need help, problem with installing tele pickups..

[jf_element]

heys all,

so i just tried installing some second hand Kent Armstrong pickups onto my telecaster copy, and after successfully removing the the stock pickups and soldering on the new ones, alas! got problem.. lol. in fact, there's 2.

the first, is that even though the sound comes out full from the bridge pickup, theres a lot of noise when touching the strings, the bridge etc, but if i like, touch the bridge and the, uh, the metal area where the pickup selector, tone knob and vol knob are located, then the noise reduces. this is a grounding issue right..? i've tried to solve it by getting a spare piece of wire to link up between the bridge plate and the cap of the vol knob, but that just made the bridge pup stop working.. how else should i ground it then..?

second, the neck pickup has no sound! actually, it has super slight sound. if i plugged it in and turn up the dist channel of my amp, i can hear some notes (but it gets too loud if i switch it to the bridge with the same amp settings). what could be the cause of this problem..? broken wires? incorrect soldering?

hmm, pics should help..


front view of the wiring..


side view..

help much appreciated! sending to some place to install it would be the easiest way, of course, but i'd rather gain the knowledge..

 

[fgl]

from the pix I see the white wires going to ground and black to hot (selector) ..is this the norm for Kent Armstrong coz normally its the other way around.

Vintage style tele bridges certainly do have that microphonic capability. nevertheless I believe there must be aground wire from the bridge to the pot.

Get a better selector, either Fender or Ernie ball. Theres a blob of solder from a hot tip to the ground area on yuor selector - I dont think this should be so

As for the neck pup, check to see if you have soldered properly for both hot and ground. Normally tele neck pups and significantly mellower than their bridge counterparts but of course not to the poiunt it cant be heard.

all else fails contact the tele guru edder.

my 2 cents

 

[jf_element]

hmmm...

kent armstrong's wiring schematics are over here.. i've been following fig5 of that pdf file, but im still not sure if i confused the black and the white wiring? seems right to me.. also, the stock pickups had the black wiring on the pickup selector and the white wiring of the neck pickup on vol knob. the white wire of the bridge pickup, somehow is soldered onto the ground area of the pickup selector - that explains the blob of solder remaining there now.

maybe i'll try to switch the black and white wiring around, and see what happens..

how should i ground the bridge pickup so that sound still comes out? when i use a spare piece of wire to link up between the bridge plate and cap of the vol knob, no sound comes out from the bridge pickup..

 

[fgl]

didnt your tele come with the grounding wire from bridge to control cavity when you bought it?

 

[jf_element]

hmm, you mean this metal thing that stuck to the base of the bridge pickup? hmm i'll go experiment with it..

 

[jf_element]

okay, progress.. after grounding the bridge pickup, theres no more noise when selecting bridge pickup. i've swapped both pickups' white wires with their respective black ones, and now both the neck and bridge pickups sound when i put the pickup selector at bridge position. when i select neck position, no sound comes out..



right now, i've left the black wire from the bridge pickup just hanging there (not touching anything), cos it seems like it doesn't make any difference where i touch the wire to. sound still comes out from the bridge pickup..

much appreciated for the help received so far..

 

[fgl]

hmm, you mean this metal thing that stuck to the base of the bridge pickup? hmm i'll go experiment with it..

err yah.....

black wiring hanging means no ground = no sound lah

 

[fgl]

isnt there a connection (hot) from your selector to your vol pot 1st lug?

 

[jf_element]

isnt there a connection (hot) from your selector to your vol pot 1st lug?

yup there is.

the black wiring hanging, i tried touching it to the bridge selector, the neck selector, the vol pot, all give same result: no change. which is, bridge selector gives neck and bridge sound, while neck selector doesn't give out sound.. sigh..

 

[jf_element]

okay i give up.. i'll send the guitar to a shop tmr to fix it for me.. bleah.