Grounding Issue (?) on Newly Installed Pots and Jack

[uiah]

Hi,

I recently replaced all of the pots and jack in my Les Paul. Am getting sound and controls all work but overwhelmed with noise (as in as loud as the signal). Assume a grounding issue but not sure where I’ve gone wrong or if it’s possible to isolate. My soldering skills are sub-par so assume there’s a bad connection somewhere.

I have a multimeter but not quite sure how to use it to diagnose the problem. Is anyone able to give me some tips or look at my soldering to see if anything obvious stands out?

Pics in order are:

- Bridge volume
- Neck volume
- Bridge tone
- Neck tone
- Centre bit where jack joins?
- Jack connections x 2

Any help would be much appreciated.

[newey]

You've got the connections at the jack swapped around. The black is the + out, needs to go to the tip

[uiah]

Great thanks mate, will switch them around.

[uiah]

Thanks for the reply. Jack was indeed wired around the wrong way. Rookie error... 🤦🏻‍♂️
While I’ve got you though (or for anyone else reading), still a slight bit of ground noise. Goes away when I touch the strings. Aware it could be the power, room etc, but is there any way to diagnose any bad connections, with a multimeter or otherwise?
Much appreciated.

[newey]

Feb 2, 2021 0:26:13 GMT -5 uiah said:

still a slight bit of ground noise. Goes away when I touch the strings

This indicates that your ground wire to the bridge is working as it should. As for how to eliminate the noise when not touching the strings, that can be tough to achieve. Shielding the cavities may help, or may not, depending on (as you say), power, room, etc.

As for the rookie error, if everyone on this site is truthful, we've probably all done it at one time or another. I sure have, it was my immediate thought even before looking at your pix, when you said everything worked but was very noisy.

[uiah]

Feb 2, 2021 6:58:33 GMT -5 newey said:

As for the rookie error, if everyone on this site is truthful, we've probably all done it at one time or another. I sure have, it was my immediate thought even before looking at your pix, when you said everything worked but was very noisy.

Thanks for making me feel better newey!

As for the string ground, I measure around 6.5ohms resistance between strings and jack ground and around 8ohms between strings and bridge volume pot - is this too much? Should I resolder the string ground on to the back of the pot?

Much appreciated.

[newey]

6 to 8Ω could just be the resistance across your connections, or from the plating on the parts. Or just a measuremnet error, particularly if you are holding the probes in place with your fingers. No worries.