Quick soldering question. . .

[thearabianmage]

Hey y'all,

In the middle of a recent gig, one of the band's guitars just went dead. Completely dead. It's a '98 Fender USA Strat. I've been looking at it for a while now trying to troubleshoot the problem. I've even cracked the multi-meter out. Every connection seems to be okay apart from the bridge pup on the selector. It comes out at a flat 0.00 - while the neck comes out 5.something and the middle at 6.something.

I can't figure it out.

And also, when I check the hot from the input jack to the hot of the volume knob (the middle lug) - is it meant to come out at 0.00 as well?

As always - any help would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

 

[tunghaichuan]

Mage,

Sounds like something is shorted if it measures 0 ohms. What do you get when you measure the solder joints on the bridge pickup? (i.e., measure the dc resistance of the bridge PU's coil). My best guess is that the wire is stranded and one of the strands is shorting against something if the coil is OK.

You should get 0 ohms when measuring the hot input on the jack to the center lug of the volume control, it is just a short run of wire.

tung

Hey y'all,

In the middle of a recent gig, one of the band's guitars just went dead. Completely dead. It's a '98 Fender USA Strat. I've been looking at it for a while now trying to troubleshoot the problem. I've even cracked the multi-meter out. Every connection seems to be okay apart from the bridge pup on the selector. It comes out at a flat 0.00 - while the neck comes out 5.something and the middle at 6.something.

I can't figure it out.

And also, when I check the hot from the input jack to the hot of the volume knob (the middle lug) - is it meant to come out at 0.00 as well?

As always - any help would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

 

[Rx Tone]

I'd immediately be suspicious of the output jack or the cable if you have no sound from any pup in any position.

 

[thearabianmage]

Mage,

Sounds like something is shorted if it measures 0 ohms. What do you get when you measure the solder joints on the bridge pickup? (i.e., measure the dc resistance of the bridge PU's coil). My best guess is that the wire is stranded and one of the strands is shorting against something if the coil is OK.
tung

Thanks!

A short is what I thought at first - but I've unsoldered and resoldered the bridge pup's wire to the pup selector like 5 times. Nothing is stranded, but I tell you what I think might have happened. Someone else changed the pups in this guitar a few years ago and he seemed to loved putting solder on things. This thing had blobs of it.

Is it possible for some of that solder to have melted, dripped down, and short on something else on the pup selector?

 

[red]

Is it possible for some of that solder to have melted, dripped down, and short on something else on the pup selector?

No. Solder melts at pretty high temperatures, it's not possible to heat anything in a normal guitar with passive pickups enough that it will melt solder.

My best bet is the output jack. If that's not the case, you might want to check the pickup selector switch. If you still haven't found the culprit after that, it might be the volume pot.

Large blobs of solder also increase the likelihood of cold joints, so you might want to use some desoldering pump and/or desoldering braid to remove all the old solder and re-do all the connections yourself (one-by-one so that it's nice and easy).

 

[thearabianmage]

No. Solder melts at pretty high temperatures, it's not possible to heat anything in a normal guitar with passive pickups enough that it will melt solder.

My best bet is the output jack. If that's not the case, you might want to check the pickup selector switch. If you still haven't found the culprit after that, it might be the volume pot.

Large blobs of solder also increase the likelihood of cold joints, so you might want to use some desoldering pump and/or desoldering braid to remove all the old solder and re-do all the connections yourself (one-by-one so that it's nice and easy).

Thanks for the advice!

 

[tunghaichuan]

Someone else changed the pups in this guitar a few years ago and he seemed to loved putting solder on things. This thing had blobs of it.

Is it possible for some of that solder to have melted, dripped down, and short on something else on the pup selector?

It is possible that who ever replaced the pups got too much solder and something is shorting. One way to be sure is to "shotgun" it and remove all the solder joints and flow new ones. Too much solder is never a good idea.

tung