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The ground wire doesn't have to go directly to the volume pot, any common ground will work. But a ground has to be made somewhere. A wire has two ends, and both ends must be connected in order for electrons to flow. You may have a ground loop, meaning too many ground wires connected in too many places. As I said, without seeing the wiring it's impossible to say what the situation is.
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01-18-2019 08:17 PM
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Ah, I see. I'll pull the pot out tomorrow and take a few pics so you can see what's what. Hopefully something will immediately look out of place and a solution can be had!
Originally Posted by sgosnell
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Epiphone switches do sometimes fail. In this circumstance, I'd hit both the switch and the neck's volume knob with QD electronics cleaner before I did anything. Upgrading to a Switchcraft is a good move, imo. Originally Posted by Esport
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I installed a new Switchcraft and it worked perfectly with the stock pickups. The problem now is a ground issue that occurred after installing a new pu. Originally Posted by Thumpalumpacus
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Ok, I removed all the electronics and noticed this broken lead on the output jack. Could this be the problem?
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Definitely the output jack ground. I touched one end of my metal screwdriver to the back of the tone pot and the other to the leg of the ground on the output jack and the hum disappeared. So, I must've broken that connection when I pulled all the electronics out to swap the neck pickup, since everything worked prior to the pu replacement.
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Whether or not it's "The" problem, it is definitely "a" problem. Needs to be remedied. The ground, that is the braided wire, needs to be attached to the lead that touches the shaft of the plug, that is, the one that is broken. That could be your problem right there. Originally Posted by Esport
Ok, I removed all the electronics and noticed this broken lead on the output jack. Could this be the problem?
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Thanks, Lawson. That's what I'm setting out to do. Per my previous post, I confirmed that the hum/buzz goes away when I bridge that connection and ground the jack.
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Fix that and I think you are done! I admire your patient perseverance. Originally Posted by Esport
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Yeah, it's surprisingly been a sort of zen experience. I don't even know who I am anymore... Originally Posted by lawson-stone
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I should stick to piano....
Last edited by Esport; 01-20-2019 at 11:07 PM.
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So there's still a nasty ground, somewhere.... and realizing that the entirety of the electronics look somewhat haggard and janky, I've decided to gut the whole affair and rewire everthing from scratch. Originally Posted by lawson-stone
Ordered a pair of Orange drop caps, CTS 500k audio taper pots, Switchcraft output jack and some high quality shielded braided cable. I have to download my diagram, now, and mentally prepare myself for the job. My soldering skills are shit so I'll be practicing before the parts arrive. I'm glad I'm not into this thing for a lot of money. Guess this is good way to get a fairly cheap 175 and education at the same time.
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Well, today I got all my components together and took the plunge on my first rewire of electronics. I decided to make life a bit easier by eliminating the bridge since I don't anticipate using it. I followed a diagram for a '50's style single humbucker from Throbak. It wasn't fun. Kept losing the output jack. I got everything buttoned back up and when I plugged it in it just buzzed like mad and the neck pu did nothing. Granted, I left mid-mod to attend a birthday lunch, but I realized pretty quickly that I made 2 mistakes, at least: forgot to ground the metal braided wire to the Vol pot. #2 was getting the hot and ground swapped on the output jack. Ugh. Gonna fix that tomorrow and test things out.
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Don't really need a live selector switch if you're only wiring up one pup...
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Fair point haha
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I started over, again, using a different wiring diagram for a single humbucker with 1 vol and 1 tone. I got it working....sort of. I still have a faint ground hum that goes away when I touch the pickup. The pu is working properly. The tone pot, however, is not functioning. This is the diagram I used. I followed it 100%. Any thoughts?
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The wire colors from the pickup may not be correct, unless you have that identical SD pickup. Here's a wiring scheme that works well for me: Bravo wiring diagram (1).pdf It's the way Benedetto wires their guitars, and it doesn't change the tone when the volume is rolled off. I rewire all my guitars this way.
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I used the metal braided line from the pu I installed and followed the instructions. There isn't a connection I missed. I'm close to taking it in to let somebody else deal with it.
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Discovered this morning that turning the guitar upside down, while plugged in, eliminated the hum. Must have an exposed wire touching something?
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I had a similar switch problem on ES-295. Took it to GC; seems like the wood wasn't routed cleanly there. He cleaned it out; so far so good...
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Possibly a short, possibly an intermittent/incomplete solder connection. It's very easy to get those on the back of a potentiometer due to inadequate heating. You need an iron that gets hot enough, and is big enough to deliver that heat quickly, so as to melt the solder without overheating the entire pot. Small low-wattage soldering irons don't do a good job here. That may or may not be the cause of the hum, but it's not an uncommon one. Proper soldering takes some experience.
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Well, I'm definitely no good at soldering. My iron is a cheap unit, as well. It was tricky to get ground wires soldered well to the backs of the pots. I think that was one of the more frustrating tasks involved. I'll have to fish it all out again and see if I can uncover the offender. There is still the problem of the tone pot not working. I don't know what's goin on there. At this point I don't even care that much as long as I can just play the damned thing! I can adjust he amp for tone haha
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Before reinstalling the assembly, check each connection with an ohmmeter—especially the grounding. You can also test operation of all controls with the assembly uninstalled by holding the pickup in front of your strings. Soldering to a heat sink and without anything to wrap the wire around requires the correct type of soldering equipment and technique. I’d suggest you find some good how-to articles and videos on that topic.
It might be easier and more reliable to solder just one wire to the back of the pot then use that wire as your ground connection instead of trying to solder two or three wires to the back of the pot. And I’d use a wire to connect the ground tab of the pot to the case instead of bending it over.
This guy has lot of great DIY videos for guitarists.
Last edited by KirkP; 02-05-2019 at 03:36 PM.
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I finally admitted defeat and took the Epi to a local pro to do a complete rewire job. When I picked it up yesterday, he confirmed that I had, indeed, done a piss-poor job
He agreed that trying to tackle a complete rewire of a hollow body was a tall order for somebody who had never done any guitar work beyond a restring. He performed a set-up as well and my short test drive seemed good. I'll be testing it further in a few hours through my Katana 100w where I'm more accustomed to the sound of that amp. ( I tested it through his small Fishman that he had on hand).
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After spending a bit of time with the new set-up this morning, I'm liking the Parson Street Golden Age PAF. It's nice and mellow with a darkish, rounded tone. Suits me well as I play lightly and usually roll off the tone to 7 or so on most hollowbodies I've had. I'll try to get a sound clip up, soon. The weather is nice, here, so I took her outside for a quick pic. So far so good!
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