Continuity At The Output Jack

[recordingtrack1]

Hello all, I have a Fender Jazz bass that has custom shop pickups. I need clarification on signal output if it isn't too much trouble. Front pickup is 10.2. Rear pickup is 10.3

When the two volumes are both turned all the way up, the output measure 5.4 Should that be the correct signal strength or is it wired out of phase?

 

Thanks for any replies.

[isaac42]

That's about right, assuming that the pickups are wired in parallel. That seems right to me. But it doesn't say anything about the relative polarity of the pickups. To determine that, try this: play with one pickup all the way up, the other all the way down. Turn the other pickup up, so both are on full. Did the bottom drop out of the sound? If not, the pickups' polarity is correct, that is, they're "in phase." (They're not, actually, but that's a much more complex discussion.) If so, then one of the pickups is wired backwards, reversing its polarity. That's not a particularly useful sound for bass, in my experience.

[lug]

https://app.box.com/shared/static/kr8rly6dgy.wav

 

First 1/2 is out of phase, 2nd half is in phase

[WRGKMC]

The readings seem to be right.

The two pickups in parallel provide two conductive paths instead of one so continuity goes up and the resistance is cut in half.

 

DC resistance wont tell you anything about phase because it involves an AC signal generated by the strings.

Best to look under the hood and see if the wire colors are correct.

 

In a Jazz bass the dark wires are normally ground and the light color wires are normally hot.

If you have a black and red for example the black would be grounded, the red would go to the pots.

 

The sign of them being out of phase can be easily heard. When you turn both pickups full up the sound level would drop drastically and all you would hear is a super thin bass tone. If you don't hear that then the pickups are in phase.

[recordingtrack1]

Thanks for the replies. I actually experimented around with some other diagrams I found on the web. None of those helped. I eventually went back to the original Fender diagram and I guess I had a poor soldering joint. I got it to 9.2 at the output. Still not nearly as hot as my P bass, but a tolerable increase. I still get a volume drop at the top of the pot on the neck pickup. Pretty severe actually. It is hottest at about 80%. This leads me to believe the pot is a bit defective and may be the root of the problem. It is actually a Squier model. I'm thinking I will replace the pots with CTS and start all over again. Soldering iron burns hurt like heck! LOL

[WRGKMC]

The pot takes a dip in volume?

The only thing that would make that possible is if you have the pickup wires reversed on one of the pickups.

The tone should get thin as the second pickup is cranked and within the last 10% of the volume the two pickups cancel each other out.

If you turn up one pickup or the other, you should hear that reduction, its only with both running.

 

Squire pots aren't that bad. I've never had to change them out on any of the Squire bases or guitars I've owned until they get scratchy and even then using some pot cleaner will revive them for another year or so.

 

 

If you been messing with the wiring, I'd be sure you sort that out first.

 

One thing you should note. There is "No" standard wiring code between pickup manufacturers and even with the same manufacturer, the color codes can be different between pickups. Fender is not Squire for example and the colors may not be the same.

 

A Jazz bass or precision is a simple wiring scheme however. There's only a 50/50 chance one of the pickups will be wired out of phase with the other.

 

From your explanation it sounds like one of them is reversed. I'd swap the wires on one of them around and swap the hot to the ground and ground to the hot. If the pickups were out of phase, the volume dip will disappear. If they were already in phase, the dip will get worse and you'll need to swap them back.