Need Help with my Neck Pup rewired for a 4 Way Switch

[Jerry J]

I'm in the final stages of setting up another Partscaster - this one is a DB Sunburst Custom Tele.

Until this build, I've never had a problem wiring any of my previous Tele builds. I must have been tired assembling this one because I had grounding problems and the Neck Pup did not work.

For the first problem, I had reversed the leads on the jack and it is now fixed.

However, my Neck Pup still does not work. I used a '52RI which I lifted the ground wire and added a new ground lead so it would work with the four way switch.

I think I've isolated my problem to a defective Pup because when I measured the resistance it registered in 2.5M - 3M range instead of 6.5k - 8.5k range of all my other pickups.

Is there a short in the Pup? Did I screw something up adding the new lead? Can it be easily fixed?

BTW, the bridge Pup is my favorite of all times - a '62RI. It works fine and sounds like it should - bright and full of twang! So right now, I have an Esquire but I really want to fix the neck issue ASAP.

[sjtalon]

Originally Posted by Jerry J

Is there a short in the Pup? Did I screw something up adding the new lead? Can it be easily fixed?

That is a realy low reading.

Take a real close look at the solder points on the pickup were the TINY coil wires attach. Even re-solder them, all the heat doing the extra wire deal might have messed up a connection. Those tiny wires are wrapped though a hole in the bobbin but the solder joint to the lead wire could be bad.

Do a good inspection of the solder areas around the tab of the shield ( that jumper wire area) as they may still be touching (in contact) with the tiny negative coil wire.

Note "A" on the bottom of the page from this link:

http://www.guitar-mod.com/rg_4wayinfo.html

[Jerry J]

Thanks for the advice. Yes, I agree with you - it's an extremely low reading. However, are you saying those tiny coil wires should still be connected to Point 'A' where the black wire is or should they not be? There are a couple of strands that seem to wrap around from the topside of the bobbin to the bottom of the bobbin (in the front of the pickup). I noticed them with my magnifying glass. They're hard to see even with it.

FWIW, even the white lead has the wires wrap around the pickup from top to bottom.

[sjtalon]

The area near "A" is a tab of the shield (cover) that comes through a bobbin hole with solder on it. That's were your new ground wire should be

The bare wire by "C" was a jumper from the coil negative wire (black) so that when the pickup is hooked up with a 3 way switch, everything (pickup neg and cover) gets grounded.

When you wire a 4 way, you ran both the pos (white) and neg (black) pickup coil wires to the switch.

For the pickup to work with the 4 way wiring, this bare jumper wire by "C" needs to be cut. It cannot have contact with the pickup coil wire.

[Jerry J]

Let me ask the question in another way - are you saying that my new ground lead may still be connected to my old ground (black) lead? I checked continuity and I don't think that's the case but I will check again when I get home.

ANYBODY??

[Jerry J]

Oh, I'm with you now!

To answer you, yes I clipped the old jumper wire and added the a new ground wire. And I checked with my meter to make sure that there wasn't continuity between the negative lead and the ground lead.

I guess I hosed this pup and will need to get a replacement.

Thanks for your help!

[sjtalon]

If you zoom in on this picture:

http://www.rainbowguitars.com/images...1102421-xl.jpg

The white and black wires come up from the bottom through the bobbin and go through their repective holes with each respective tiny coil winding wire and are soldered together there. Make sure this is all good in these contact areas.

[Jerry J]

Thanks for the help - it's really difficult for me to tell if those extremely tiny wires are connected WITHOUT an electron microscope with these 53 year old eyes...

However, as far as I can tell, they look fine. Perhaps tomorrow morning in the bright sunlight I can tell better.

If I keep taking too much time with this, I have a SD neck pup from another build that I won't get to until the spring. I'll just use it without modifying it for the four way switch while I sort out this problem.

[sjtalon]

sounds good ( well actually not)


keep us posted