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Dimebucker from Hell Part Deux


Timfever

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So I've installed a Dimebucker into an SG Special (keeping the 490R in the neck position), followed all instructions to the letter, and have been stuck with said Dimebucker cranking out MAYBE 50% of it's actual output...I mean the neck pickup is like 2x as loud and the bridge almost sounds like it's coming out of a crappy transistor radio or something. 

I've tried and tested everything on the freakin' thing and found nothing. I used a multitester to test the output of the pickups and it's fine (I got 15.5K and THEN after rewiring it again, I'm getting even a little more than the 16.25 that it's rated as...), so are each of its coils, so is the continuity from the 3 way switch to the output jack...yada yada yada. 

I've gone from just knowing how to use a soldering iron to being pretty jaded, even STRAIGHT UP GRIZZLED, about guitar electronics inside of a week...alas, I still have no idea what's causing this. 

At first the Seymour Duncan instructions and diagrams confused the Hell out of me with all of the various unnamed wires they show going to and from the volume and tone pots, but I've figured out what they're referring to now--EXCEPT FOR the FOLLOWING WIRES that the cursed diagram (in my case it's the one for two humbuckers with two volumes, two tones, and a 3-way switch) shows (and doesn't show): 

  1. My SG has a *mystery* wire coming into the cavity that goes to the Neck pup's tone pot--it's got a black coating (some of it was exposed and I fixed that with shrink tubing) and it's made out of some stiff ass wire...maybe it's the "Ground wire from bridge" that the diagram has coming out of nowhere into both tone knobs, maybe it's something else. Anyone happen to know for sure? 
  2. The diagram shows a wire coming from the center terminal/lug/whatever on the 3-way switch that goes to the output jack's tip...while I got a big wire coming from that center of the switch (the lower terminal) that connects to each pot and then goes to the output jack (pretty sure that's the ground that goes to the output jack's sleeve), there's NOTHING connected to the tip (and that thing does not like anything being connected to it, for that matter...). I doubt that this is that significant, but like every part of that guitar right now, it's ANNOYING THE HELL OUT OF ME...

Also, I had to extend the pickup's wires, and while I don't see why the bare wire wouldn't work with a copper wire extension, I have this nagging suspicion that this could be the source of my woes (especially since my issue seems like a ground-related issue). Could that be it? 

Can anyone think of anything that I'm missing? Cause, let's face it, me missing something isn't exactly implausible...

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koiwoi wrote:

I think you need a guitar repairman. Spend a few bucks and then examine the result as a learning exercise. Bashing your head against the wall is no way to learn civil engineering.
;)

Very true. I have a good tech that I've taken things to before and that's totally in the back of my head (to anyone who lives in the area, he is very cool, very good at his job and doesn't charge comical prices, and works at the Tacoma Guitar Center,...or at least, does for the moment :smileytongue: I worked for Musician's Friend and then Guitar Center during the buy out and couldn't help but notice how many tech people we seemed to go through...) 

I'm normally ardently against DIY stuff--IMO 90% of the time it's just masochism and ends up taking way longer and costing way more than just having a pro do it...kinda like this adventure! In another life I took part/repaired/rebuilt engines, exhaust systems, and fixed/changed/installed just about everything you can think of on a car (I'm even good at it, believe it or not...just hate doing it with a passion, unless it's a classic car or something you can take your sweet time with and, you know, was actually meant to be worked on by humans...), but I don't even hesitate or weigh my options before taking a car into a shop for *any* problem, and I call a repairman or contractor for any other deal...I gotta say that this guitar stuff is new and interesting though...AT LEAST FOR NOW...:smileyvery-happy:

If I sense that there is any more head bashing-worthy frustration coming once I resume things...believe me, I'm calling that dude up ASAP. Hell, I'm gonna email him right now, actually. 

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