" the forums!  You say that the strings have a terrible distortion. I take it to mean that the overall sound output is distorted, right? Then one of three things is going on. You have not quite wired it exactly as the old Strat; there is indeed a fault in the circuit board (too much heat from your soldering iron might have destroyed something); or your battery is just about dead. There is a fourth possibility, a very minor one. Just for grins, are you using the same pickups out of the old Strat? I assume that whatever you're using now works fine (sans the circuitry), but that doesn't mean that they'll work flawlessly with the mods. Some pickups, but only a few, I'm sure, are less tolerant than others of on-board electrical mods like this. If the current pickups in the new ax are not the old ones, do you still have that old Strat? Can you hook everything back up as you had it, and try it all out? (If not, don't worry, it's just an alternate testing method, that's all.) Beyond that, it might be nice to see the diagrams you followed in building these items, are they available on the innerweb? Or did you buy pre-packaged devices and drop them in? (Nothing wrong with that, just curious.) HTH sumgai (edited for grammer error - spellcheck is worthless when the word is correctly spelled, but incorrectly used. <grrr>) |
|
kikkoet2
Rookie Solder Flinger
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
|
Post by kikkoet2 on Apr 25, 2006 8:29:14 GMT -5
Hello- thanks for the warm welcome!
You are correct, the distortion is in the overall sound of the strings. All switch positions, all tone levels.
I used the same pickups, (Gold Fender Lace Sensors) mounted in the same pickguard, with the same pots and just switched bodies. So there were only a few wires to unsolder. I did try a new battery. I used a 40w pencil tip iron, but I did have to unsolder and reattach the 9VDC + & - on the circuit board. Is there someplace I could get schematics of the board? I have the tools to troubleshoot it. (various meters & oscilloscope)
The wiring diagram came off of the Fender web site.
(http://fender.com/support/diagrams/pdfs/CLAPTONSTRAT/SD0107602BPg2.pdf)
I really appreciate your help!
Thanks,
Kikkoet2
|
|
kikkoet2
Rookie Solder Flinger
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
|
Post by kikkoet2 on May 8, 2006 5:22:59 GMT -5
Hi again-
I tried wiring this again over the weekend and when I turn up the volumn I get a squeeling tone (actually, it's alittle deeper tone than a squeeling) from 7-9 on the pot. When it gets up to 10, it goes away.
Have I toasted the board??
Thanks,
Kikkoet2
|
|
|
|
Post by sumgai on May 8, 2006 15:12:40 GMT -5
kikky, Beginning to sound like it. The tests are twofold. One, how do the pickups sound without the additional circuitry? If they're good, then you have a good reason to suspect the parts on the board, but that's not good enough for a conviction.  Two, the best method of troubleshooting is substitution with a known good replacement part. Can you lay your hands on another unit? If not, then can you place the board into another guitar, and test it that way? What you're trying to do here is isolate the two sub-systems (pups, board), and see which way the problem goes, with the pups, or with the board. If you can't do either of those tests, then do you have any recourse with the vendor from whom you bought the unit? Perhaps an exchange, if not a full return? Your only other option is to have the unit serviced by a qualified technician, but you might run into a cost-effectiveness barrier on that one.  That's all I can think of at the moment, sorry.  sumgai |
|
Two, the best method of troubleshooting is substitution with a known good replacement part. Can you lay your hands on another unit? If not, then can you place the board into another guitar, and test it that way? What you're trying to do here is isolate the two sub-systems (pups, board), and see which way the problem goes, with the pups, or with the board.
