Wiring Problems, need advice!

[Joshua_tw_Tate]

My friend has a broken Epiphone Les Paul, and he gave it to me to fix.

...First off I fixed the headstock which had if you haven't guessed snapped off. So I plugged the guitar in after I stringed it up and played the bridge pickup which worked great. Then I tried the neck pickup, and at first worked great, but when I changed the tone knob it just fizzled out and only halfway came through.

So I re soldered some of the wiring to the pots and got the neck pickup working, but once that got fixed the bridge pickup stopped working. When I went to try to adjust the volume, the knob after about being turned halfway kind of popped.

At this point I've tried rewiring everything, and realistically I'm not a pro, but I have no clue why it won't work, other than the pot broke from being overheated (I use a 60watt soldering iron)

Any advice would be amazing!

[TeleDog]

it could be a messed up pot, a broken pot leg, a cold solder joint, could be a broken wire, it could be the switch, it could be the leads coming from the pickup, it could be a bad ground...

When rewiring, unless you're 100% positive about the harness, do it step by step specially if you are new to this. Replace a pot, test.. replace another, test again.... time consuming but that's a sure way to spot the problem if and when it hits.

[SJM]

Originally Posted by TeleDog

it could be a messed up pot, a broken pot leg, a cold solder joint, could be a broken wire, it could be the switch, it could be the leads coming from the pickup, it could be a bad ground...

When rewiring, unless you're 100% positive about the harness, do it step by step specially if you are new to this. Replace a pot, test.. replace another, test again.... time consuming but that's a sure way to spot the problem if and when it hits.

Sage advice. If you need wiring diagrams, SD's website has them all. Good luck.

[Joshua_tw_Tate]

I guess I'm gonna have to keep trying. I'm thinking about doing it one wire at a time.

I think the joints might be bad, the neck pickup is cutting out and back in now...

[SJM]

One caveat. Your soldering iron should be the old standard pencil type. The soldering gun types can de-magnetize your pups.

[TeleDog]

Prep the pots. Sand the belly a little so the solder will stick to it.

Secure mechanical connections between pot and wire, then seal the connection with the solder. Make sure there's not metal to metal contact where they shouldn't be, sometimes the pot legs get a little bent and touch the belly creating a ground and dumping the signal.

Just take your time, and to state the obvious, make sure you follow the correct diagram, I've seen some diagrams floating around the internet that are wrong and no good.

Seymour Duncan has diagrams, you can also find them here.

[psycho]

The soldering gun types can de-magnetize your pups.

Thank you - I did not know that!

[Joshua_tw_Tate]

I got some other advice from a friend as well. To make sure the pickup works first of all, by soldering it directly to in the input, then add in a pot, then the second pot. So I'm hoping I can find out if the pot is broken or something. I will also try sanding the backs, and just take my time, and make sure it's done right. seeing as how it's my friends guitar!

[fr3dw0rth]

I recently installed new pickups in my Epi LP, and redid all the wiring. Yikes!!! Both pickups are cutting in and out. It seems that several of my soldering connections were poor.

Any advice on how to solder in a new wire where there is already solder? The pots all have solder already on them, and instead of staying in the hole with the wire, the solder just runs down to the base of the finger on the pot. I'm used to soldering to a fresh joint, which seems to be so much easier.

[Phildog]

Originally Posted by fr3dw0rth

I recently installed new pickups in my Epi LP, and redid all the wiring. Yikes!!! Both pickups are cutting in and out. It seems that several of my soldering connections were poor.

Any advice on how to solder in a new wire where there is already solder? The pots all have solder already on them, and instead of staying in the hole with the wire, the solder just runs down to the base of the finger on the pot. I'm used to soldering to a fresh joint, which seems to be so much easier.

This is just how I do it, but when I solder wires to the pots, I string the wire through the hole of the pot terminal. Then I held the iron to it and then let it flow. If there's already solder on the foot, just heat it up with the iron to clear the hole. Run the wire through and solder it in place.