Tone pot malfunctioning?

[Boreas]

Wanted to say thanks to everyone on the thread for all of your patience and advice today. Crazy that a forum designed for 1 specific design of guitar can develop such a helpful community & provide such a valuable (free) resource to someone looking to learn a new skill.

Glad to help. Garbage in/Garbage out. The quality of help you receive around here is dependent on how willing you are to answer questions and post pix. Pix are invaluable. We can often see things in a good picture that is overlooked by the OP.

Perhaps visit some guitar techs and see if they have a "source" for real solder. I would bet most of them have a stash somewhere for "vintage" projects. It will make your life much easier, if not a tad shorter!

 

[Boreas]

View attachment 1057843
Here's the guitar in question if anyone's interested. Making it for a friend, supposed to look like schhol desk graffiti (most of it relates to stuff that matters to him).

EDIT: ...while still retaining the poop soup flavour..

Very cool!! Where is the gum? On the back side??

May just be the photo - Is the binding just glued on the surface? Kinda cool as well.

 

[PoopSoupGuitars]

Very cool!! Where is the gum? On the back side??

May just be the photo - Is the binding just glued on the surface? Kinda cool as well.

nah just the pic. routed a channel and used acetone to adhere it. Friend was very specific about low gloss & avoiding the plasticy feel so the body is only protected with tru oil, so I guess the binding will blend less than if everything had coats of poly. it's leveled nicely though, cant feel the binding at all

 

[SRHmusic]

@PoopSoupGuitars In addition to the good advice from the others, here's a troubleshooting tip-
After you think everything is wired up, but before buttoning it all up, with the guitar plugged into an amp as reasonable volume, and the guitar volume full up, take a wooden or plastic stick (like on a wooden, lab cotton swab) and gently push on the wiring near each connection. You can also gently wiggle the wires. It should all stay quiet, no pops or crackling sounds. Any of that indicates a poor connection.
Intermittent connections can show up when the wires are pushed around when closing up the cavity cover.
One other problem that shows up at least on strats is the jack prongs get pushed against the body, when screwing the jack plate on, if the jack isn't positioned at the best rotation.
Good luck!
(And do look for good soldering tutorials. Search the forums here for more recommendations )

 

[SbS]

We fought our way out of the UK over 100 years ago thank god.

Now our new EU overlords say no lead!

Yeah, in EU it's illegal to sell lead solder for hobbyists. I was advised to use solder with higher silver content, at least 3-4%. That works and flows little better than cheaper lead-free stuff.

 

[kbold]

Next build I suggest putting thought to consistent colour coding of wires (e.g. black for all ground connections).
I also recommend you get some cloth covered wire: it's much easier to work with and gives a better finish visually.

If you're using unleaded solder, be sure to remove all the flux as it is more aggressive/corrosive.
With unleaded solder you have to be very precise with soldering temperature and timing. You will need lots of practice.
Perhaps you can buy some of the good stuff on the black market.

Solder with high silver content? Well, the price of silver will soon go through the roof, so stock up on it.

 

[PoopSoupGuitars]

HI guys

Back again with a bit of an update, and a further question.

I rewired everything using the vintage cloth style cabling, and colour coded correctly. Still using unleaded solder for now and my soldering still sucks, I'm also still waiting on a new capacitor to arrive. BUT pots are now functioning and PUs playing correctly.

The outstanding issue i have now is that the toggle switch, in the center position only plays the bridge. Neck works fine in it's position, but doesn't come through in the center. I've resoldered all wires going to the switch without any difference.

Can this only now be down to a faulty (or damaged through continuous dodgy soldering) switch? Is there are other logical reason that neck would work ok except in the center position?

 

[Boreas]

HI guys

Back again with a bit of an update, and a further question.

I rewired everything using the vintage cloth style cabling, and colour coded correctly. Still using unleaded solder for now and my soldering still sucks, I'm also still waiting on a new capacitor to arrive. BUT pots are now functioning and PUs playing correctly.

The outstanding issue i have now is that the toggle switch, in the center position only plays the bridge. Neck works fine in it's position, but doesn't come through in the center. I've resoldered all wires going to the switch without any difference.

Can this only now be down to a faulty (or damaged through continuous dodgy soldering) switch? Is there are other logical reason that neck would work ok except in the center position?

Toggle switches are quite fragile and can be finicky. Get yourself a continuity tester, to confirm, but basically you should be able to see if the contacts are being made and broken properly. I have had new switches that did not work at all. If you are fairly careful, you can bend the "blades" to get the proper contact. You usually need to bend them down by their base/attachment. I may have some pix to illustrate. If I find them, I'll post them.

