Wiring Help. Did I fry something?

[cowardm]

Hi all,

Given that this was my first attempt at soldering, it's just as likely that I fried something as it is that I wired it wrong. If it's any noise at all, it's quite, hisses, buzzes. Flipping the switch just makes the noise better or worse.

Here are the players:

Neck: Wilde (Bill Lawrence) L45 Strat
3 wires: white, black, blue
White = hot (source 1, source 2)
Blue/black = ground

Bridge: Seymour Duncan JB SH-4
Black = hot
Green/plain(gray) = ground
Red/white = unused

1 Vol pot 500k
1 tone pot 500k
1 3-way switch
1 mono output jack

I used this Seymour Duncan wiring diagram as the basis.

Here is the diagram I cooked up. For the pickups themselves, I used the colors of the actual wires. For everything else, I tried to use a few different patterns and colors to make it less confusing with the gray wires almost always representing going to ground. I'm a little surprised that the ground output of the 3-way switch doesn't go to the ground on the volume pot in the Seymour Duncan diagram, but I tried both ways and in either case it doesn't work.

The ground to the bridge is actually screwed into the control cavity, which has conductive shielding paint.

 

[frisco slim]

Electric guitar components are pretty robust, it's unlikely you broke anything.

Your diagram is fine.

First thing I would do is check if you have swapped the wires to the output jack, very common mistake.

A couple of other comments: Grounding the control cavity does not necessarily ground the bridge, you need to do that separately. You say the red and white wires on the SD pickup are "unused." That's true, but they still need to be soldered to one another and insulated.

 

[cowardm]

Electric guitar components are pretty robust, it's unlikely you broke anything.

Your diagram is fine.

First thing I would do is check if you have swapped the wires to the output jack, very common mistake.

A couple of other comments: Grounding the control cavity does not necessarily ground the bridge, you need to do that separately. You say the red and white wires on the SD pickup are "unused." That's true, but they still need to be soldered to one another and insulated.

If the diagram is fine, then it's a component for sure. I not only double checked this and even reverse a couple of connections (including the output jack) just to see if it worked and it doesn't. I replaced the pots with no luck, but the 3 way toggle took a bit of a beating because it was literally like the first thing I tried to solder. I also tried this diagram to no avail.

On grounding: My thought was to run copper tape from the bridge to the cavity where the ground wire is screwed in.

I am wondering if any of the components touch the cavity are shorting them out. It's really tight in there.

 

[eallen]

Posting a pic of your actual wiring from a couple angles is really needed to give much diagnosis. I would use a meter to check your ground continuity pertaining to the copper tape. If you don't have a meter use a spare piece of wire from the bridge to the back of a pot to see if it helps. Copper tape is great for shielding & I agree in theory with it acting as a ground. At the same time I always ensure pickups & bridges are grounded directly to the back off a pot. While adhesive on the back of tape can come loose at a joint a well soldered wire doesn't.

 

[rigatele]

It's more likely that a connection was half baked, than that you fried anything. But on the PKP, it looks like you shorted both output wires together on the back of a pot, and used the shield as the hot wire. So there could be big problems in the design, not just the soldering.

Actually, the HB looks like it's wired the same way, shorted to itself and ground.

 

[Peegoo]

@cowardm

If you get a pickup's shieding lead too hot when making the colder connection, it can overheat and melt the plastic insulation. This will short the pickup's coil and make things dead quiet.

Here's how to test:

Plug a guitar cable into the output jack. Set the volume and tone controls to 10. Select the switch to bridge pickup position.

Set your meter to test for DC Ohms. Test across the free end of the cable using the meter, one probe on the tip and one probe on the sleeve.

You should get a reading of around 16k Ohms on that Duncan JB. If you get a reading close to 0 Ohms, it is shorted. If you get infinite Ohms ("OL" or open line), you forgot to join the red and white leads and cap them off.

Select the neck pickup position on the switch and repeat the test to see if you get a reading close to the spec for that pickup.

 

[Boreas]

Your best hope of resurrecting your project is to post a few clear pix of your work. Your descriptions are very good, but if you are a newbie to soldering and do not know what to look for, there may be things you are not noticing. It is unlikely you nuked anything.

I don't think this is the problem, but a good thing to rule out with a no sound condition. Check the actual contacts on your switch and ensure they are operating (contacting/breaking) properly. I have recieved NEW switches where the blades were not installed correctly and the contacts were not working right. It was easily fixed, but not something I expected with a new switch!

 

[cowardm]

Hopefully these are clear enough. And hopefully this doesn't confuse things, but as a matter of troubleshooting, I changed the diagram I was adapting to this Bare Knuckle one.

 

[Swirling Snow]

If your switch notations are correct, you need to fix that. What you have labeled "Hot to V" is the ground lug. Where you have the grounds connected is the output of the switch.

 

[cowardm]

If your switch notations are correct, you need to fix that. What you have labeled "Hot to V" is the ground lug. Where you have the grounds connected is the output of the switch.

This was it. Thank you! Nothing fried. But I put a pickup cover on the JB and boy does it squeal, so going to add a little more wax under there.

 

[Ronkirn]

Just FYI… for anyone that might latch onto this thread to find out how to fry a circuit…. rest easy…. in a passive guitar circuit it’s impossible to fry anything… as long as the amp is in good working order...

Therefore one can try about any non electrolytic cap or any value pot nothing’s bad gonna happen… however you CAN blow the amp’s speaker if you get too whacky…. ya don't use electrolytic caps because they CAN hold a charge, a rather significant charge and dissipate it when ya screw things up… it can zap your ass real fast and you will find yer butt hanging onto a ceiling light fixture with no idea how ya got there...

 

[hopdybob]

i have had to learn soldering to.
and one thing i learnt was that solder has to flow.
your ground on top the volumepot is not like you would want it.

i have learnt.
take some cleaning alcohol 90% ore more and de-grease the metal.

make sure you have a good soldering iron, solder for electronic projects.
make sure your soldering iron is hot enough and put it on the top of the pot.
count to 10 than put the soldering at that spot and count to ten again.
if it works out good you have a shinny bubble of solder.

my englisch is not so good, so maybe some other could chime in to better explain it.
but there is a lot to win if you take your time to learn proper soldering