Newly installed pickups and all new wiring & pots - no sound

[fishbonetabby]

I just installed a new set of pickups and I'm getting no sound whatsoever.  No hum, no buzz, nothing.  It's 2 humbuckers, one tone pot, and one push/pull volume pot wired to split the coils. I used a multimeter to test continuity and it seems to be fine.  Grounding is OK from the output jack to the bridge.  I also measured the resistance of each pickup and they're both up to the manufacturers specs.  

Using a tester wire with little clips I hooked up the lead from one of the pickups at the selector switch and attached it to the middle lug on the vol pot (where output jack is wired it) and everything sounds great.  I tried each pickup individually and they both worked this way. 

I have very limited knowledge of electronics so troubleshooting isn't something I expect to have a lot of luck with however I feel like I am on to something I just don't know what.  Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks so much in advance. 


 

[Yogi B]

Looks like you've got the output & ground wires (the black & white cloth covered wires) swapped on the toggle switch.

Your problem lies in that you've followed the diagram a little too closely: what's at issue is that your switch has all four (the two 'input' & the two bent-together 'output') terminals on the same side, whereas the Bare Knuckle diagram depicts a (short) Switchcraft switch which most commonly have the 'input' & 'output' terminals on opposite sides.

It's rather unhelpful that BKP's diagram shows the toggle switch side-on, rather than from the underside -- the latter would make it easier to spot if something was amiss (because it'd be easier to see that the two bent-together terminals were 'in the wrong place' on your switch).

[fishbonetabby]

Jan 26, 2021 4:10:23 GMT -5 Yogi B said:

Looks like you've got the output & ground wires (the black & white cloth covered wires) swapped on the toggle switch.

Your problem lies in that you've followed the diagram a little too closely: what's at issue is that your switch has all four (the two 'input' & the two bent-together 'output') terminals on the same side, whereas the Bare Knuckle diagram depicts a (short) Switchcraft switch which most commonly have the 'input' & 'output' terminals on opposite sides.

It's rather unhelpful that BKP's diagram shows the toggle switch side-on, rather than from the underside -- the latter would make it easier to spot if something was amiss (because it'd be easier to see that the two bent-together terminals were 'in the wrong place' on your switch).

Thanks for stopping by and giving me your insight. I had been working on it for hours and made this post at 3 am. I woke up with fresh eyes and took a better look at the switch as you suggested and the problem is solved. I pulled apart the ground and middle connection on the switch and reversed them. I used tester wires to jump them to see if it worked and it did.

[fishbonetabby]

Long story short...on the switch I had the ground going to the rightmost lug on the vol pot (along w/the cap) and the middle position going to the ground.