Wiring problems...?

[cka86]

I'm having problems installing a J50BC in a single hum/one volume guitar. It's odd to explain, but it's like the signal is really weak until I touch something metal on the guitar. Say, if I strum the strings open and don't touch anything metal on the guitar, there's hardly any sound coming through the amp, then if I touch the bridge/volume knob/etc, it sounds normal.

I assume it's a ground issue, but regardless of how many times I re-do the joints, this same problem persists. This has happened with several different pots, jacks, a different J50BC altogether (that I have since installed in another guitar where it works perfectly and caused me no hassle installing whatsoever), and even if I bypass the volume pot and go straight from the pick-up to the jack, so I'm not sure if I'm missing something or if I've consistantly had weak ground joints (also something I've not had much of a problem with before, but I'll admit I'm no expert with a soldering iron).

Sorry for the long post, but this has me a bit confused.
Thanks.

[guitarbumb]

id say there is an issue with the pickup, is it a four wire hook up cable?

[cka86]

Since the problem also occured with another J50BC that later worked fine in a different guitar, I was assuming it wasn't the pick-up, but I don't really know.

Yep, four wire.

[guitarbumb]

do you have the correct colour codes for the pickup?

[cka86]

I think so. I was using the diagrams on Seymour Duncan's website, with black as hot, green/bare to ground, and red/white taped together. I've also tried green to hot and black/bare to ground. I get the problem both ways.

[guitarbumb]

firstly im not familiar with this pickup, and what you have described is the correct wiring for a duncan, ide check your connection between the red and white i know that when i didnt connect them properly i was getting barely any output.

[Newc]

Jackson and Duncan pickups had the same wiring scheme - red+white are the splitters, green and black are interchangeable as primary output.

Anyhoo, it's definitely a grounding issue with the guitar, not the pickup.


Make sure you have the following grounds:

Switch to pot casing
Pickup to pot casing
Trem claw to pot casing
Neck pickup ground to pot casing
Jack to pot casing

Also make sure the red+white are not touching anything except each other or a splitter switch.

[fenux_123]

did you solder the red and white together? i made the mistake of not doin that when i put in my invader. i only taped them off and it had really low output until i soldered the 2 together.

[cka86]

Hadn't messed with the red and white wires since I got the pick-up, but I did re-solder them and now I'm not having as much of an output problem before, it's actually very slight now, if it's even noticeable at all. Though there still seems to be a ground issue, but this is primarily just the standard loud hum that get's quiter when I touch anything metal on the guitar. I understand that most guitars with passives do hum slightly until metal is touched, its generally very low and easy to ignore so I'm fine with something like that, but this one is very loud and annoying.

Guitarbumb - sorry, guess I neglected to mention that this is an old Jackson pick-up, and the wiring codes are similar to Duncan as Newc said.

Newc - yep, I have grounds from the pick-up to pot casing (no switch on the guitar), trem claw to pot casing, no neck pick-up, and jack to pot casing, and red+white aren't touching anything. I'm just assuming cold joints again at this point.

Thanks everyone. Any further tips or insight on the situation is appreciated.

[Newc]

Ah, sorry, saw the part about single hum/one volume but I misread it as H-S