So I was planning to get the final assembly of the guitar complete today. I received the missing pick-up ring screws and enlarged the hole from thebridge pick-up cavity. So the pick-ups get installed, the bridge and pick-up goes on, the controls are wired up and I get the straplocks on. I put strings on and get a basic tuning and plug it into the amp. The neck pick-up sounds great, I can tap the coils, the four way switching works until... I go for the bridge pick-up alone - no sound! So what's going on?
So I troubleshoot. Check pickup to amp directly with jumpers. It works. Reconnect it, no sound. Take all the controls out / off, and check them individually. All work. Assemble them, but leave them uninstalled. They all work. Install them. Bridge pick-up still doesn't work. Arggggggh! Okay maybe the installation is grounding out against the shielding? No. Maybe due to the four way switch and the variable pot values, the switch can't be agains the grounded shielding. Remove the shielding from the area where the switch is mounted in the control cavity. Still no love. Leave the switch poking through but no attached. It works!
It turns out that when I fabricated the control cavity and switch slot, I used the dimensions from the typical three way switch. However, I installed a four way switch which has a "slightly" longer throw. Between my fabrication and the fabrication of the switch itself my slot was short by well less than 1/32". So 2+ hrs of troubleshooting of what I thought was a electrical problem turns out to be a woodworking problem. Ahhhhhhh! So, my overzealousness to keep everything minimal, neat and tidy, backfires.
I had to leave to experiment with Raku Enameling (very cool by the way), so I'll elongate the hole tomorrow (probably having to take the guitar apart some) and then be able to set up the guitar.
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Originally Posted by John Coloccia
