Problems with Pickup / Electrics Upgrade

[wizard273]

Hi all,

New to this, so I hope i've put this in the right place.

I have just taken the plunge and attempted a swap for my Epiphone Les Paul 1998. I have put two Seymour Duncan pickups in and changed all of the pot / switch / wiring!!

This is my first attempt to do this and its failed BADLY!!!....so any help would be gratefully received.

In brief, the problem is am getting NO sound from the bridge pickup and more strangely whilst the neck pickup works and gives out a reasonable-ish voulme and volume pot will increase and decease the volume does, I cant increased the volume of the guitar using the amp....i can turn it to the top and it makes no difference.

The amp is working fine for my other guitars.

Any ideas please.

Peter.

[dennistruckdriver]

Welcome.
You must post photos of the wiring work you have done, otherwise we can't help you.

[jonesy]

Wiring Library

[Diocletian]

First of all - if your Duncans have red and white wires, you must connect them together. Connect the red and whites together, and tape them off (unless you're doing some fancy wiring which I doubt).
I'm pretty sure that will solve some of your issues.

Do that, then post back. I have a feeling there's some grounding issues here too but one step at a time.

[wizard273]

Hey,

Many thanks for the help and advice.

I do have the red and white taped together and soldered. The second pickup only has the hot wire and braid sleeve which is soldered to the volume pot.

I've been back on this today and I following an article on the Seymour Duncan website, I have tried wiring the pickup that was not getting any output direct to the jack plug.

This has shown that the pickup is in fact working, so back to square one. However, in bypassing the volume and tone pots, whilst the pickups works and I can get some sound through the amp, and control the volume via the amp, the volume at its highest is still way below normal. I can turn it full up and still get only a very moderate volume.

This is a 25W amp and its normally very loud. I tried other guitars and it works great with them.

As a start, how can I get full volume out of this. The pickup is pretty close to the strings, albeit, I only have the top two bass strings on a the moment for testing.

Thanks again.

Peter.

[Iceman0124]

You dont need strings for testing, just tap a pole with a screwdriver, as for help, photos are a must.

[07LPStandard]

There's a couple of possible things potentially wrong here.

First, double-check your wiring. Did you ground out the pots by soldering their ground lugs to the casing?

Next, check ALL grounds. Start by checking the continuity between the bridge and the other side of the bridge ground wire inside the cavity. Next, check continuity to all pot casings, as well as the ground switch and the jack ground. If all of these read continuity, you are properly grounded.

You may also have fried the pots while installing them. I have done this numerous times, and each time I will get either no sound at all or very little sound. Did you hold the soldering iron on the pot casing excessively long while wiring them in?

Also, I'm not sure about this one, but I'm pretty confident you also have to ground the jack to the bridge ground wire when you wire the pickups directly to the jack. That would explain your low volume.

[wizard273]

Thanks for all the advice guys,

I spent the afternoon with new pots, new wire.

Redid the whole thing from start to finish and still the same problem.

What would prevent the full output getting to the amp. I can understand no sound but why some sound!!

I'm about to pack up and go get someone knowledgeable to do this for me. Pity cos the whole project was to make a start getting into this.

Peter.

[KP]

Are the pots all grounded? Opps, sorry already brought up. Pictures would help.

[Iceman0124]

Heres a not so good photo of my long gone epi after redoing the electronics,





Mebbe this helps?

[Lemonhead]

Post some good pics.
Check that the pots haven't turned and are hitting the cavity walls or that a ground wire somewhere is touching something it shouldn't be.

[bridge500t]

Are you following the diagram link below? If not try this:

Wiring Diagram

[Diocletian]

He sorted it, posted on the Duncan forum.

[standard man]

Originally Posted by Diocletian

He sorted it, posted on the Duncan forum.

Glad to hear it.