No sound from a Squier Standard Tele

DeeTee

Apologies if this is in the wrong sub forum. I recently picked up one of these, and I've got no sound coming from it. If I plug it into the amp, I get a persistent buzz that changes in note if I touch the strings. I get nothing if I play it. The seller said that he thought there was a bit of an issue with the jack socket. I've checked that, and the connections seem solid.

Does anyone have any ideas?

At some point, somebody has changed the control plate to a black one. I thought that when they did this, they'd managed to break the ground wire off the volume pot, and made a hash of soldering it back on. I reattached the solder this weekend, but this didn't change anything.

I suspect that one of the pots has been fried. Does that sound likely?

https://imgur.com/a/SqoOVDw

I notice one of the black wires at the volume pot is sitting on top of a big blob of solder, not touching the pot itself.

Funkfingers

Unscrew the control plate. Carefully raise the controls assembly from the cavity. Take some photographs of whatever is going on in there. Hopefully, somebody can make sense of what has gone wrong and suggest how to put it right. 

DeeTee

Good thinking. I've edited the original post, and here's a picture of the wiring assembly behind the control plate. 

https://imgur.com/a/oXnyHwT

Funkfingers

Looking at your photograph, I am not convinced that any of the original soldering has been touched.

The control plate change could have been performed using only a spanner and whatever was necessary to remove the control knobs from their respective pot shafts.

If I had to guess, I would suspect that strain could have been placed upon the connections to the jack socket. That would explain the complete loss of signal. 

Is the black control plate made of metal that has a black coating applied or is it plastic? The circuit, as seen in your photographs, relies on the control plate to complete the grounding path. 

If you have a multimeter, test for continuity between the volume pot and the output jack socket.



It is possible that the volume pot has been overheated by somebody using an underpowered soldering iron. To be be brutally frank, the stock pots, selector switch and jack are all low budget rubbish. They will fail sooner or later. If you are considering replacing one component, you might as well do a thorough job and replace the lot. 

Finally, I suspect that whoever fitted the black control plate, screwed on the selector switch back on the wrong way around.

DeeTee

Thanks for the help. The plate is metal, but I don't know if the coating to make it black is a problem. The switch is probably back to front because the previous owner did that common mod where they flip the plate back to front to avoid hitting the switch while playing.

To be honest, I was probably going to change the plate back to chrome and replace the pots anyway. They're cheap 500k jobs. I think I might be as well changing everthing over at the same time. The question is whether it's worth me getting a decent soldering iron and trying it myself, or just getting a tech to do it.

vale

sounds 'ground'y to me. if you have a multimeter, check continuity of all ground wires (black) on their own (one end of wire to the other). to check for breaks.

then check that there is continuity between them and whatever they are attached to (pot, switch, jack socket). this to check for dead/cracked solder joints.

99% of the time, this humming thing is a ground issue (assuming your lead & amp is good).

DeeTee

I'm actually wondering the control plate is conductive enough to complete the ground loop. Perhaps that's the problem?

Funkfingers

If the lock washers around the pot shafts have left bite marks in the black coating, there should be a ground path.

If you distrust the existing ground path, add an insulated wire between the chassises of the two pots.

I would still check the continuity of the wires first.

DeeTee

I checked the plate, and there was no metal showing. I put a bit of foil between the two pots, and got a little bit of sound when I played a note. Not very much at all though. I'm tempted to change the plate (because that's happening anyway) then find out how much it would be for a tech to swap the switch and pots.

ESBlonde

Shove a (good and tested) jack lead into the socket.
Now use the multimeter to check continuity of first the sleeve and then the (hot) tip through the circuit.
One thing about telecasters is the sockets can wiggle about or fall out, it is possible one of the leads has fallen off the socket. If it's not a screened lead inside to the socket they should at least be twisted to get some shielding effect.

Or remove the lot socket and plate and replace with a quality one ready made from the likes of oil city or similar.

ICBM

The ground path via the control plate is a fundamental flaw in the original Fender wiring scheme - it's bad practice and should not be done like that - connect all the grounds to the volume pot. It may be the cause here, and it certainly can be on old Teles and other Fenders which use metal control plates to complete the circuit and where corrosion gets in between the pots and the plate over the years.

DeeTee

Thanks ICBM, that's really helpful. So if I wanted to add proper grounds, would I just need to add a wire between the two pots at this point?

ICBM

Yes, or just move the jack ground wire to the volume pot. (Depending on how the tone cap is connected, or that might stop the tone control working.)

Paul_C

I replaced a jack socket on a Squier Std. Strat the other day which had suddenly died.

All the connections looked fine, as did the socket, but the meter showed that somehow the hot and earth were shorting out (nothing visible). Swapped for a new one, absolutely fine.

Funkfingers

With both ends of the capacitor connected to the tone pot as they currently are, the least disruptive circuit alteration is to add a ground wire between the chassises of the two pots.

If rebuilding the circuit from scratch, using new components, the wisest option would be to connect the capacitor in the Leo Fender penny pinching tradition. Then, as ICBM recommends, connect all grounds to the volume pot chassis.

Thus far, the OP has not reported back on the condition of the output jack socket.

Paul_C said:

All the connections looked fine, as did the socket but the meter showed that somehow the hot and earth were shorting out (nothing visible).

On cheap jack sockets, the contact parts can become mobile, free to revolve about the axis of the threaded barrel. Repeated retightening of the nut can eventually bring the positive and negative metal contacts together, shorting everything to ground.

DeeTee

Sorry, I thought I'd mentioned the jack socket. My bad. It seems ok. No travel on it. Here's a pic: https://imgur.com/a/OS5uzHe

Funkfingers

Looks okay. How are the continuity meter readings?

DeeTee

Unfortunately I don't have access to a multimeter, and whether I pick one up depends on how much a tech quotes me to fit new pots etc. Basically if it's too much, I'll learn to do it myself and have the skill. If it's not too bad, I'll probably just pay someone so I can have my guitar up and running!

robgilmo

You can buy ready made and wired control plates, you will just need to solder the pickup wires to them.

ICBM

Paul_C said:

I replaced a jack socket on a Squier Std. Strat the other day which had suddenly died.

All the connections looked fine, as did the socket, but the meter showed that somehow the hot and earth were shorting out (nothing visible). Swapped for a new one, absolutely fine.

I've come across this several times with modern far-east-made jacks.

They're all crap to one degree or another. I wouldn't use anything other than a Switchcraft, it's just not worth saving a few pennies given how much better a part the proper one is.

This one won't be that though, or you would get silence instead of a varying buzz when you touch the strings - that's the sign of a missing ground connection.

DeeTee said:

Sorry, I thought I'd mentioned the jack socket. My bad. It seems ok. No travel on it. Here's a pic: https://imgur.com/a/OS5uzHe

That looks like the retaining plate has just pulled straight out of the hole. It's not the cause of the trouble here but it's just a really poor design, and it baffles me why Fender are still making Teles like that after nearly 70 years. You would be better replacing the whole lot with an Electrosocket cup and a Switchcraft jack.

DeeTee

Yeah, it's on the list of things to do!