Interesting volume problem...

[rapfohl09]

Hey everyone, recently I decided to update the electronics in my Gibson SG to some stewmac golden age humbuckers I had lying around, and went all out with mojotone electronics. I didn't get it pre-wired, because I figured it was a waste of 40 dollars, however, now that I have everything wired up, I plugged it in and fired up my amp and....nothing.

Well the first time I did it there was nothing. I tried again a few hours later and now everything works exactly the way it should, switch, volumes, tones, all of that, however, its just really quiet. I have to crank my amp to get a volume that I would normally have gotten at about 3 before...

Thoughts?

 

[Jumble Jumble]

For the low output: probably you've got the wires reversed on the connection to the jack. It's an incredibly easy mistake to make.

For the low output, chances are the hot was being shorted to ground somewhere. Check everywhere that you don't have places where the two potentials could come into intermittent contact.

 

[drewfx]

Did you replace the pots and other stuff or just the PU's? If so, what are the new pots?

Do you have a multimeter to test with (as everyone who ever picks up a soldering iron should)?

 

[rapfohl09]

I replaced everything. And I will have to check the output jack. I checked and double checked everything, but I will check again haha. I will also look into any intermittent connections.

As for a meter, I don't have one (embarassingly enough). I have always meant to pick one up, but its one of those "i'll get one next project" things. I solder something maybe once a year.

Another quick question just too calm my mind, could it by any chance be related to get the potentiometers too hot? There were some that I got pretty warm when I was working on them, but all of them work exactly the way they should, I just have low output.

 

[TroubledTreble]

Interesting. Is it possible a tab on the tone pot is grounded? Used a resistor instead of cap on tone pot? Vol and tone pot swtiched?

It's probably not one of these but thought I would ask.

 

[drewfx]

Verify it's a good cable, amp and all that.

Try wiring one of the PU's directly to the jack and see what happens then.

Are these 4-conductor HB's? Maybe you have the 2 coils wired out of phase with each other (in which case you'd get hum but not much signal)?

 

[Cagey]

What are "Mojotone electronics"? Do you know what values the pots are? If you've got a set designed for active pickups, they'll be of much too low a value to work with passive pickups. I mean, by an order of magnitude. Huge difference, is what I'm saying.

Reversing the polarity on the OUTPUT jack will not result in diminished output. It'll just make the amp hum along with your playing when you touch the strings.

Shorts will prevent any output, not produce reduced output.

Cold solder joints could reduce output, but they're more likely to appear as opens electrically resulting in no output, so I wouldn't hang my hat on that.

Burnt pots could do it, but you're more likely to open them resulting in full output than change their value, so I wouldn't hang my hat there, either.

A misplaced ground or shorted cap (from overheating) on the tone pot could do it. Can you alter the effect by changing your tone control's position?

Are you sure you're holding your mouth right? I've noticed all the pros make weird faces while playing. They know people take pictures, so I can't imagine they'd look so stupid on purpose unless it was necessary....

 

[rapfohl09]

Hey everyone! I put this problem to bed. Well not me, a tech.

So basically, I walked into the shop after a few months or so of picking the guitar up and being disappointed and trying to find what was wrong. He looks at it for about 2 seconds and says "oh its just that the red and white wires aren't connected, just strip the ends and twist em together with a little solder or tape and your done." He does it right in front of me in about another 2 seconds, plugs it into his test amp and bam, my SG is back to singing!

I was dumbfounded to say the least  :laughing7:
It was just something I never even thought of.

So there is a lesson here, always keep your red and white wires connected. :laughing7:

 

[thebutcher85]

Hey everyone! I put this problem to bed. Well not me, a tech.

So basically, I walked into the shop after a few months or so of picking the guitar up and being disappointed and trying to find what was wrong. He looks at it for about 2 seconds and says "oh its just that the red and white wires aren't connected, just strip the ends and twist em together with a little solder or tape and your done." He does it right in front of me in about another 2 seconds, plugs it into his test amp and bam, my SG is back to singing!

I was dumbfounded to say the least  :laughing7:
It was just something I never even thought of.

So there is a lesson here, always keep your red and white wires connected. :laughing7:

Haha! I just saw this thread now, I've done the exact same thing before lol! Glad you figured it out.
What golden age buckers did you put in? How do you like them?

 

[rapfohl09]

Hey everyone! I put this problem to bed. Well not me, a tech.

So basically, I walked into the shop after a few months or so of picking the guitar up and being disappointed and trying to find what was wrong. He looks at it for about 2 seconds and says "oh its just that the red and white wires aren't connected, just strip the ends and twist em together with a little solder or tape and your done." He does it right in front of me in about another 2 seconds, plugs it into his test amp and bam, my SG is back to singing!

I was dumbfounded to say the least  :laughing7:
It was just something I never even thought of.

So there is a lesson here, always keep your red and white wires connected. :laughing7:

Haha! I just saw this thread now, I've done the exact same thing before lol! Glad you figured it out.
What golden age buckers did you put in? How do you like them?

I haven't really gotten to hear them yet through anything but a Marshall micro amp that was the tech's test amp, but I am really excited to hear it through my Carvin!