Not sure how to wire my prewired pickguard

[ljs27]

So, I've got a HH prewired pickguard for my strat (1x vol, 2x tone), and I have no idea how to wire it in! There are only 3 free wires - two black ones coming from the volume pot and one white one coming from a tone pot. Can anyone advise which ones go to the input jack and which is wired to the strat body as a ground?

Thanks

[Dave Sloven]

I'm not an expert on Strats but I am guessing that if the two black wires come off of the same place one is a ground to the jack and the other is a ground to the body somehow, possibly to shielding in the cavities, depending on how the bridge is grounded.  The white one from the tone pot goes to the jack hot.

[ljs27]

I'm not an expert on Strats but I am guessing that if the two black wires come off of the same place one is a ground to the jack and the other is a ground to the body somehow, possibly to shielding in the cavities, depending on how the bridge is grounded.  The white one from the tone pot goes to the jack hot.

Yeah, that's how I thought it should be done too. However, after doing this the guitar just makes a constant buzzing sound when plugged in, and no matter what position the pickup selector is in, both humbuckers are on. I've obviously gone wrong somewhere! 

[PhilKing]

Looking at the wiring, I'd say you have 2 vols and 1 tone.  It looks like the red wires from each pickup go to the sweeper on the first two pots.  The centre  is then taken back to the switch.  It also looks like there is a coil tap on the switch too (positions 2 & 4).

I can't see why the white to live and black to ground wouldn't work. 

This is the diagram for 1 vol & 2 tones with your switch:

http://www.guitarelectronics.com/media/img/guitarelectronics/W650-H550-Bffffff/W/wd2hh5l12_02.jpg

The difference you have is the live from each pickup goes through a pot before the switch, and the live from the switch goes to the jack.  Other than that, it is correct for what you have.  I can't see enough details to see the switch wiring.

[Dave Sloven]

Sounds to me like your bridge is not properly grounded.

Do you have a ground wire running from the bridge assembly to the back of your volume pot? If you can post a photo of your bridge grounding and the cavities (as opposed to the pickguard assembly) we might be able to see what's going on.

[ljs27]

Okay, well this is what I've done. I've soldered one of the black wires from the volume to the trem claw, and the other black wire and white wire to the jack. Does this seem right? The hum isn't really noticeable when the gain is low on the amp, but once the gain is increased the hum/buzz becomes quite strong.

Funnily enough I did ask them if it was possible to have 2x vol and 1x tone, but it came with two tone knobs and one volume knob, so I assumed this is what they had done.

Thanks for the help!

[Dave Sloven]

I'm not sure what's causing the hum.  The bridge ground looks okay, and even if you have a bad bridge ground the hum goes away when you touch the strings (unless your shoes are very insulated, if so try doing it barefoot). It has two humbuckers so it's the usual 60 cycle hum that you get with single coil pickups in Strats.  The only other thing I can think of is if it is wired up so that a coil is split somewhere, which could be the case if the selector switch is wired up incorrectly.

[ljs27]

Actually - just a thought: do I have my wires to the jack the wrong way round? I have the white wire from the tone going to the hot output and a black wire from the volume going to the inner portion of the jack (ground). Should these be the other way?

I'm confused because in this diagram it shows tone to the jack ground and volume to the jack hot: http://www.seymourduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2H_3B_1V_2T.jpg. However, the tone going to the ground is from a wire on the back of the tone pot, while the volume going to the hot is from one of the prong bits on the volume pot. In my pickguard, the wires from the volume are soldered to the top of the pot, while the wire from the tone is from a prong bit.

As you can see, I have no idea about electronics!

[PhilKing]

Your jack wiring is OK.  Just realised that they are using a different diagram to the one I posted, seeing the black wire to the switch.  In the diagram there is no ground to the switch.  In this case they are shorting to ground for the split, this is the one to use:

http://static---guitarelectronics.app-hosted.com/media/img/guitarelectronics/-/wdu_hh5l11_01

[ljs27]

Well I finally screwed it all back together and restrung it. Things to note:

1. It is actually 2x volume and 1x tone. They have just mistakenly put a tone knob on the front. where the second volume knob should be.
2. When plugged in to the amp it still makes a sort of buzzy/hissing noise, and when you tap various parts of the pickguard the sound really transfers to the amp.

I guess now I know it's 2x volume and 1x tone the wiring might be different? This is turning out to be more complicated than I imagined!!

[Dave Sloven]

Is this a pre-wired pickguard from BKP?  If so I am guessing that the issues should only be with the connections that you are making; the switch etc should be wired up correctly.  I would contact BKP and ask them for advice

I don't see any HH prewired Strat pickguards in their shop though