5 way switch question

Stevepage

My Jackson has a VLX53 5 way selector. I've wondered if it's all wired up and working correctly as the neck pickup (Duncan JB Jr)  doesn't seem to be able to match the bridge humbucker in terms of output.

I've tried a few different pickups in the neck and they've all sounded under powered.

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/8L5C2i6


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/maliciousteve/IMG_20190915_084451_zpsuzaslinv.jpg
As you can just make out I've got the black wired to the selector, red and white taped off and the green and bare wired to the ground (the copper tape where all the ground wires and wired). 

Is that correct? Could it be a faulty switch?

Funkfingers

I would want my pickup ground connections soldered to steel. 

The VLX53 is a cheap piece of crap. It usually fails through heavy handed use. The PCB prises away from the white half, weakening the internal contacts.

Finally, the JB Jnr N pickup is not as ferocious as its full sized bridge position namesake. (None of the neck position Duncan Li’l ‘buckers is especially “hot”.)

Stevepage

I should mention it's a bridge version JB Jr and it still doesn't sound right. I've had a JB Jr in the bridge position of my Strat for years and I've never had complaints about it.

It could well be the selector may be on its way out then. I took it out this morning and it does look a bit knackered.

ICBM

It could well be the switch - as Funkfingers said these are cheap crap. You could connect the two halves of it in parallel if you don't want to replace it now - or want to have a better idea if it is the problem - but a proper CRL switch would be a much better solution in the long term.

If you do want to parallel the switch, connect terminals 4 and 5 (wire to the volume pot), and terminals 1 and 6, 2 and 7, and 3 and 8.

Connecting the grounds to the copper tape is OK, but I would want to solder a wire between the pot ground terminal and the tape as well, not rely on the physical contact between the two.

Stevepage

So I changed the selector for a Dimarzio 5 way switch. I think I may have solved it. I didn't get a chance to turn my speakers up too much last night so I haven't got a good idea of how it sounds just yet. But still, it works better than the old one. Much more solid.

Stevepage

So since last time I've changed the seemingly cheap volume pot with a CTS pot. That's where the problem seems to have been all along. The neck pickup is sounding just how it should do and overall the guitar sounds more 'ballsy'.