Wiring

[matttheguy]

I just wired my Les Paul using the Stewmac wiring kit and 490R / 490T pickups.

I used the diagram at the bottom of this page so as to have independent controls.

I used shielded wire for everything going from the switch to the controls and jack.

I get nothing, no matter what way I turn the knobs, nothing.

On my pickups they have Red (hot) Green and White (coiled together) and Black and open (ground). I used the Black and open wires for the ground and the red wires on the control, but I just left the green and white wires taped and connected to nothing.

Any troubleshooting tips?

[RMS]

I just wired my Les Paul using the Stewmac wiring kit and 490R / 490T pickups.

I used the diagram at the bottom of this page so as to have independent controls.

I used shielded wire for everything going from the switch to the controls and jack.

I get nothing, no matter what way I turn the knobs, nothing.

On my pickups they have Red (hot) Green and White (coiled together) and Black and open (ground). I used the Black and open wires for the ground and the red wires on the control, but I just left the green and white wires taped and connected to nothing.

Any troubleshooting tips?

Some of the wires are for spliting the coils called 5 wire setups and that sounds like what you have. So basically what I am thinking is that you need to connect the green and white together and tape that off that compleates the loop from two single coils to a humbucker. Do that on each pickup!

Added:

"How do I connect a four-conductor pickup?

For normal series-humbucking wiring, solder the black and white wires to each other and insulate that connection with tape. The red wire is the hot output and the green and bare wires go to ground, usually by soldering them to the back of a pot. If the pickup sounds "out-of-phase" when played with other pickups, use the green as hot and connect the red and bare to ground.

For further instructions select the PICKUP button at the top of the page. Select the model you are interested in. Then select the WIRING DIAGRAMS button."

the only thing you need to do is check with the maker of the pickups for correct color codes.

Hope this helps some!

Edited December 28, 2006 by RMS

[matttheguy]

That's what I assumed, and did, and no dice

[matttheguy]

How would I go about checking to see if the pickups are in working order (even though they're brand new Gibsons)?

Also, would too much solder create bad connections? I don't think I put too much on, but I may have.

[RMS]

How would I go about checking to see if the pickups are in working order (even though they're brand new Gibsons)?

Also, would too much solder create bad connections? I don't think I put too much on, but I may have.

Any number of things could be wrong, so you need to go through it all. You can check to see if the pups have a ressistance value like 5k-10k no reading is a short. But most likely they are good. First I would get the wire diagrams for them, and when you join each coil together to make 1 humbucking - make sure on the color code. Then if that is ok do a ressistance check, then make sure the connections you have made are indeed correct. and make sure the jack is wired ok too!

[unklmickey]

...Also, would too much solder create bad connections? I don't think I put too much on, but I may have.

if you globbed on so much solder, that it touches the case of the pot, on any of the "bottom" lugs (in relation to the drawing you were using), then you've created a short that will kill the signal, no matter where the controls are set.

do you have a multi-meter?

[matttheguy]

The only place that solder hits is on the bottom of every pot, where the grounds are all wound and placed... and of course on the connections like where the pickup goes and the capacitors.

I might, I'll have to check. If I do, I can test the pickups, right? By the way, They're Gibsons, and Red is hot, Green and White useless (for my basic wiring) and bare and black ground.

On the jack, there's two connections since it's not stereo. the 'long' connection and the 'short' one (long connection being the one with the longer piece to hold in the plug. The 'long' is hot and the short is ground, am I correct?

Edited December 29, 2006 by matttheguy

[RMS]

... They're Gibsons, and Red is hot, Green and White useless (for my basic wiring) and bare and black ground.

On the jack, there's two connections since it's not stereo. the 'long' connection and the 'short' one (long connection being the one with the longer piece to hold in the plug. The 'long' is hot and the short is ground, am I correct?

What do you mean by useless? you should have these green and white connected together, and tape it off.

On the jack The long is the tip and that is hot, the other is ground, you should make sure you have the right solder legs though vairify that too. Usually its easy to tell be just looking other times I will put a meter on just to make sure, if you get some low resistance value then you know you got it.

Edited December 29, 2006 by RMS

[matttheguy]

Yes, so they're not being used for the actual wiring to the controls.

I'm pretty sure I have the correct legs, you can tell which ones are which by how they're stacked among all the other things of the jack.

[RMS]

Yes, so they're not being used for the actual wiring to the controls.

I'm pretty sure I have the correct legs, you can tell which ones are which by how they're stacked among all the other things of the jack.

Then you may wan't to try this, take another jack and solder two leads w/ aligator clips on it one for ground one for tip, plug the guitar cord from the amp into this test jack, now connect the ground to a good grounding surface in that control cavity somewhere, next use the other clip to poke arround you may pick up a signal where it should not be and that will be the bad wire. If you get no signals no where then you will need to did in another area.

I will be waiting!

[matttheguy]

I've found the problem.

On the jack, the ground was left bare a bit, and when the plug was inserted it was JUST touching the bare ground.

After a quick fix with electrical tape, she sounds perfect.

[RMS]

I've found the problem.

On the jack, the ground was left bare a bit, and when the plug was inserted it was JUST touching the bare ground.

After a quick fix with electrical tape, she sounds perfect.

Ok, thats part of what amp builders call lead dress, its very important that everything stays neat clean and tucked out of the way. Remember I said to check that jack!! LOL Actually you would think hooking up this stuff like jacks and pots would be easy but somtimes its not, and little things can get over looked.

Glad its fixed,

Rob

Edited December 31, 2006 by RMS

[matttheguy]

Indeed. I kept most of the soldering very neat and clean (one pot doesn't look professionally done, a slip on my part), but that channel where the jack sits in the LP is just a little tight, so it barely touches that wire. I should have taped it up in the first place.

It's all good now though, sounds just like two humbuckers should.