Hi, actually it was the electrical tape I put around it to isolate it from the bridge. I didn’t mess with the coil, at least not intentionally.
No sound when grounding bridge
- Thread starter yoan973
- Start date
LowCaster
Tele-Afflicted
The jumper connecting the baseplate of the pickup to ground was clipped and switched from one wire to the other. I guess that now it is connected to the yellow wire. So forget the color code, your ground and signal are inverted. The simple cure is to switch the two wires in the control cavity. Don’t do any mod to the pickup.
Oh ok, I’ll try that to see. I was tempted to do so but didn’t want to mess too many things at a time to keep my mind straight to the point.
tele_savales
Tele-Afflicted
Wire it the way Lowcaster said and see if it works. Someone else deduced that the leads were reversed, that should solve your issue.
May as well post a clear pic of the pot wiring for us to look at. A nice strip of shielding out of the control cavity onto the body where the plate screws in would be good, too
May as well post a clear pic of the pot wiring for us to look at. A nice strip of shielding out of the control cavity onto the body where the plate screws in would be good, too
Boreas
Doctor of Teleocity
BOTH (+) and (-) are signals. But by convention, (-) goes to ground (bridge plate, shielding, pot cases, etc.) and (+) becomes part of the signal chain. So "hot" isn't a good term to use in passive wiring circuits like guitars. If you mistakenly hook the (-) to the switch and the (+) to the pot case, you will have sound as long as the bridge plate isn't attached to a guitar ground. But it will be an out-of-phase signal compared to the neck pickup. But the way single coil pickups are made, they are designed to ground through the black (-), and if you touch any conductive part of the pickup to a grounded part of the guitar, it will short the signal to ground and it will not get to the switch. The negative side of your bridge pickup is also grounded through the metal base plate [Note black wire (-) soldered to the plate]. So if the pickup, bridge plate, or metal pickup plate touches anything grounded like the shielding, with your "reversed" wiring, the (-) signal goes to that ground and not the switch. Essentially, both (+) and (-) are going to ground and you will have no sound from that pickup.
I don't know much electronics myself, and I am sure somebody will find fault with my simpleton's explanation, but it is how I sort it out in my own feeble mind.
If your pickup itself was ungrounded and only attached to an ungrounded plastic pickguard, you could likely wire it backwards and get sound from both pickups. But the reversed pickup will be out-of-phase and sound wimpy and thin. In your case, you need to make sure the yellow (+) lead goes to the switch and the black lead (-) is soldered to the pot casing (ground). Then when the pickup is grounded by the bridge plate and shielding via a separate ground wire to a pot casing, you should eliminate your hum and have the proper signal to the switch and circuit.
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UserNotAvailable
Tele-Afflicted
short to hot
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LowCaster
Tele-Afflicted
No, I think it is the opposite. This is how the OP has it wired (correct as per the wiring diagram) but the pickup’s baseplate looks like it was modded, so now it’s probly connected to the yellow. Then yellow wire is ground now, and should be soldered to the pot casing, and the black wire should go to the switch.
That bare braided/shielding wire from the neck pickup moving in the cavity and going to ground, could have been a potential cause of short to the baseplate or solders of the bridge pickup. But I believe this is secondary and once you reverse the bridge pickup cables you should be good.
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Boreas
Doctor of Teleocity
OH, sorry - I can't see that mod on the pickup. I see the bare cut/spliced ground wire, but I can't really see what it is connected to - if anything. But if that is indeed the case and is grounded to the original (+) side, you are right. Why would someone do that? And not change the lead colors?? Seems like there are simpler ways to change polarity. Strange...
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tele_savales
Tele-Afflicted
If it were me, I'd swap the bridge pickups wire back to how they were originally and while I was at it, replace that shredded yellow wire. Must be a mouse living in one of the cavities.
Boreas
Doctor of Teleocity
Too small for mice. Gremlins gotta eat though... And there is certainly at least one living in that guitar.
Boreas
Doctor of Teleocity
If you do this simple switch rather than correcting the problem at the pickup, wrap tags of masking tape on the wires designating the new polarity (+/-). It may save the next owner troubleshooting time.
To me, the better option is to investigate the mod to the pickup and undo it - IF it is possible. Make sure the +/yellow side is indeed currently (no pun intended) grounded to the plate. Clip it, and resolder to the original solder point on the -/black side. To me, that seems simpler.
LowCaster
Tele-Afflicted
I don’t see more than what you describe but I’m guessing, the spliced wire goes somewhere and since it is no more connected to it’s original position (supposed to be the black wire) then it should be connected to the yellow. It would explain the 2 problems described by OP:OH, sorry - I can't see that mod on the pickup. I see the bare cut/spliced ground wire, but I can't really see what it is connected to - if anything. But if that is indeed the case and is grounded to the original (+) side, you are right. Why would someone do that? And not change the lead colors?? Seems like there are simpler ways to change polarity. Strange...
1- buzz when touching the bridge, because the bridge is connected to « signal/yellow » via the pickup’s baseplate and adjustment screws. Same buzz you hear when you touch the tip of the guitar cable.
2-no sound at all when the bridge ground wire is added, causing a short between signal/yellow and ground via the bridge (see point 1).
tele_savales
Tele-Afflicted
Good deal!
Wound_Up
Tele-Afflicted
Out of phase Tele pickups aren't nearly as wimpy and thin as you make it out to be. Mine wasn't. In fact, it was so unwimpy and fat that I didn't realize it was even out of phase for the first 20 minutes.
Why? Because the sound wasn't wimpy and thin. It dropped a couple of dB from neck or bridge alone but it was FARRRRRRRR from wimpy & thin. I only figured it out once I adjusted pickup heights so that the difference between positions 1/3 and 2 was more than it was initially. There almost was no discernable difference at first. And yes it was out of phase because when I switched POS & ground, it lost zero dB in POS 2.
Boreas
Doctor of Teleocity
I didn't quantify the loss. I feel the difference is fairly obvious, but I guess our definitions and impressions of wimpy and thin are different.
But the amount of loss does seem to be pickup and circuit dependent - at least to my ear. For instance, swapping polarity at the slider switches on my Mustangs is imperceptible to me, yet others say they tell a difference. But my Strat-style pickups don't have the metal (bridge) base plate, nor do they have the same output.
But the amount of loss does seem to be pickup and circuit dependent - at least to my ear. For instance, swapping polarity at the slider switches on my Mustangs is imperceptible to me, yet others say they tell a difference. But my Strat-style pickups don't have the metal (bridge) base plate, nor do they have the same output.
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