SOS: Request for help in identifying the problem

[ymmak]

I have a problem with my cij fender strat 2 days back. The problem: there was no output from the 5th position, and another prob of "sometimes got sometimes not" output from 4th position.

It all begins like this. I was swapping out the stock pup to a sd jb jr in the bridge. There was no funny funny wiring involved, I just linked the live to the swich, the earth to the ground, all the extra wires solder and bundle together and chuck in one corner. It was a very simple generic wiring. When everything was done, I tested it and hey... no output from 5th position. 4th position at this point was alright, but it sounded like there was only the mid pup in the 4th position.

Then I rechecked the wiring and stuff and went thru webbie like guitarnuts.com, seymour duncan.com and such, to compare whether my wiring was correct. Everything was alright. At this point, I was like "fked lah, dun tell me [shop name] sold me a faulty pup?"

So I removed the jb jr and replaced it with the original stock pup, and tested. Hey, it didnt work in the 4th and 5th position. I thought at this moment that I either had 2 faulty pup or 1 faulty switch.

To determine the prob, I desolder the mid pup and link the bridge pup to the 3rd position of the switch. I tested again. Hey, it works in the 1,2 and 3 position, but the 4th and 5th were still not working.

Now, I removed the stock pup and replaced with the jb jr again. This time, I soldered the bridge jb jr to the 3rd position of the switch like what I did one paragraph ago. It worked in the 1,2 3 and 4 position. But it refused to work in the 5th position.

So my conclusion: jb jr is working fine, however the 5 way switch is screwed. Is this diagnosis correct?

BTW, any good 5-way switch to recommend?

 

[RyanZ]

Most likely, your pickup selector is faulty. I have the same problem before and I used a brand new P.U Gotoh which is faulty

I recommed the Tonedrive pickup selector available at Standard Value, which I have. Cheap and good and the switching is smooth.

 

[aquanaut]

you should try the ernie ball replacement 5 way switch. available from davis guitar at peninsula basement.

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

to confirm if its the switch giving problem, a multimeter would come into handy here.

test for continuity between the common tab on the 5 way switch and the rest of the other tabs on the selector switch. If theres any internal break between common tab and the individual tab(according to the position of the selector switch), there wont be any beep from the multimeter(set to continuity testing)

 

[nabeelmashren]

Tonedrive Pup selectors are value-for-money. i was surprised to find it quite durable and the ease of switching was a plus as well.