Botched pickup installation...Help!

[Ted]

So I installed my Miracle Men set in my Korina V last night. Completely rewired the damn thing, new pots and capacitor.

Anyhoow...finished it all midnight last night only to find (after restringing  :x ) only the bridge pickup works!

When selector switch is in middle and neck position....no sound  :x

Without a gut shot of the electronics anyone had a similar problem?

My thoughts are:

1. Could it be a short?!
2. Knackared switch?

Any help and advice greatfully received!  

Thanks Ted,

PS I found it really difficult to ground braided wires to the back of pots  :x, even with a 40 watt iron.

[Twinfan]

Some sort of short?  Is your braided wiring completely clear of the switch/pots/jack????

[Ted]

Some sort of short?  Is your braided wiring completely clear of the switch/pots/jack????

No its not. I didn't trim the pickup wires...god knows why not...

It could be the case. Would braided wire short the pots or the switch?

Its a pretty tight squeeze in there, with all the bits of braided wire I used to wire the switch to the pots.

[Twinfan]

Yep, it's a squeeze and the braided wire has caused shorts for me before.  Use some masking tape to tie them out of the way and make sure they're not touching anything.

Let us know if that works  ;)

[PhilKing]

Braid will short out anytime it touches another wire, since it is the ground.  Gibson used to cover the lead out to the jack with a tube to stop shorting.  

I know it's a bit late for you now, but when you change pickups or do any rewiring, check it with a screwdriver before you put the guitar back together, it will save a lot of time.

[Ted]

Braid will short out anytime it touches another wire, since it is the ground.  Gibson used to cover the lead out to the jack with a tube to stop shorting.  

I know it's a bit late for you now, but when you change pickups or do any rewiring, check it with a screwdriver before you put the guitar back together, it will save a lot of time.

$%&# bollocks shite  

[Ted]

Guys can I use heatshrink to insulate braided wire, or is electrical tape better?

[PhilKing]

Heatshrink is great. Electrical tape is not as good, but works.

[Philly Q]

Agreed, heatshrink is great, but it will make the cable quite inflexible - which can be a pain when space is limited.  You only need to use it on the bits where the braid might touch another wire or one of the pot tags, it doesn't matter if it touches a ground point.

[Ted]

Agreed, heatshrink is great, but it will make the cable quite inflexible - which can be a pain when space is limited.  You only need to use it on the bits where the braid might touch another wire or one of the pot tags, it doesn't matter if it touches a ground point.

I think thats whats happening the braid must be touching another wire or one of the pot tags like you said.

I got a bunch of heatshrink from Maplins just now hopefully will do the trick.

I am sooo desperate to try the guitar with the new pickups, it looks the tits and hopefully will sound the tits!

...only one problem though, the missus has decided to book a ticket to see the frikkin' Pirates of the frikkin' Carribean tonight and to be honest, I'd rather inhale solder fumes than endure 3 hours of that nonsense...

[Ted]

School boy error wiring....

The Bridge pickup wire was shorting out on the neck pickup pot tab....with a bit of electrical tape it now works great. :)

Sounds amazing downtuned a whole step.

Thanks for your help.

[Transcend]

School boy error wiring....

The Bridge pickup wire was shorting out on the neck pickup pot tab....with a bit of electrical tape it now works great. :)

Sounds amazing downtuned a whole step.

Thanks for your help.

Hmm miracle man downtuned to D standard...sounds familiar to what i do :D

isnt korina a lighter type of mahogany???

what styles do you play???

[Transcend]

School boy error wiring....

The Bridge pickup wire was shorting out on the neck pickup pot tab....with a bit of electrical tape it now works great. :)

Sounds amazing downtuned a whole step.

Thanks for your help.

Hmm miracle man downtuned to D standard...sounds similar to what i do :D

isnt korina a lighter type of mahogany???

what styles do you play???

[Ted]

School boy error wiring....

The Bridge pickup wire was shorting out on the neck pickup pot tab....with a bit of electrical tape it now works great. :)

Sounds amazing downtuned a whole step.

Thanks for your help.

Hmm miracle man downtuned to D standard...sounds similar to what i do :D

isnt korina a lighter type of mahogany???

what styles do you play???

Yep it is, but Tim mentioned modern Korina is actually Limba.

I play a lot of groove metal and slow filthy rock. I'm really into Down at the moment. But influences rage from AC/DC to pre 2000 Metallica and Zakk Wylde, I love BLS stuff. I saw Mastodon recently and they rock too. Also if a band is influced by Black Sabbath, I usually love their stuff.

I also have a VHII eqiupped Les Paul and that sounds real heavy too...