Wiring problems on Squire Partscaster

[Hurricane Bob]

Added 3 new CTS pots, new Fender 5 way switch, and orange drop capacitors to the tones and now it barely works. The volume barely works, 1st tone does nothing, and the 2nd tone works as a volume for bridge pup. Something aint right here:confused

[BTF]

Can you post a pic of your work? It sounds like a wiring problem.

Good Luck

[moon]

Could be a bad solder joint somewhere. When the parts being soldered are hot enough you should see the solder flow and soak evenly onto the parts and the joint should have a shiny surface.

[Hurricane Bob]

I checked the solder joints, its a little messy, but still doesn't work right.

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[BTF]

It's difficult for me to see much detail, but here are a few suggestions (I'm not nitpicking, just hoping to help...):

1) On the volume pot, you have the switch output to the correct post, and the output jack lead looks correct, but you need a wire from the far right post soldered to the pack of the pot. If it's not there, the volume won't work properly.

2) The solder pool on the back of the volume pot needs to be heated until it pools, not just looks chunky. Usually, that's a sign of the soldering iron being unable to heat the joint properly. I don't think this has to do with your problems, though.

3) The solder lugs on the pots have holes which ideally should be coated over with solder when a wire is soldered to them. This isn't a must, but is generally done. Try reheating the lugs and coat them neatly with solder to ensure a good joint.

4) Check each wire to make sure the wiring is correct. Use the Seymour Duncan diagram (it's neatly laid-out) for reference.

If all this checks, make sure that the hot wires of each pickup don't have a short from a cut or melt in the insulation (commonly caused when stripping or from the heat of soldering). This can cause the pickup to have little volume.

Hope this helps! Bill.

[Hurricane Bob]

Thanks for helping, my cheap soldering iron isn't helping my soldering skills. I did solder that volume post to the back of the pot, but now I see it fell off. I will reheat the mess on that pot as well and add more solder like you said. Also, I added a Seymour Duncan bridge pup in there and wired in 2 caps using the wiring I got from this video--thanks


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4LFXzX8qgo

[BTF]

Anytime! Keep the forum posted if anything doesn't work.

And don't fret about that soldering iron... Some years ago one of my sisters bought me that wretched "Cold Heat Soldering Iron" after seeing a television commercial for it. Honestly, it couldn't solder a period to a sentence!

It might be easier on the iron to solder wires individually to the volume pot back (it will help to scratch the contact area on the pot with a knife blade- it will remove surface oxidation). The solder should form a neat drop. Nothing in the rule book says all the wires have to be soldered in one drop, just soldered to the back of the volume pot.

Good Luck!

[Gutch]

Try running a ground line between the volume and two tone pots. I see ground to the volume, but not the rest. Solder a wire between the volume and first tone pot, then between the first and second tone pot. Also solder the third lug on the volume pot to ground.

Use this diagram for reference...

http://www.premierguitar.com/ext/res...JPG?1371672822

[MBE]

Originally Posted by Hurricane Bob

Thanks for helping, my cheap soldering iron isn't helping my soldering skills. I did solder that volume post to the back of the pot, but now I see it fell off. I will reheat the mess on that pot as well and add more solder like you said. Also, I added a Seymour Duncan bridge pup in there and wired in 2 caps using the wiring I got from this video--thanks


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4LFXzX8qgo

Many others have pointed out some specific areas to address, so I'll just comment on this:

It takes a decent soldering iron to generate enough heat to solder the ground to that pot casing (much more than to just solder a wire to a lug). If you're using one of those entry-level 25W irons, you will not be able to create a sufficient solder joint (like you've noticed, it'll just fall off).

[Hurricane Bob]

My new $5.00 Menard's soldering iron sucks big time, I thought it was me. Anyway, I finally got everything soldered and everything is working but--the new Seymour Duncan bridge pickup sounds very thin alone. Some say to reverse the wiring on those in combination with fender pickups? Will that extra grounding help with the sound? Really sick of stringing up and stripping down to solder. I do have a Sears Craftsman soldering gun that is 150 watts on low, would that work or destroy things?

[BTF]

That sounds like a wiring orientation problem if the Seymour has multi-core wiring and the pickup is thin ALONE. If thin when added to another pickup, it's probably a phase problem.

Check that the two wires which form the coil junction are the correct ones. If you have two coil ends or two coil starts wired together, the coil's outputs essentially cancel each other out. The bare wire is of course always the shield ground. The necessary phase will determine which of the other wires is hot and signal ground.

If/when the bridge pickup sounds good alone, but thin when added to either the other pickup, then you need to switch the phase on the Seymour. To do that, if the Seymour has a bare wire, it stays soldered to the pot back, but you reverse the output wire and insulated ground wire on the bridge pickup.

Hope this helps!

[donh]

Originally Posted by Hurricane Bob

My new $5.00 Menard's soldering iron sucks big time

Yup.

The soldering irons I use cost me $115, and presently sell for $150. There is a reason for this. (hint: functionality)

The solder must flow and wet the joining surfaces.

[stratokatsu]

The quality of the solder you use can also make a difference. Good Kester solder isn't much more than the Radio Shack stuff, but it makes a big difference in how easy the solder is to work with and it flows much more easily.

[clintj]

Those soldering guns just don't have the mass and recovery time to solder pot casings. You need at least a 40W pencil type to be able to effectively heat the metal to temp.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[Hurricane Bob]

My Fender sounds pretty good now thanks to all suggestions. Will have to get a better soldering iron for sure. Re-soldered a bunch of connections and I have a nice sounding Strat. I would think that the bridge pickup would sound better if not angled so much in the pick guard. I used Oatey lead free rosin core solder. Cant wait to gig with her.

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