So what did they do?

[ZackPomerleau]

So someone I know, wired my Guitar, Lindy Fralin Real 54's, using a 60's schematic. Now, get this, no tone control on Bridge, which I believe is okay, but the Volume is not a volume, it is a tone! HOW? And, if you turn it down the Guitar buzzes to death unless you touch the strings, and the Guitar has been grounded in the back. HELP!

 

[jackthehack]

Post a picture of the wiring job and maybe we can tell you. We know what the schematic and the wiring SHOULD look like.  Here's a clear picture of vintage Strat wiring, cap value SHOULD be .047 or .050 rather than the .022 shown, but otherwise correct.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=3s_1v_2t_5w

1.) From your description the bridge and/or rest of circuit are NOT properly grounded.
2.) Your friend might have fried a pot doing the soldering.
3.) The circuit might be wired "upside down" - for example the link above shows (and most all guitar/bass circuit diagrams do) the circuit from the BOTTOM of the pickguard, not the top.

 

[ZackPomerleau]

Let me get a picture, we didn't solder the ground, it is being clamped between the screws because we couldn't get it to solder on the back...hmmm...


  Let me check and I'll get a picture.

 

[ZackPomerleau]

And also, another thing I noticed, the volume works as a tone maybe until 7, but then 7 up it works as a little volume boost.

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

:doh:

He, He.

 

[Fish Out of Water]

Jack,
I just received a couple of pups from seymour duncan and followed this same diagram when I wired up the pick guard and got almost the same exact problem as Zack here except my second tone knob was inoperable.  I disassembled the whole thing and rewired it again and got the same problem.  Then I decided to just follow the wiring on the old strat pickguard.  The guitar now works, but I am also getting lots of noise except I shouldn't be getting any noise because I have 2 single coil humbuckers and a SD JB in the bridge.  I'm stumped.  I've had it apart at least 5 times now and I've spent more time taking it apart and rewiring it than I'd like to admit.  I keep trying to sure up the ground points and making sure that I don't have any breaks anywhere.  I'm afraid the I may have fried a pot or damaged the 5-way switch.  I am no stranger to a soldering iron and have repaired my fair share of guitars and amps and have built and repaired plenty of electronic medical devices.  Frustration is begining to set in.  Can you or anyone else reading this offer any pointers ??  :help:

 

[jackthehack]

Sounds like y'all are frying components? Either of you have pictures?  For Fish: How did the original wiring differ from the SD std. Strat wiring diagram posted in the link above? Y'all have multimedia to check pot/circuit?

A couple of tips:

1.) If you are buying the CTS pots from Warmoth (or some other sources for that matter) thee pot's case is chromed, some other pots may have a different film finish to resist corrosion.  In either case, you need to take a file and remove the chrome/finish down to the bare metal; solder should easily stick to the ground point(s). If you attempt to "burn" through what's there you will probably kill the pot.
2.) With the exception of grounding points, all the other connection to the pots, switches, and jacks have eyelets. "Tin" these eyelets first by melting enough solder to fill the hole. Then quickly reheat and push the bare wire through, and hold it for a couple of seconds until the solder hardens back up.
3.) Although I have access to high end professional Weller soldering stations, I use a cheap ass 15 watt RadioShack soldering iron and their cheap rosin core solder to wire guitars. Makes it harder to fry something and that's all you really need.

Post some pics?

 

[Fish Out of Water]

I've tried to post pics and I just seem to be too stupid to figure it out.  I can never get the pics to up load...
What I can tell you is that the SD diagram is a bit different than the way that the Fender pick guard is wired.  The Fender pick guard wiring had a few jumpers (for lack of a better term) which seemed to be connecting the terminals for the neck and middle and then one going from the middle to the bridge (I'm going from memory here so I might not be totally accurate here).  The two tone controls were wired together slightly differently as well.  The Fender pick guard had an extra cap on the second tone control and the tone control was attached to the 5-way switch at a different eyelet.
I think I'm gonna try and replace the pots and the switch.  Everything is just so sloppy lookin now that it's been worked on so much that it's makin me sick.  Maybe I was careless and a small bit of solder dripped down and is interfering with normal operation.
In the meantime I'll try to see if I can figure out how to get my pics from photobucket to upload to this site so that you don't think that I've lost my mind sniffing too many solder and flux fumes....

 

[jackthehack]

Just post the link to the Photobucket page the pics are on...