In my strat, I actually got a new pickup selector, made in Germany, distributed by StewMac.

Someone I know wired it a little bit differently, which is why I think my Neck pickup only works, and in the bridge position the bridge/middle pickups are activated. That's all. Only two positions work.

He wired it so that the neck ground goes to the volume, the middle ground goes to the silver lug on the pickup selector (which by the way says not to be used in the wiring diagram provided), and the bridge ground to the middle tone, and the middle ground on the silver lug is connected to where the bridge ground is, and all of these grounds are connected to each other and to the bridge block ground.

If you can actually organize in your mind what I have said...great. My question is: should he have not wired the ground leads in this way, and soldered them to the volume pot; or is the selector bad, because I remember that some of the lugs were a little loose and wiggled. Everything else is the same (the hot wires were soldered to where they normally are; other than what I said, it's all the same). All the ground wires are parallel and connected to each other.

Thanks.


-The Screamin' J

_________________
CURRENT RIG:
2008 Squier bullet stratocaster modified with Rumpelstiltskin pickups -> Dunlop GCB-95 Original Crybaby -> Fender Vibro Champ XD

"Could you take the stain from this pair of pants, and put in on this pair of pants?"

*BUMP*

If you know the answer and you're not Martian, please, say the answer.


-The Screamin' J

_________________
CURRENT RIG:
2008 Squier bullet stratocaster modified with Rumpelstiltskin pickups -> Dunlop GCB-95 Original Crybaby -> Fender Vibro Champ XD

"Could you take the stain from this pair of pants, and put in on this pair of pants?"

haha!! I think most of us defer to Martian.
He really is oour resident expert. I wish I could help ya, but you are probably best served waiting for him to see this.

But maybe post some pictures.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Sorry if this is sloppy. This is basically what my guitar is.


-The Screamin' J

_________________
CURRENT RIG:
2008 Squier bullet stratocaster modified with Rumpelstiltskin pickups -> Dunlop GCB-95 Original Crybaby -> Fender Vibro Champ XD

"Could you take the stain from this pair of pants, and put in on this pair of pants?"

Gee, I feel like a celebrity!

Don't worry, we'll get you up and running but first off, what is the exact model of that switch as there are several variations of them.

Second, I can't make heads or tails out of your picture, it is too small and blurry.

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You dig?

Well, it is an 'S' model mega switch. If you look on Stew Mac's website, you will see that it has a box-y shape to it, but the one I got is curved like a semi-circle; it is similar to an Am. Std. switch.

My question to you is: is it okay that the ground leads from the pickups were in all different places, not in one place?

Neck-volume pot
Middle-silver lug on the switch
Bridge-Middle tone pot

All of them are connected to the string ground.

Thanks.


-The Screamin' J

_________________
CURRENT RIG:
2008 Squier bullet stratocaster modified with Rumpelstiltskin pickups -> Dunlop GCB-95 Original Crybaby -> Fender Vibro Champ XD

"Could you take the stain from this pair of pants, and put in on this pair of pants?"

In context of your question, the ground leads placed in your various locations are irrelevant, contrary to many players' insistence that they must be, "Star Grounded". Sparing you all the technical details, "Star Grounding" is mandatory in amplifier applications, not with passive guitar circuits. In guitars though, all grounds being brought to say, the volume pot is a neater, more organized and outright more professional way of doing things. To have them haphazardly all over the place like you've described, invites error as there are too many wires going in too many directions on too many levels for visual continuity.

Having said that, onto your pickup selections.

If I were you, I'd totally unwire that switch and start over. Remove any blobs of solder and check that the switch itself is not damaged from excess heat.

Premising the switch is a 'go', connect all your grounds first. Solder them ALL to the back of your volume pot. Incidentally, that unused big silver lug on the switch is for a ground wire if the back of your pickguard is not foiled. Running a wire from that lug to the back of your volume pot would ground the switch with the rest of the guitar's circuit.

Follow the switch's instructions, rewiring the terminals in their numerical order. Remember, "Slow and steady wins the race".

To ensure you don't have any problems along the way, as you solder each pickup and/or each pot to the switch, test it immediately thereafter to verify it is working properly before you go any further.

If you get stuck, just yell!

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You dig?

Thanks man, I can always count on you.

The only reason he didn't solder all of them to the back of the volume pot is because the middle pickup wires have the hot ad ground leads all tied up into one wire, so it can be very difficult to split them at the end for one to go to the lug and one to the volume pot. But I guess it is possible.

So is it okay if the contacts wiggle a little bit? Is it possible to fix it? And how do I check if the switch is fried or something like that?


-The Screamin' J

_________________
CURRENT RIG:
2008 Squier bullet stratocaster modified with Rumpelstiltskin pickups -> Dunlop GCB-95 Original Crybaby -> Fender Vibro Champ XD

"Could you take the stain from this pair of pants, and put in on this pair of pants?"

Anytime.

The contacts can wiggle a LITTLE but if they are flopping all over the place, chances are you're going to have shorts even before the switch's lever is manipulated. It is possible to fix but not if the switch's components are burned up or too warped from heat.

To see if the switch is good, first and foremost, you'd have to understand how the switch works. In other words, what terminal or terminals are activated when the lever of the switch is thrown into a given position. A Volt-Ohm Meter (VOM) (aka, multimeter) set for continuity is the industry standard. With the VOM, you'd literally test every terminal with the switch in every position. There are other 'primitive' ways such as wiring only the switch itself to the jack and then touching each terminal with your finger as you put the lever of the switch through its paces. If a given terminal buzzes with your finger's touch, then you know that terminal works.

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You dig?

You know the one thing that you can not do is make it so the the grounds create a ground loop. A path in which the ground can continue around its own path as a continuios lnk.

Amps won't even get into them and two point stars.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

This is DC voltage and consequently, it wouldn't apply. Besides the voltage is quite minimal any way. Further, as each pot is linked to the other via a ground wire and foil there would be virtually no potential for such an occurrence.

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You dig?

Pots are hooked in series along a single path to ground.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Yea, and?

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You dig?

My point was when people start running grounds from different points to multiple pots is like asking for possible ground loops. I don't care if its AC/DC or what not ground loops are not good for chance noise.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Now I see your point. As a standard operating procedure, I agree.

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You dig?