My apologies if this has been covered before. I have made my own no load pot as described in numerous places on the net. I have done this mod and was wondering whether or not it should be soldered to stage one of the switch or stage two? I bought the pick ups a couple of years ago and moved, and then became a dad so I'm only just getting round to wiring them in. I have Custom Shop Abigail Ybarra 69 specials. It would appear to me that one is dead - anyone know if the custom shop people would oblige me with a new one??

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I should never have sold my Twin Reverb

Whats the problem with the blend pot?

The no load control usually goes to the middle and bridge pickups tone control. But you can wire it to the neck pickup if you want.

As for the pickup. Give em a try, worst they can say is no. Myself I think they will and you should look for someone who repairs pickups.

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No no and no

Hi Jack_Frankenstrat,

I am confused. What are you doing, a neck/bridge blend pot, or a no-load tone pot, or both? As far as the pickup being "dead", I would check the resistance of the pickup to see if it is the pickup, or possibly a wiring mistake.

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

How handy are you with a multimeter and a soldering iron?

Often, the problem may just be a cold solder joint at the eyelets of the pickup.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

I was just curious as to whether the blend pot should be soldered to exactly the same lug as the pickups or whether or not they should be soldered to the corresponding lugs on the other side of the switch??

I have fixed the pickup!!! I re-flowed the solder whilst it was hooked upto a multi meter - just like this video showed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbEoeZFy37w
So cool to watch the meter flickering to life!

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I should never have sold my Twin Reverb

Hi Shimmilou,

It's a neck/bridge blend pot. Master volume, master tone and a blend pot.

Orvilleowner - I saw your reply after I had sent my original reply - it was indeed the issue. This is the first time I have ever taken a soldering iron to a pickup! Scary stuff. Seeing that meter flicker to life was so rewarding. I have saved myself £30 at least by not having to send it to Wizard pickups to fix!! It baffled me as the pickup had given readings when I bought the set. In fact the one that was dead was originally a replacement because when I bought the set, one was absolutely dead - the fine wire that goes to the eyelet was broken. Eventually the company I bought the set from begrudgingly sent me a replacement and told me to hang onto the dead one. I may well get it fixed and sell it on - worth doing?

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I should never have sold my Twin Reverb

Yes, initially scary. But you had nothing to lose! I'm glad that's all it was.



Sure it's worth trying to fix it yourself. Depending on which end of the wire is broken, you may be able to unwind some wire and re-solder it up. That can be done at the "end" of the coil, usually the wire going to the right eyelet (is it a Fender pickup?). If it's the "start" of the coil, it may be impossible to unwind because the wire goes under and has the rest of the coil on top of it. In that case you gotta try to splice some wire in, which can be tricky.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Orvilleowner - I'm not entirely sure which wire is broken (from memory it may be both) I shall have to dig it out and have a look. Grafting on a piece sounds like a nightmare! I'd need magnifying eyes! Lol It's a project for another day! I love the license plate on your signature, very cool indeed. Is that actually a real license plate?

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I should never have sold my Twin Reverb

That was indeed a real license plate. From my first car ... the plate is even naturally reliced!

Anyway, I just watched some of that YouTube video you linked above. It's very good -- that's what I was trying to say in my last post. There's only one thing: the pickup he's using for an example is not a Fender pickup (it looks like a DiMarzio to me). Fender pickups are all wound the other direction around the coil (Mike Eldred recently confirmed this in his section of the Forum). Just keep that in mind.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

That's SO cool!

I've finally got the wiring together, the blend works with the neck but, when the blend pot is in the off position the bridge pickup is silent. Turn the blend it comes back - is this normal? Where have I gone wrong?

I used this for the master tone master volume: http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wi ... s_1v_1t_5w

and this for the blend!! Help!

http://www.lilypix.com/photos/data/71ad ... p38899.jpg

btw i used star grounding which has worked a treat, could this be down to the earth on the outside lug of the blend pot?


Any more enlightened folk are free to comment!

Thanks in advance.

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I should never have sold my Twin Reverb

Welcome!

Post a few CLEAR pictures as we'd only be guessing from this point on.

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You dig?

I'll have to get onto pictures tomorrow martian, thanks. I'll never get a sharp picture in this light. I may have solved the problem - the bridge connection from the blend pot has to go to stage two of the switch not both hooked upto stage one as I have done. I don't know why I didn't find this before I started, I spent enough time looking into it! Lol

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showth ... ?p=9265524

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I should never have sold my Twin Reverb

Well, hopefully you did but if you didn't, we'll be here!

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You dig?

I purchased and installed a fender blend pot a few years ago, it came with wiring instructions. When the pot is turrned to 10 it puts all the pickup in normal strat operation. As you adjust the pot to 1 it blends the neck pickup with the bridge pickup. On 5 you have abut equal neck and bridge pickup on. When using the switch position 2 and 4 you are using the middle pickup with neck or bridge. So with the blender on5 and the switch on 2 or 4 you are using all 3 pickups. Very versitle pot. Also, if you use an amp with 2 interactive volume pots you can more different sounds that you know what to do with.

Well, after a week it's all done!! Lol (I can only solder when my 6 month old son is in bed!!) After extensive tapping on poles I stuck it all together, cleaned and strung the guitar. Now, after all test proved all was fine I keep getting an intermittent problem whereby the volume drops to about half volume on usually the neck pickup and neck middle. When the switch is knocked to middle there's a volume jump. I "solved" the issue a couple of times now by giving the guitar a shake in one instance and banging the back against my thigh in another. Is this saying cold joint?? Or something causing a short - a rogue piece of snipped wire or perhaps the insulation in the body?? Tbh the pickguard ain't coming off till it's time to re-string! I'll get a picture on here tomorrow! Looks great - sounds great for the most part too!

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I should never have sold my Twin Reverb