But if they are making contact visually, check with the tester to make sure. If you MUST use unleaded solder, you may need to upgrade your tools and technique. The rest of us schmucks get by because leaded is much more forgiving.

 

[PoopSoupGuitars]

Toggle switches are quite fragile and can be finicky. Get yourself a continuity tester, to confirm, but basically you should be able to see if the contacts are being made and broken properly. I have had new switches that did not work at all. If you are fairly careful, you can bend the "blades" to get the proper contact. You usually need to bend them down by their base/attachment. I may have some pix to illustrate. If I find them, I'll post them.

But if they are making contact visually, check with the tester to make sure. If you MUST use unleaded solder, you may need to upgrade your tools and technique. The rest of us schmucks get by because leaded is much more forgiving.

Thanks Boreas for the cross-thread assistance!

I actually pulled a toggle switch out of my personal guitar and I'm still having the exact same issue so switch ain't to blame.

Back to my wiring I guess!

 

[PoopSoupGuitars]

OK, so I removed the bridge from the switch and can confirm that neck plays just find on the center position. I am sure it's not working when bridge is in though (tap tested poles & just can tell the humbucker lows are missing in the center).

Totally confused now...

 

[Boreas]

OK, so I removed the bridge from the switch and can confirm that neck plays just find on the center position. I am sure it's not working when bridge is in though (tap tested poles & just can tell the humbucker lows are missing in the center).

Totally confused now...

Confused here as well. Will need pix of that switch wiring. and what is "active" in each position.

 

[PoopSoupGuitars]

Confused here as well. Will need pix of that switch wiring. and what is "active" in each position.

I'll get some pictures when I'm home, but the switch is enclosed in a case so not much to see. Same arrangement as the previous pic below

 

[Boreas]

Oh yeah - now I remember.

 

[PoopSoupGuitars]

Confused here as well. Will need pix of that switch wiring. and what is "active" in each position.

Ok, so it seems that these 2 pickups are 'out of phase'. A term I had heard before but never needed to understand.

EDIT: Flipped the humbucker live & ground. All good now!

 

[Boreas]

Ok, so it seems that these 2 pickups are 'out of phase'. A term I had heard before but never needed to understand.

EDIT: Flipped the humbucker live & ground. All good now!

Yeah, usually that is all it takes.

Are you sure there are only two wires coming from the humbucker? What color(s) are they at the pickup itself? Any pix of the back of the pickup? Sometimes they can be altered to split the coils and such and it can kill half of the pickup, essentially making it a weak single coil.

 

[Peegoo]

Get yourself a continuity tester to confirm, but basically you should be able to see if the contacts are being made and broken properly.

You can make yourself one for about $1 and some scraps and about 30 minutes of your time.

You can make it simpler or more complicated if you like. I came up with the LED in the probe itself so you don't have to look at whatever the probe is connected to. You could substitute a beeper or buzzer if you want noise. The LED (instead of a beeper) was for a pal whose dog would freak out whenever she heard the beep of the multimeter's continuity check.

Click here, and read the description for a parts list.

 

[PoopSoupGuitars]

Yeah, usually that is all it takes.

Are you sure there are only two wires coming from the humbucker? What color(s) are they at the pickup itself? Any pix of the back of the pickup? Sometimes they can be altered to split the coils and such and it can kill half of the pickup, essentially making it a weak single coil.

Well it's actually a single, shielded wire coming from the pickup, with a plastic or rubber tubing around it all. The copper shielding is used as the ground (but now the hot).

 

[PoopSoupGuitars]

You can make yourself one for about $1 and some scraps and about 30 minutes of your time.

You can make it simpler or more complicated if you like. I came up with the LED in the probe itself so you don't have to look at whatever the probe is connected to. You could substitute a beeper or buzzer if you want noise. The LED (instead of a beeper) was for a pal whose dog would freak out whenever she heard the beep of the multimeter's continuity check.

Click here, and read the description for a parts list.

that your channel @Peegoo?

 

[Boreas]

You can make yourself one for about $1 and some scraps and about 30 minutes of your time.

You can make it simpler or more complicated if you like. I came up with the LED in the probe itself so you don't have to look at whatever the probe is connected to. You could substitute a beeper or buzzer if you want noise. The LED (instead of a beeper) was for a pal whose dog would freak out whenever she heard the beep of the multimeter's continuity check.

Click here, and read the description for a parts list.

I have about 5 of them. Usually when I need one, I can't find one, so I go buy another one. Eventually I will saturate my house and garage with them. I have 4 meters as well - same reason.

 

[Peegoo]

that your channel @Peegoo?

Yep.