Telecaster

[themachine187]

I'm sure you guys get a lot of this....have a telecaster i built with a single on the bridge and humbucker at the neck. 1 volume, 1 tone, push pull to split the humbucker and 3 way. I used the SD wiring diagram. I plug it in and nothing. If I jump either pickup hot to the jack, it sounds fine. Suggestions to trouble shoot?

[ItsaBass]

I plug it in and nothing. If I jump either pickup hot to the jack, it sounds fine.

Sounds like you have isolated the problem already. Some wire, somewhere between the pickups and the jack.

Kind of joking, kind of serious, though. I would just look for bad solder joints, and double check the wiring on the push/pull switch. Start with the easy things, like the jack solders and the pickup ground solders, and work your way toward the more complex wiring, like the switches. Retest after repairing each solder joint, so you can see what the problem was.

Do you have a pic of the underside of the control plate that you can post?

[themachine187]

here you go:


I don't see anything different form the SD diagram. Solder joints are all ok. They are CTS pots and switchkrafts, so all good hardware. I guess I'll dig out the meter....

[stratsandaks]

Your solder joints look cold on the back of the push pull and on the tone pot. Did you rough the surface of those areas up with sandpaper before you soldered them? The solder should be silver and smooth when you're done, not gray and rough. The trick is to get a good surface to solder to and get it hot to allow the solder to flow.

Hope this helps

[Chris of Arabia]

What's that on the back of the control plate? As stratsandaks says, the soldering looks a little on the rough side. I'd start with that and just check the wiring against the diagram one more time.

[ItsaBass]

I agree that the wiring/soldering looks rough. Also, that switch looks like an ultra cheapo sealed unit, and the push/pull switch looks like it is damaged and/or poorly made (sides look pushed out).

The insulation looks a bit mangled on some of the wires. Do you have any cloth-insulated push-back wire? IMO, its actually easier to learn on, and can look much neater if done well.

I'd look up some basic soldering practices online or at a library. Little, basic things go a long way with soldering. It also just takes lots of practice at first. Bang some little nails into a board and get a bag of cheap components and some wire to practice. Tiny alligator clamps can help free up a spare hand (and they also keep the joints nice and still as they are cooling, which is important). Sometimes eye loupes are helpful as well. And good lighting, of course.

[octavedoctor]

Switch looks like a Jag/Jazzmaster (nope - Mustang/Jagstang) slide to me. You need to get a meter and check the signal path between the switch output and the volume input, the volume input and output and the volume output then the volume output and the jack. Start by checking the whole signal path between the switch and the jack and work the probe down each contact until you lose continuity.

I don't like the look of the way you have that switch wired either. Looks wrong to me.

When you plug the guitar in does the amp hum or is it totally silent, like it's switched off? If it's making a noise then you have a break m the signal path and the amp is seeing an open circuit. If its silent then you have a short in the wiring.

When I get home I'll work out how that switch should be wired.

[octavedoctor]

Addendum to previous post

90% certain the problem is the way you have wired the switch. At the moment it's not doing anything. There is no connection between the signal input wires and the output wire.

Imagine the terminal numbered 1 through 8, clockwise from left. You have pins 8, 7, 3 and 4 wired to the output. Bridge pickup is coming in at pin 1 but goes nowhere because pin 2 is not connected to anything. Same thing is happening with the neck pickup.

Try this. Remove the connection between pins 8 and 7, pins 3 and 4. Keep the connection between 7 and 3 but move the output wire to either 7 or 3. Move the neck pickup signal wire to 8 and the bridge pickup signal to 4. That ought to do it, but I am just guessing...

[octavedoctor]

Another addendum

Sorry, that's wrong. Need to keep the signal wires at 1 and 5 and connect pins 2 and 7 and pins 3 and 6.

I think...

[octavedoctor]

Sorry, don't think either of those ideas will actually work. Ignore me. Just thinking aloud.

[octavedoctor]

OK. Think I've got it now.

Connect pins 1, 7, 3, 5. Take the neck pickup signal wire to pin 2 and the bridge pickup signal wire to pin 6. This should give you Neck, neck plus bridge, bridge only.

Output wire goes from either 1, 7, 3 or 5.

[octavedoctor]

OK, my final word on this, if the switch is what i think it is - a Mustang/Jagstang 3-way then this is how it should be wired. At the moment it looks as though you have it wired as a 3-way cranked rotary and I've never seen one with that configuration. Here is the picture. The green line is showing the path taken by the signal in each position

[Bludave]

Or....... take it to a tech!

[~Vintage~]

I was suspecting cold solder joints at first glance.

[octavedoctor]

I was suspecting cold solder joints at first glance.

The soldering ain't great for sure, but that switch won't work the way he has it wired. It's one of these bad boys, I can see it.

[themachine187]

I just logged on and thanks for all the replies. The soldering is a bit shoddy because my iron is almost burned out, I really need to get another. Therre's only a small spot on it now that gets hot enough to melt solder. The joints are all solid though. As some of you have already sussed, it's the switch. It doesn't conenct side to side, just along each side as it slides. It took some head scratching in the shed with the meter but I came up with the same wiring configuration as the dcotor above. I'll give it a try tonight. Also, the switches aren't cheap ones. It's a Switchkraft, as is the jack, and the pots are CTS.

Also, somewhat unrelated question. I have a hollowbody I just put PAFs in (it came to me with no pickups in it). It hums like crazy, but if I jump the bridge and tremolo to the pot housing the hum is significantly reduced. Is there a sneaky way to ground them inside the body?

[~Vintage~]

I just logged on and thanks for all the replies. The soldering is a bit shoddy because my iron is almost burned out, I really need to get another. Therre's only a small spot on it now that gets hot enough to melt solder. The joints are all solid though. As some of you have already sussed, it's the switch. It doesn't conenct side to side, just along each side as it slides. It took some head scratching in the shed with the meter but I came up with the same wiring configuration as the dcotor above. I'll give it a try tonight. Also, the switches aren't cheap ones. It's a Switchkraft, as is the jack, and the pots are CTS.

Also, somewhat unrelated question. I have a hollowbody I just put PAFs in (it came to me with no pickups in it). It hums like crazy, but if I jump the bridge and tremolo to the pot housing the hum is significantly reduced. Is there a sneaky way to ground them inside the body?

Yeah, run a dedicated ground from a pot casing to the bridge or trem claw.
Good luck!!!

[themachine187]

Easier said than done. here's what it looks like:


I could drill tiny holes and run them to the topside, or maybe use the mounting screws?

[octavedoctor]

Easier said than done. here's what it looks like:


I could drill tiny holes and run them to the topside, or maybe use the mounting screws?

The trapeze will have a screw or three fixing it to the end block. Take the trapeze off and drill through one of the holes into the end block. Strip back a couple of inches of insulation from some single core patch wire and thread it through the hole to the inside of the guitar then put the trap back on with the bare wire sandwiched between the trap bracket and the end block. Solder the other end to a convenient pot. Simple job. You may need to scrape some of the black plating off where it contacts the wire as black chrome or enamel can cause connection problems.

The wiring diagram I posted for your switch is definitely the correct configuration, I am 110% certain of it.