Fixing a broken three-way

modulator

This is related to my "Tone and Treble Bleed mods" post. The three way switch is now, well, "fixed". I re-located some wires, and had to install a 2 mm screw between two of the wiper plates to get the neck pickup to join in the position 2 of the switch.

Interim permanent fix, until I obtain a new three way (this guitar can use a five-way plus, for a myriad of pickup-mix options, maybe, someday...)

modulator

Uh, no. You should not be misled by promises of crystal clear bell-like tones of heavenly music pouring forth from the guitar. No signal. I have earth continuity from pickup plug to output plug. Pickups continuity too, but no continuity on position 1 of the two-way. Which means I should be able to play on position 2? No. Somewhere, signal is being routed to earth. I shall have to set aside a couple of hours someday to play around, to see if I can find the fault. Or, re-wire the thing.

guidothepimmp

Uh oh... too bad. Good effort

modulator

I did probe some more with the multimeter. Same as before, I checked with the module that functions, same inpiut pins goes to same output pins, so I plugged it in again. No. But, this time, when I removed it to re-check, I had continuity from input to output side on both positions of the two way switch. Hmm. There has to be a clue in there somewhere. The plan is to re-wire with 500K pots, and simpler layout. New three-way switch is ordered.

guidothepimmp

I remember rewiring a hammett ltd with new pups and the thing being dead as a door knob. All the wiring was right but there was nooo soind to be had. For some reason i loosened the 3 way and as it separated from the body... there was sound. It was some kind of earth issue. Couldnt quite figure the cause.. so i shimmed it and she rocked happily ever after. Good luck

modulator

Hmm, tracing earth issues is not fun. I'm sure I will find the problem, by accident, someday.

modulator

I re-wired this module to copy the working Module 1 “before” specs – snipped off all the unneccessary wires, fitted a new three-way. In effect building a functional replica of the original Module 1. I needed to do this, to have an “original” to compare tone with the “modified” – the modified Module 1 is paper-thin brittle glass in the high frequencies. The shift from 100K to 500K pots, together with my choice of tone capacitor and treble bleed mod makes for a clear, transparent, bright, Bright guitar. V8 was right – maybe do 250K pots first? (Refer to my “Tone and Treble bleed Mods” posts.)

Let me re-phrase that: Un-functional replica. Still no sound. I disconnected everything, tested out each pot, connecting the module’s input plug wires directly to the output plug wires (no tone, no volume), and…. No sound.
Seeing as it was apparently shorting only when plugged into the guitar, I stripped everything off the module plate, to plug the module’s plugs into the guitar and measure “in situ”. In plug wired directly to out plug. I found the problem.

The clue is printed on the front of this module: “STEREO”. Yes, two output wires to the guitar cable (stereo) socket. Yes, yes, I am using a Mono jack cable. Yes, the mono jack is a handy dead short for the second “stereo” pin in the guitar socket. Yes, I should have realised this from the beginning. Yes, I should be banned from Guitar Tech-ing. No, I did not think to measure the MilliVolts on the guitar cable, or the Ohms. I knew I was losing signal to ground somewhere. I did realise it could only be in the guitar sockets, somewhere. DUH.

The plan to build a functional replica of the original Module 1 will now continue. End of this post, unless I plan to re-surrect the original wiring, or re-build to coil-split five way and whatnot switching. A good idea, seeing as Ibanez HH guitars have this feature. I need to explore that. Four pots, two switches. A myriad of tones available.

ScottyDogg

modulator A good idea, seeing as Ibanez HH guitars have this feature

Lots of options here - with a 5 way switch, you could either have positions 2 and 4 split their respective humbucker for a single coil sound or, as Ibanez does a lot, the position 1 is neck humbucker, 2 is neck humbucker in parallel (https://www.seymourduncan.com/faqs/what-are-series-and-parallel-wiring), 3 is both humbuckers, 4 is bridge in single coil, 5 is bridge humbucker

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ScottyDogg
Yes, but with my apparently deteriorating motor skills, wiring this here simple two pickup two pots one three way is turning into hours of hell - soldering, testing, de-soldering, swopping wires, testing, try again, etc. That is only the "where does this wire go" part. Wielding the hot iron to make the joint itself is getting to be a torture.

ScottyDogg

modulator For sure - what I would recommend (and what I did - but long lost the info since lol) is check up wiring diagrams on the Ibanez pickups with a 5 way switch (CAP-VM pickups should get you that info) then look online for a pickup wire 'key' - it'll help do the conversion from wire colours used by Seymour Duncan, Di Marzio and Ibanez (can't remember if I found Ibanez on the key but at the very least, spec sheets should show what's what).

With that I was able to plan what wire to solder where before I even received my Seymour Duncans from Raru