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Low output

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Tej
 Tej
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Hi, so having built the guitar I didn’t check both pickups before screwing everything down and stringing up etc. Annoyingly the neck pickup is really low output, it’s not as hot as the bridge one anyway but the drop in volume between the too is far too significant. So if anyone can suggest a sound approach to diagnosing what’s going on please shout!?

…on an elaborate journey to turn trees into music.


   
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Robin
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Annoyingly the neck pickup is really low output, it’s not as hot as the bridge one anyway but the drop in volume between the too is far too significant. So if anyone can suggest a sound approach to diagnosing what’s going on please shout!?

Sounds very similar to the problem I had @tej . My volume only increased when the pot was near the end of its travel, and the tone pot made no difference at all. I'm sure some was earthing on the shielding paint, but not as a dead short circuit, maybe the shielding paint was acting as a big resistor.  Anyway, I suggest that you do some experimenting. Connect your bridge puckup directly to the jack socket, by passing any pots and switches and check what sound you get through your amp. If its a good result, then try the same with the neck pickup.  Reassemble it all one bit at a time, checking the result as you go. Good luck.


   
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Koendb
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@tej Some sound advice from @robin Maybe also a good idea to measure the DC resistance on that neck pickup. Could be a defect in the pickup too


   
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Tej
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@koendb I think I did check them when I got them but I can’t find a note of the rest so I’ll check that for sure.

@robin if the resistance is fine I’ll do that however I read a few articles where people had a similar issue which was just down to poor soldering of the signal wire from the pick-up so I’ll “re-melt” the solder for the connections as a first port of call. That said what I’ll actually do is finish setting it up, play it loads and then tackle this another day I expect 😬

…on an elaborate journey to turn trees into music.


   
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Rocknroller912
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@tej

Are the pick ups a matched set or did you buy them separate from different brands. It might be that the impedance on both is different.

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Tej
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@rocknroller912 Yes they were a set of Hot Slags from Iron Gear, classy!

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mattbeels
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So @tej how did it go with them Hot Slags?

Practice on scrap...


   
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Tej
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@mattbeels I re-wired it all in the end as I could isolate the issue, all good now 🙂

…on an elaborate journey to turn trees into music.


   
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tv1
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I've had an issue in the past with the connections on the selector switch failing.  That seems to be a weak point for me, rather than solder on pots, etc.

Posted by: @robin

Connect your bridge puckup directly to the jack socket, by passing any pots and switches and check what sound you get through your amp. If its a good result, then try the same with the neck pickup.  Reassemble it all one bit at a time, checking the result as you go.

I've done that as well ... spend a week making a guitar, get it all finished, solder the final wire in place, stand back with a sense of achievement and pride, plug in and .... nothing!

Unsolder everything and start again - exactly as @robin says - by wiring* each pickup in turn to the jack socket, then via a selector switch, then via the pots until I get it all working.

 

*a TV101 top tip here is *not* to solder everything when you're making temporary joints - just use wires with crocodile clips on each end instead.

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