Author Topic: trouble with wiring (Read 5537 times)

maliciousteve · « **on:** May 24, 2006, 03:46:06 PM »

Hey guys i had some free time today (working too much lately) and i had a go at installing my Holy Diver set into my RG. Now i installed the bridge pickup fine. Sounds great and is properly wired.

Now the neck pickup is a bit iffy. When i change pickup selector to the neck position i get hardly any sound. I get a very faint sound coming out but you can't hardly hear it.

I wired the Red wire to the pickup selector tag and the black and bare wire to the back of the volume pot. Leaving the green and white wires insulated. What way should i wire the neck pickup?

PhilKing · « **Reply #1 on:** May 24, 2006, 05:01:25 PM »

Sounds like you might have a dry joint there. The way you wired it is correct.

maliciousteve · « **Reply #2 on:** May 24, 2006, 10:21:50 PM »

what do you mean by dry? do you mean no solder on the wire? because i 'tinned' each wire before joining them to their right places.

PhilKing · « **Reply #3 on:** May 24, 2006, 10:30:44 PM »

No - a dry joint is when the wire moves when the solder is still melted and then it creates a resistance. Usually the joint is dull looking in this case (though not always).

If this doesn't fix it, do you have a multimeter to check the DC? You need to unsolder the red and black wires and measure it across them. You should get about the same reading as on the waranty card.

maliciousteve · « **Reply #4 on:** May 24, 2006, 11:06:28 PM »

Would re-soldering the wires fix this problem?

unfortunatly i don't have a multimeter

PhilKing · « **Reply #5 on:** May 25, 2006, 12:21:30 PM »

Yes - just heat up the joint and let it cool. Try to make sure the wires don't move while it is hot.

maliciousteve · « **Reply #6 on:** May 26, 2006, 11:48:32 AM »

Ok so i had a go at reheating the joints again. But it still didn't work. The same problem occurs.

Is there anything else i can do?

maliciousteve · « **Reply #7 on:** May 26, 2006, 01:26:15 PM »

ok so i wired the pickups the other way round.

Bridge pickup wired to the 5th position on the pickup selector (neck)

and the neck to first.

The problem is still the same. Does it sound like i've buggered up my pickup selector?

rinse_master · « **Reply #8 on:** May 26, 2006, 01:54:42 PM »

Quote from: maliciousteve

ok so i wired the pickups the other way round.

Bridge pickup wired to the 5th position on the pickup selector (neck)

and the neck to first.

The problem is still the same. Does it sound like i've buggered up my pickup selector?

Possibly, I did the same when I re-wired my RG, they are probably flimsy switches to start with but my soldering finished it off

PhilKing · « **Reply #9 on:** May 26, 2006, 03:40:58 PM »

Check the pickup by just soldering the red to where your bridge pickup is wired. Or you could just solder a jack directly onto the pickup wires to test it (the black and screen go to the ring, and the red to the tip.

fps_dean · « **Reply #10 on:** June 07, 2006, 09:06:42 PM »

Quote from: maliciousteve

Would re-soldering the wires fix this problem?

unfortunatly i don't have a multimeter

I had this problem when I installed my current set of pickups into the LP. I accidentally melted part of the plastic wire casing off the wire running from the pickup selector switch to the volume pot, enough that the wire could touch the volume pot and cause it to have almost no volume sometimes, essentially grounding the hot wire of the pickup. Shaking the guitar would fix it for a little while. There is not much extra slack on the wire so it won't stay too far away from the pot. A little bit of black electrical tape solved this...

How I identified the problem was to take the cover off the back compartment and I couldn't tell if I actually melted enough of the wire sleeve by looking at it, but when I pulled the wire away from the pot, it worked fine so I knew what the problem was.