crafty

i know, ive used a ton of different wiring diagrams and i cant get them to work. ive wired over 25 guitars and never had a problem. but this time i just cant get it to work. i posted a topic in electronics, but everyone just thinks im am too inexperienced and dont know what im doing. but i havnt done emgs before, but i have used a bunch of other actives. i just cant figure out why i can wire them.

The problem is that you're not listening to advice that's been given, and you have diarrhea of the keyboard. This is not the fault of anyone who's been following your thread in Electronics. There is a big difference between wiring over 25 guitars and troubleshooting ONE problem guitar. You need to get off the computer, buy a multimeter and learn how to use it, or bite the bullet and have someone with the skills troubleshoot the guitar. If I was in Corrales, I'd come over and fix it for FREE. Sadly, I'm not, so you'll just have to find someone who can.

i actually kind of tried that already. look at this pic. this is wired directly to the jack.

So THAT is one pickup wired directly to the output jack? Okay, it LOOKS like you've soldered everything to the right lugs, I'm assuming that the red wire is soldered to the red on the battery clip, fresh battery, good mono instrument cable going into a good amp...

Is the amp good?

Still looking for some help on this one. Thanks guys.

Soul Mate Guitars -- Doug is a member here

Myka Guitars -- Another member who does quality work

Keep in mind, most respectable luthiers WILL NOT build a carbon copy of a PRS, but they'll generally do the work that's been commissioned on time and high quality.

Just saw Perry's post and almost forgot about him. He's one of the top three builders I've ever seen on this site and his guitars are well-known among the who's who of guitarists in Australia. Members here have used him on their own commissions before as well.

the only place i know i can take it is to a local music shop, but ive heard they cant look at it unless you pay them first and they diagnose it.

And?

That's called running a business. You can either keep spinning your wheels and have a couple hundred dollar paperweights in EMGs or pony up for a multimeter or have a guitar tech check it out.

i dont have a meter, nor know where to get one. and i dont have anyone else to check my wiring for me. i thought you meant the wires around the pots and stuff. ive tried the quick connects both ways, right side up and upside down. niether made a difference.

You need to take the guitar to someone who has a multimeter or knows where to get one. Hell, even a fresh set of eyes looking at the wiring may see the problem right off the bat! It's happened to me before, so that's why I'm suggesting you do that at this point.

Question: You ARE using 25k pots, right?

none. but i have wired all the other actives on the market, and they worked fine with all wiring diagrams. i replaced the pots before i noticed toutching it made a difference. why do you keep questioning me about my ability or my knowledge? i know how to wire a guitar. and this isnt helping.

I am questioning your skills because you haven't been able to solve the problem. I am not in any way questioning your character. You seem to have diarrhea of the keyboard and keep posting useless posts instead of trying to listen to what people are telling you or troubleshoot the guitar.

anyone know why they show their diagrams like this? a 3 way switch looks nothing like that. and i hate how the ground tho the switch just goes into the middle somewhere. it doesnt even show exaclty, and especially since you cant even tell what that switch is.

Your three way switch may not look like that, but it's a Gibson right-angle style switch for a thin-body guitar like the SG. The ground goes to the body of the switch. You can use a ring terminal to ground the switch, too.

ok, i dont know where you get that i just sit here and post without planning or anything. i have wired over 25 guitars, none have ever had a problem. i am 100 percent positive that i wired it exactly like the diagram. i will even post a video and and show you. i replaced BRAND NEW pots with more brand new pots. it seems like the problem revolves around the jack.

So why did you replace the pots if you think the problem is with the output jack? How many of those guitars were equipped with active EMG's?

wow, how do you know that? how do you know i dont have the tools or experience?

Because you would have fixed the problem by now. I meant no offense, and I apologize if it read that way.

Less time posting on this forum, more time planning and troubleshooting will give you better results.

too late. and i used that diagram. and it the input was the way it should be

Well, if you used either of those diagrams and it's still not working, check the quick-connects to make sure they're on the right way and take the guitar to a tech to figure out what's wrong. I've used those diagrams before and I can assure you that they are correct.

It sounds like you don't have the tools or experience to diagnose what you're doing wrong, so this is one of those times to hand it over to someone who does.

http://www.emginc.com/downloads/wiringdiag...ng-Diagrams.pdf

Use diagram 3 or 4, depending on what kind of switch you're using.

BTW, I'm pretty sure you're wiring the input jack incorrectly.

i just dont know if i can take it anymore. 3 years, what have i learned? nothing. i havent gotten any better. wasted money and time i could have used for something that could have really gotten me somewhere. instead im here, stuck with a bunch of stuff that i only have becuse i am selfish. every single project. i destroy anything that i toutch. brand new electronics, i screw over in 10 minutes and make unuseable. out of the 20 guitars ive built, none have every worked within 10 screw ups on every one. now i know why no one trusts me with anything.

CHILL OUT!

You gotta have fun doing this or isn't worth doing!

Woodworking takes practice. Everybody makes mistakes now and then, and if you keep making them, do some prototyping on cheap wood and scraps. It'll work out if you let it.

Which lug?

