Actually I didn’t try the electronics prior to shielding. I went on the process to rebuild the guitar so I didn’t try it without shielding. But on the former version I had no issues and it was not shielded
No sound when grounding bridge
- Thread starter yoan973
- Start date
What do you mean? Do I have to solder the black to the switch and the yello to the ground?
It’s a Nocaster from Fender. The yellow wire is the hot signal and the black is ground no? I checked and I solder the yellow to the switch and the black to the ground… do you think I should reverse it? Because I have a signal when I touch it with my screwdriver as long as it’s not fully in the cavity and untouched by the ground wire
Did you disconnect anything when you did your shielding?
Boreas
Doctor of Teleocity
Try reversing them and see what happens. It is just one more thing to try.
ALSO, when in doubt, make sure your output leads to the output jack are wired and insulated properly, and make sure the jack terminals are not in contact with any shielding.
I'm thinking it's gotta be one of these things. If the bridge pickup wires are switched that would do it maybe? Switches barely clear the body so yes it may be shorting out on that pickup due to contacting the shielding I suppose.
One thing I have found is the shielding doesnt need to be 100% to do a good job. You could just remove it where the switch is.
Boreas
Doctor of Teleocity
Was the bridge pickup used successfully before the shielding process? Does it have a steel/copper plate at the bottom of the pickup? Only two wires leading from it?
Sorry about all of the questions, but without pix, we are just guessing.
Sorry about all of the questions, but without pix, we are just guessing.
No problem with the questions buddy I really appreciate the help. The pickup used to work just fine before all that. It has a zinc steel baseplate if Fender speced it correctly. And only two wires from it.
I will try that, the thing is I can select the pickup properly and there is no issues until I encapsulate the pickup in the bridge cavity flush to the body, in contact with the protruding ground wire
Boreas
Doctor of Teleocity
Another thing you could try, or at least check, is the solder points on the pickup. Any signs of cracks? Cold joints? Flexing the pickup or wires when placing it in the cavity may be breaking a contact point. Again, a continuity tester is your best friend.
Just tried something. I took the pickup off the bridge, removed the tape surrounding the coil of the pickup and make it rest on the body. I touch it with the screwdriver and I have a sound (pop actually) and I make the ground touch the bridge on the other side and still have sound on the pickup with no hum.
eallen
Friend of Leo's
It would help significantly to include pics of your wiring from a few angles.
AAT65
Poster Extraordinaire
You took the tape off the coil?? The tape that protects the incredibly delicate wire of the coil?? Why??!??
BTW we really do need pictures.
Boreas
Doctor of Teleocity
I think this was electrical tape he added himself. But I could be wrong!
You' do well to stop prodding things with screwdrivers. You have to either be methodical about troubleshooting this problem, or keep banging away and hope you don't do further damage. And, as countless others have said, a few decent pictures would be a big help.
Resident Bum
TDPRI Member
I think I know what is wrong here. You have a telecaster bridge pickup mounted in a metal telecaster bridge right? The coil wire inside the pickup is wound directly against the magnet rods, and the insulation on the coil wire can fail. So your magnets are likely shorted to the coil in one of its ends.
What is happening is the copper (steel) base plate of the pickup is touching the magnets and when you attach the bridge to the pickup, ground gets connected all the way to the coil.
coil => magnets => steel base plate => screws => bridge => ground wire
thus coil shorted to ground
You can confirm this by reading the dc resistance between each of the magnets and each of the two solder points at the ends of the coil (after disconnecting the pickup from the guitar.
The solution is simple: remove the base plate from the pickup with a little heat (may also need to desolder a wire to get it off)
Then add a strip of electrical tape between the magnets and the base plate and reattach it with hot wax.
What is happening is the copper (steel) base plate of the pickup is touching the magnets and when you attach the bridge to the pickup, ground gets connected all the way to the coil.
coil => magnets => steel base plate => screws => bridge => ground wire
thus coil shorted to ground
You can confirm this by reading the dc resistance between each of the magnets and each of the two solder points at the ends of the coil (after disconnecting the pickup from the guitar.
The solution is simple: remove the base plate from the pickup with a little heat (may also need to desolder a wire to get it off)
Then add a strip of electrical tape between the magnets and the base plate and reattach it with hot wax.
I think what you suggest seems pretty accurate but I’m not an expert to manipulate the pickup. I will first check as you said with a tester and see where I get. I will post the results. By the way, could you please detail the procedure and the use of the tester the proper way for this case please, really want to do it the best way.
