Pickup wiring on a tele

[AdamB]

I haven't taken the pickup out, i've just assumed it was connected ok.

The other pot is on my table, the switch, my mate has got

There's solder everywhere!!!!! i can't seem to get the old solder off!!!

Nightmare! Might get a new volume pot and start over

[Philly Q]

I haven't taken the pickup out, i've just assumed it was connected ok.

Ah, OK!  In that case, it's probable that one of the 3 wires coming "from the pickup" is actually a wire connecting the bridge to ground.  And perhaps there's a dry joint on that ground connection.

Then the pickup would have the more usual 2 wires, and may - or may not - have a baseplate.  If there's no baseplate, it doesn't matter which wire is hot and which is ground.  If there is a baseplate, then the ground wire grounds both the pickup coil and the plate.  It's possible the yellow wire should be the ground wire (although that seems unlikely, yellow is normally used for a hot wire).

You might need to take the bridge off to figure out which wire is which.

Sorry, I'm running out of ideas...  :?

(EDIT: Do you know the exact model of the guitar?  It might be possible to find a Fender wiring diagram to see how everything was originally connected.)

[pagan7]

There are a couple of ways to clean up blobs of solder. The first is to buy a solder sucker, which is basically a tube about 6 inches long with a spring loaded piston inside, you push the piston down till the lock clicks on to hold it in place, melt the solder with your iron and hold the tip of the sucker to the solder and press the release button. The spring pushes the piston up the tube and the vacuum created sucks the molten solder into the tube. You can do 20 -30 desolderings before you will need to unscrew the tube tip and tap out the little balls of solder inside.
The second method is to buy some desoldeing braid which is copper braid about 4mm wide on a roll. Put the end of the braid over the blob of solder and apply the soldering iron to the braid. As the solder melts it gets sucked into the braid. Pull the braid away before the solder hardens again and simply cut off the length of braid that has the solder in it and you're ready to use it again.  Maplins and similar soldering supplies shops sell both of these.
Cheers

[AdamB]

Phil, thank you so much for your help mate!

Just spoke to my friend though, and it turns out he's ordering a BKP in like 2 weeks, so i can start a fresh then and know where everything goes etc etc

I'll get a new volume pot :)

[Philly Q]

Just spoke to my friend though, and it turns out he's ordering a BKP in like 2 weeks, so i can start a fresh then and know where everything goes etc etc

I'll get a new volume pot :)

Sounds good!  :D

Then you can ignore the old wiring, get a good clear diagram and start from scratch.  I think it's best to take time to get really well prepared and know exactly what you're going to do (I'm the slowest person in the world!) - but when you actually solder the connections, take them one at a time and do them quickly and cleanly.  That way nothing melts or gets over-heated and you end up with a nice tidy job.

Sorry, I sound like someone's dad.  

[AdamB]

Thanks again Phil, you've been a great help :D

Pagan7, i'll get some off that copper braid! Thanks mate