I would recomend staying away from the noiseless pickups pickups cause although it has less hum they have to cut down the pickups power to do so witch in turn I think makes them kinda sterile sounding I would recomend finding a good boutiqe pickup maker you could ask around on a telecaster forum to see what everyone has to say pickup wise and then look into investing in a eh humdebugger or just do a really really good shielding job.

Riiight.

No tele pickup is going to sound The Best between two people, and there's a lot of people performing and recording with noiseless pickups. Modern noiseless pickups have really come a long way because of the evolution of pickup design and you have your choice of many different qualities in design.

Having said that, Duncan hasn't put out a new noiseless tele design in ages. DiMarzio, Lawrence/Wilde, and Kinman seem to be the ones coming up with new designs and improvements in this area.

I don't mind loosing the Fender logo if I save some money but if it's a trivial amount I'll just go with fender

Finding a pickup proves tricky and I just checked the fender selection

Coating whould have to be something like Nitro-Cellulose so it will sound and look the best, right?

And if I were to just buy a Fender I couldn't really get the Swamp Ash/Maple combination without going into the higher priced ones but there is of course the alder one http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?partno=0110500721 . and that one is pretty cheap too.. around 450$ I guess.

Like Mick said, there's no way you can beat the price point on the Standard Telecaster. However, like you said, you can't get a Standard with a swamp ash body!

Here's what I'd suggest:

Do as much research as you can here and other sites like the Fender Forum, TDPRI, and harmony-central. Beware of actual supplier's websites. All of them are there to sell their products for as much money as they can get, so you need to know how to separate the BS from the real deal. Building up a custom guitar is like building up a custom computer. You can't beat Dell on the price point, but you can buy better parts and build the machine YOU want. The reason why I mentioned GuitarFetish is because their parts are pretty much the same quality you'll find on even an American Standard Tele for a lot less money than the Fender-stamped components.

Those are great prices for the neck and body. I would really consider using some kind of finish to seal up the body and prevent warpage on the neck. If the neck warps the manufacturer may not cover it under warranty without a sealing finish.

Look around on the 'net for your parts. GuitarFetish has some pretty good Tele parts for less coin than Music123, and you can find better pickups for about the same or less from many manufacturers.

DiMarzio Breed or Tone Zone in the bridge with the new Area '67s in the mid and neck would be something different indeed.

When I think of the Pearly Gates, I think of a mild Chevy 383, not a 440 Magnum.

This is so true. One of my friends has a fender bass who's output jack was very corroded and cut out constantly so I replaced the jack as a favor. Except now a few months later the active circutry is toast and fender wont take it because a "none authorized" repair man replaced the output jack.

I read through the fender warranty documents very carefully and I'm appalled. They cover almost nothing, and have loop holes to get out of anything.

Dan: Fender still has to comply with Magnuson-Moss. Unless they can prove that your replacement output jack caused the malfunction with the active circuitry, they MUST comply with the terms of their written warranty. They are under no duty to extend their warranty to the new output jack or cover the cost of your services, but they cannot void the rest of the warranty on the guitar.

Question: who refused the warranty service? Fender or the local repair shop?

DJ: Free legal advice from someone who is not a lawyer (or solicitor, in the UK) is worth about as much as it costs. Get yourself familiarized with the procedures for collecting taxes and getting the right documentation and licensing to the government. Hire an accountant if you're bad with numbers and you're making a lot of money.

I don't know of any concentric pots that have different resistance values for each side.

EMG has several accessory circuits designed to help shape the tone of the pickups, so you may want to look into those devices as well. Keep in mind that Buddy Guy also uses an EMG equipped Guild solidbody in addition to his Strat, and his tone is pretty good out of that thing as well.

Did you do the wiring or did it come stock like that? Sounds like you have a bad ground loop in there somewhere.

I really like the DiMarzio PAF Classics in my Les Paul right now, and the smooth EMG-SA set in my Strat...

I ordered a new hard drive for my laptop last year. UPS website says it's out for delivery, so I'm watching for the truck. I see it pull up outside and I head for the door. Driver walks up the lawn, looks at the front porch, looks at the railing on the front porch, realizes he would have to walk around the railing, shrugs shoulders, and TOSSES THE BOX WITH MY NEW HARD DRIVE ON THE CONCRETE PATIO!! This is a box that's marked EXTREMELY FRAGILE--HARD DRIVE ENCLOSED.

Weller, Hakko, and PACE all make great soldering stations. My personal preference would have to go to PACE, just because they're like, the Mercedes of soldering. NASA uses their equipment for just about everything and it's what I learned to solder on at vo-tech. But you'll be spending $100 just to get an analog station with PACE...

I have a cheap Weller station I picked up at Sears a few years back. It does everything I need it to do and the only thing that I'm having trouble with these days is finding decent solder and flux due to all the new regulations. Ceramic tips are great for high-temperature work where tinning isn't possible or even necessary, but are useless and too expensive to justify for hobby work on guitars and such.

Spend a few bucks more and get some L-500XLs from Bill and Becky Lawrence instead...

The Epiphone Masterbuilt guitars made in Japan are great guitars and will get you 99% of the way to a Gibson standard, but the last 1% is too much for some people. If you're on an Epi budget and want the whole Gibson, buy a used one!

FWIW, most Epi's are pretty nice guitars for the money.