switch gone wrong

bloomer

I knew I'd f*** it up. Can anyone tell me where I've gone wrong with replacing this switch? first two pics are the old switch and rest are the new. I get absolutely no sound whatsoever when I plug the guitar in.

https://i.imgur.com/YrLn9jQ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/UxdaXeB.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Mj7hVIL.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/SPyqnMg.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/cpoXi6f.jpg

FatPete

It doesn't look like you've actually soldered all the wires to the switch.

bloomer

Ha it does look like that in the pics but I've double checked the solders secure. Not saying its definitely not some dodgy soldering though! I assume I've soldered them in the wrong positions?

ICBM

bloomer said:

Ha it does look like that in the pics but I've double checked the solders secure. Not saying its definitely not some dodgy soldering though! I assume I've soldered them in the wrong positions?

Yes. The bridge pickup side (closest to the camera in the last pic) connections should all be one position further to the right.

But the neck pickup should work even then. Could you have pulled a wire off the jack or something?

Danny1969

Did you get the switch too hot and now the wiper doesn't contact ?

bloomer

Thanks @ICBM and @Danny1969, wiper was fine and now I've moved the connections on the bridge pickup it's all working. The new switch has one more lug on it than the old which was what confused me. Glad to have the guitar up and running finally, the wide range pickups sound great.

Funkfingers

ICBM said:

the neck pickup should work even then. Could you have pulled a wire off the jack or something?

The erroneous wiring created a path from the neck PU ground to its output conductor, across the selector switch collector wire, to the output conductor of the bridge PU and onwards to its ground. Hence, no signal.

ICBM

Funkfingers said:

The erroneous wiring created a path from the neck PU ground to its output conductor, across the selector switch collector wire, to the output conductor of the bridge PU and onwards to its ground. Hence, no signal.

That can’t have happened - there are only hot connections to the switch. From the switch wiring alone, the neck pickup switching would have worked fine but the bridge wouldn’t, so you would get sound (neck pickup only) in the front two positions.

There’s a much simpler explanation though, looking at the first pic especially - one of the braided pickup cables was probably touching the switch. Ideally these need sleeving in that area.