So I decided to put a neck mini-bucker in my '69 Thinline RI

[tcarp]

I'd been wanting to do this for a while. The neck rout is exactly just large enough to install an SD mini humbucker without having to hog out a single splinter from the body.

There's no extra wiggle room so I had to spend a lot of time carefully modifying a tortoise guard for an exact fit. Taking my time, 3 cups a coffee and a bunch of cigarettes later, I got it to a pretty darn near perfect drop-in.

I de-soldered the stock neck up, added a drop of solder to strengthen all the existing connections on the cap and 250K pots, and wired up the neck to a standard 3 way configuration.

A good cleaning and a fresh set of string followed....plugged it into my Pro Jr, and lo and behold, nothing....nada...nyet....not a sound.

I've been reading about noiseless pickups, but something tells me this isn't what's meant.

I'm getting the initial plug in buzz from the amp to the jack, so I'm hoping it's just a single broken ground connection somewhere.

Back to square one to find the gremlin.

Tom

[superlightweigh]

a few more cups of coffee and a few more smokes should get you there.

If you have a meter with a continuity tester that might help

[tjalla]

Or perhaps the metal braiding on the mini has contacted the switch, or a 'hot' somewhere. Try getting signal with the control plate removed and all the wires clearly visible and not making erroneous contact. That removable plate is the beauty of working on a tele!

[tcarp]

Or perhaps the metal braiding on the mini has contacted the switch, or a 'hot' somewhere. Try getting signal with the control plate removed and all the wires clearly visible and not making erroneous contact. That removable plate is the beauty of working on a tele!

Now that you mention it, the metal braiding might be the culprit. It was kinda tight soldering the hot lead and finnessing the braid to the pot. Since the pickguard is the control plate on the '69 Thinline, the pots are further away from the neck leads than on a conventional Tele.

I'll give it a look-see...if necessary I can cover the offending braid with electrical tape to avoid switch contact.

Thanks for the tip.

Tom

[tjalla]

didn't read that it was a thinline. Not quite so convenient as the standard control-plate.

The other thing I'd done wrong in the past is overheated where the braid solders to the pot - I must have allow a short there too. A quick snip and resolder fixed that.

Good luck!