Tele Problems. Is it the pickups, the wiring or what?

[Lerb21]

Here's the little pic I made to help visualize the problem



Here's the problem: My neck pup makes noise but the bridge won't.

I have all the wiring completed, the pups are even grounded.

When I put the switch to the any of the positions and put the neck pickup wire into either place (bridge or neck) on the PC board it works.

When I do the same exact thing with the bridge pickup it makes absolutely no noise.

I'm beginning to think the bridge pup may be bad.


I'll make a video if it would help illustrate the problem better.

[caytele]

looks like the pickup..if the neck works ..and the bridge does'nt when connected to the same place...use your meter on the ohms setting and see whether the pickup is 'open circuited' (very high numerical reading, or a single '1', or 'short circuited'(displaying zeros '000').Either of those states means that your pickup is kaput!!...If it is ok, then the reading should be anywhere between 5.0 kohms to 11.00 kohms ...

[Fatmanstratman]

Lerb21, I'm not 100% sure about your diagram - I thought you had a MIM Standard?

Anyway, the wiring diagram should be something like this:



If yours isn't wired up the same, you might need to take another look before simply discarding the pickup - it may be fine. I've NEVER had a pickup die on me yet!

[Lerb21]

Originally Posted by Fatmanstratman

Lerb21, I'm not 100% sure about your diagram - I thought you had a MIM Standard?

Anyway, the wiring diagram should be something like this:



If yours isn't wired up the same, you might need to take another look before simply discarding the pickup - it may be fine. I've NEVER had a pickup die on me yet!

No, I've never owned a MIM standard...

This is Korean Lite Ash... I'm using my own wiring diagram... CBS Bakersfield Wiring that I got from Don Mare.

I've done ALL of the wiring myself.


I'm putting USA '62 Custom Tele pups in it... in addition to swapping out every piece of hardware so that the only original parts are the screws, body, neck, and pickguard.

The pup is/was dead... I have another '62 Custom pup that I put in and it worked just fine.

The only bad part is that two of the prongs on the PC board switch busted off so I need a new switch.... damn!

I've been having a lot of trouble soldering this particular guitar... most because I've been using solder that's meant to go join pieces of bronze pipe! I need some thin solder that I don't have to push with the iron.

[Fatmanstratman]

Originally Posted by Lerb21

The only bad part is that two of the prongs on the PC board switch busted off so I need a new switch....

What are you referring to when you say "PC Board" in both of your posts?...

Are we talking about your Pickup Selector Switch?

If we are, and you have one like THIS:



I would recommend that you invest a few dollars (probably less than $10???) and fit one of the much better quality and more reliable CRL switches while you are doing your upgrades:



I can't help you with your wiring diagram because you haven't shown which terminals on your switch you have connected the pickup wires to, but if you have grounded the pickup correctly onto the back of the volume pot, then as you say you should be able to get some sound out of it when you try connecting it to the various terminals on the switch.

Too many "maybe's" and "what if's" with the info you have provided. A pic showing the connections would be worth a thousand words....

[Lerb21]

Fatmanstratman



This is the kind of switch that came in the Lite Ash Telecaster Stock. 8 on one side of switch instead of 4 on each side.



This is the wiring diagram I was using.

I made some adjustments because we've got two different switch types.


The thing is that I soldered the new bridge pup in EXACTLY as I had the other one and it functioned just fine until I busted the ends off of the switch.

[olaftheholy]

Jesus christ Clint, get a goddemn CRL switch and some decent solder, you know better then that!

Stop with the ghetto-antics and pay some respect to yer telecasters!!!!

[Tonetele]

I agree with Fatmanstratman. Get a Fender or CRL switch and start again using the diagrams supplied. Every time I come across a Megaswitch, which can 7, 8 or more lugs I end up with pickups working off the selection blah, blah, blah. Go back to how they were meant to be. Check the rout depth as Megaswitches are generally shallower and you may just have to chisel a little to fit a manual switch in. Cheers from Aus. Tonetele.

[Scotland]

The switch you have is nothing more than a cheap toy so like others have said, if you want it done properly, get a proper switch.

[Lerb21]

GUYS

The switch is not the issue.

I know. It's broken and it won't work now anyway.

My biggest concern is that my PICKUP IS DEAD.

[Scotland]

Originally Posted by Lerb21

GUYS

The switch is not the issue.

I know. It's broken and it won't work now anyway.

My biggest concern is that my PICKUP IS DEAD.

Check it with a meter.

[Fatmanstratman]

Originally Posted by Lerb21

My biggest concern is that my PICKUP IS DEAD.

Lerb21 - out of curiosity - where did you get this pickup from? Did you buy it from a friend? Has it been in and out of lots of guitars? Was it carefully wrapped up when you got hold of it, or just handed to you "naked" with the leads wrapped around it?

Do you know that it was definitely working when you got it? If so, have you touched the windings in any way (especially where the ends are tied off through the bobbin (VERY delicate area!).

I just can't fathom WHY it should suddenly go bad - if decent pickups are handled perfectly they should last a lifetime - especially a USA '62 Custom pickup. I could understand a cheapo Chinese repro being a little suspect, but there should be no REASON for yours to "die" if it has been handled properly.

If you bought it on eBay, you're probably stuffed ("caveat emptor" and all that...). I bought a set of Rio Grandes via eBay - "hardly used" was the description, along with "worked fine last time I played the guitar". I took the guy at his word and bought them - BOTH dead on arrival.

I contacted the seller who advised that they had been "professionally removed" by a tech when he was "upgrading the guitar", so they MUST have been ok. Yeah, right....

He suggested that I had "wired them up wrongly" causing the AMP to "blow them up"....

I filed a complaint but eBay didn't want to know. They even removed the negative feedback I left for him as they said I didn't have any evidence that they were dead on arrival.....

A harsh lesson learned. Unless I know where any "used" pickups have come from, I give 'em a wide berth. Cheaper to buy new in the long run....

If you bought yours from someone you know, start asking him some serious questions.

[Strat62]

As has been said-take a look at the base of the pickup where the coil wires attach to the leads. It's not hard to break these very fine wires with a little mishandling, and you should be able to see it if they are. If you're careful, you can fix this, by carefully unwrapping the coil covering, and unwinding one turn of the broken wire, giving you enough to resolder it to the lead, but for god's sake get some decent solder. You're not going to fix anything by using stuff that causes you to break off terminals.