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Post subject: Pickup trouble shooting...help!!
Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 5:50 pm
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I just recently made some changes on an old squire i had, i thought "well since i have a good fender strat, why not see if i can fix up this old squire" so i got the 69' Custom Shop pickups for it and replaced the neck with a MIM Fender neck, everything went in fine, and the pickups work but heres my problem, i get no variation in the sound from the 3rd, 4th, and 5th positions and very little from the 2nd and 3rd, and i was wondering if i may have just soldered wrong, installed them wrong or maybe the switch is messed up, any help and suggestions will be much appreciated! Thanks!


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Post subject: Re: Pickup trouble shooting...help!!
Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 6:29 pm
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spacepenguin89 wrote:
I just recently made some changes on an old squire i had, i thought "well since i have a good fender strat, why not see if i can fix up this old squire" so i got the 69' Custom Shop pickups for it and replaced the neck with a MIM Fender neck, everything went in fine, and the pickups work but heres my problem, i get no variation in the sound from the 3rd, 4th, and 5th positions and very little from the 2nd and 3rd, and i was wondering if i may have just soldered wrong, installed them wrong or maybe the switch is messed up, any help and suggestions will be much appreciated! Thanks!


Welcome.

A messed up switch wouldn't give you these results; it is probably wired wrong. Review whichever schematic you are using vs. your wiring and if you still can't figure out what is wrong, post a picture of your switch's wiring.

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Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 8:01 pm
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So i looked back over the wires, and as far as i can tell i put them in right but im not really sure.... the first wire is the the bridge, the second is the middle, and the third is the neck

Image

http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/ ... 02DPg2.pdf


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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:15 am
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From what I can deduce from the picture:

Your soldering has caused excess heat to and excess solder on all terminals you've worked on.

More detail: It appears that your neck and bridge pickup terminals on the switch are fried, there is solder bridging the terminals between your neck and middle pickup and although I see blobs of solder, I don't see a firm connection tying in both sides of the switch (center terminals at the red wire).

Please don't take this sarcastically or demeaning as we are all here to help and we all had to start somewhere too: Before proceeding any further, I urgently recommend you first practice a bit more on your soldering skills on scrap parts. Next, trash that existing switch as it is now somewhat, "tired". Replace it with one like this:

http://cdn3.ioffer.com/img/item/794/089/81/fender5.jpg

And wire it per this diagram:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wi ... s_1v_2t_5w

If you get stuck again, just yell. Good luck.

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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:03 am
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Thanks alot for the help, i am just getting started into all this so I really appreciate any kind of help or tips i can get anywhere.

The red green and yellow wires were already soldered on there and all i had done was put the pickups in, and then as i was looking back over the wiring diagram i noticed that the switch did look different. But I did kinda figure it was the soldering as its been YEARS since Ive soldered anything, but i will defiantly do what you said and ill let you know how it goes, thanks a bunch!


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Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:47 am
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spacepenguin89 wrote:
Thanks alot for the help, i am just getting started into all this so I really appreciate any kind of help or tips i can get anywhere.

The red green and yellow wires were already soldered on there and all i had done was put the pickups in, and then as i was looking back over the wiring diagram i noticed that the switch did look different. But I did kinda figure it was the soldering as its been YEARS since Ive soldered anything, but i will defiantly do what you said and ill let you know how it goes, thanks a bunch!


You're quite welcome.

Remember, practice first and then, TAKE YOUR TIME.

Definitely, get back to us!!

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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 3:12 pm
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Ok, so i got the new switch, put it in soldered all the wires on, I took my time and relaxed and it went MUCH better and i checked and all of the pups work but now i have more of a hum than normal and im not sure what it is, any ideas?


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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 3:47 pm
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spacepenguin89 wrote:
Ok, so i got the new switch, put it in soldered all the wires on, I took my time and relaxed and it went MUCH better and i checked and all of the pups work but now i have more of a hum than normal and im not sure what it is, any ideas?


It could be anything from the normal 60 cycle hum from that particular pickup set vs. your OEM set to a crossed or missing ground wire in your guitar to faulty house wiring or any one of a hundred things in between.

Here are some thoughts in no particular order:

Is your pickguard and/or your guitar shielded at all?

Verify all wiring is correct and that ALL your components are securely grounded. Ensure that there are no stray wire strands where they shouldn't ought to be. Also check that your output jack wires are not reversed (this is a very common mistake, believe it or not).

Stay away from any kind of florescent lights and your computer while the guitar is plugged in. Try plugging your amp into a wall socket where other heavy duty electrical appliances (such as a refrigerator, etc.) aren't sharing that circuit.

Don't stay too close to your amp, avoid using cheap patch cables or have the guitar running through any preamps as any and all will ramp up the noise.

Get the sledge hammer. (Only kidding!)

Beyond this, there are many discussions here about how to suppress hum in Strats, Teles, etc. You'd have to do a search on it. However, if you still have questions, please feel free to ask!

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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 5:59 pm
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Ok, thanks again, and forgive my inexperience, but i do appreciate the advice and help, i think maybe as far as the hum goes its more along the lines of being paranoid that Im not doing something right and just paying more attention to the noise.

I'm sure ill be back with other guitar repair questions later but until then thanks for the help!!


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Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2009 6:08 pm
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spacepenguin89 wrote:
Ok, thanks again, and forgive my inexperience, but i do appreciate the advice and help, i think maybe as far as the hum goes its more along the lines of being paranoid that Im not doing something right and just paying more attention to the noise.

I'm sure ill be back with other guitar repair questions later but until then thanks for the help!!


You're quite welcome and NO apology is necessary.

Please feel free to ask any questions you may have and even if you don't have any, don't be a stranger!

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