# Intermittent pickup????



## RIFF WRATH (Jan 22, 2007)

I have an chinese epi jr that has had pots replaced............thought it was good to go but there is intermittent volume...........does this indicate a faulty pickup (original humbucker ).........amp & cords are ok...........Greco.......if you read this.........this is the git you worked on for me.........has not been touched until this past weekend........thanks for any comments..........cheers, Gerry.


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

intermittent volume? meaning it cuts out? or the volume swells?

photo of the control cavity might help. could be a grounding issue, bad solder joint, or something else.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

RIFF WRATH said:


> Greco.......if you read this.........this is the git you worked on for me.........


Hi Gerry...Hope all is well in general.

Sorry to hear that my repair work was not successful. I am quite surprised, as I played that guitar quite a bit after I did the repairs and it was fine when I was playing it. It seems like it is jinxed or haunted or something...LOL

If I had to guess, I would suspect the input jack, as I didn't replace it...IIRC. Does the volume reduce or cut out totally? Other than that, *blam* might be right that it is a bad solder joint or joints....even though I checked them thoroughly. 

I would be happy to try the repair again. Although I suspect your confidence in my work is likely waning significantly.

If you are down this way, we could meet for a coffee and you could give me the guitar. Let me know.

All the best!

Cheers

Dave


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

it could also be something extremely silly. I've had this happen to me a few times. 
solder joints, good, wiring good, components all good....but the braided shield was jumbled up a little and shorting something out intermittently. 

also, once I had a spare star washer get lost in the input jack hole, which would cause the volume to cut out when it shorted out a couple connections when it moved around....

also once with an Epiphone, the pot was turned in a manner where one of the lugs was just touching the wall of the cavity - Epiphones have that black conductive paint in the cavity which caused it to cut out on me too....on the same guitar, a stray wire from the braided jacket was touching a lug and shorted that out intermittently as well.

I'm sure there's more simple fuck ups I've done too... my wiring has come a long way since those mishaps.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

If you can run a wire from the pickup "hot" to the output jack (don't worry about doing anything with the pot), that should tell you if the discontinuity is in the pickup itself, or something between the pickup and jack.


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2012)

Try a different patch cord as well(?)


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

mhammer said:


> If you can run a wire from the pickup "hot" to the output jack (don't worry about doing anything with the pot), that should tell you if the discontinuity is in the pickup itself, or something between the pickup and jack.


That is where I would start...especially as I suspect the discontinuity is happening at the jack. I'm not exactly sure why I'm so stuck on this theory but I have little faith in non-Switchcraft jacks (unless they are well made), especially as they deteriorate with use. 

Cheers

Dave


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

blam said:


> it could also be something extremely silly. I've had this happen to me a few times.
> solder joints, good, wiring good, components all good....but the braided shield was jumbled up a little and shorting something out intermittently.
> 
> also, once I had a spare star washer get lost in the input jack hole, which would cause the volume to cut out when it shorted out a couple connections when it moved around....
> ...


Thanks for the supportive post and the "therapy". 

I don't do that much work on guitar electronics and I have made many of the usual (and unusual) errors while doing the repairs. However, this is the first guitar that I thought was fine (as it tested out and played) and it isn't. This bugs me !! My wife tells me that I'm "like a Rotweiler with a bone" when it comes to this type of thing...LOL

Cheers

Dave


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## loudtubeamps (Feb 2, 2012)

greco said:


> That is where I would start...especially as I suspect the discontinuity is happening at the jack. I'm not exactly sure why I'm so stuck on this theory but I have little faith in non-Switchcraft jacks (unless they are well made), especially as they deteriorate with use.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Dave


 Yup to the 1/4" jacks. I'm not saying this is your issue but one little thing that I change on any guitar I own or service is the jack.
I replace the standard mono jack with a stereo jack. Wire the tip as usual with the ring and sleeve connections to ground. The extra sleeve contact gives a good solid ground connection. 
Cheers, doug


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## RIFF WRATH (Jan 22, 2007)

thanks for your responses........I haven't opened her up yet.........I set it on a stand and on occaision glare at it..............don't know if that is helping or not........have 2 others ahead of it that also need looking at............did I ever mention that I am a terrible procrastinator..........thing with this epi is that from the day I traded for it this problem has happened.........the original owner wailed on it for a good 1/2 hour when I first got it......a few weeks later plugged it in and no volume..............he took it away and checked it out and brought it back , wailed on it again and it was ok...............same scenario again...........sooo.....I thought I'll change out all the electrical components for new (except pickup).........nada...........rewired it again......by now my soldering looks atrocious.....nada...enter Greco on the scene.........away it goes and back it comes with the wiring renewed and shiny.........had a buddy try it this past weekend, same old story....it was ok for volume then not, then ok then not.........cord was ok..........hopefully in the next few days I will look inside........and check back to this thread.........anyone want an epi cheap...lol..........cheers, Gerry


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## Guest (Nov 22, 2012)

door prize for next years jam?
(if it works when you play it .. it's yours!)
sorta thing? lol.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Another possibility I wondered about is a wire being broken and the break is hidden by the insulation. I know this happens more frequently with single conductor wire (the guitar is wired with multi-conductor/stranded) ...however it would be easy for the the wire to partially (or totally) make and break connection repeatedly and unexpectedly if this is the case. 

Gerry...I will phone you and talk about trying to repair it again. It bugs the [email protected] out of me that my work was not 100%. This time I will test it frequently and over a longer duration of time.

Cheers

Dave


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## RIFF WRATH (Jan 22, 2007)

finally had another look inside..........all joints look secure.........had a bud over who has a better developed hearing.........he confirms that there is a definite fading in and out on the overall volume..........tone knob appears to be funtioning like a volume control , rather than a proper tone effect............volume control affects volume, however it is either off, or at the best, is quiet..........it is possible to adjust both controls such that there is not any volume what so ever..........my thoughts are that my wiring from vol to tone pots is bass ackwards..........comments please, cheers, Gerry


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

blam said:


> photo of the control cavity might help. could be a grounding issue, bad solder joint, or something else.


ahem.....

its hard to help diagnose a problem without seeing what's going on....


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## RIFF WRATH (Jan 22, 2007)

sorry Blam...not set up for pictures...........thanks for responding


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

well, I don't mean to be rude, but if you want help with this, you have to help us help you. It sounds as though you are not familiar with the wiring of a guitar so do you really know what you're looking at when you pop the cavity? I certainly didn't when I started. I've done a lot of electronics swaps for myself as well as others in the last couple years and still don't know what's going on when you break it down.

there are way too many possible scenarios as to what the problem may be and since none of us (I assume) are psychic, a photo(or 10) would help immensely. I highly suggest you get set up for pictures if you want any help. We can throw all the suggestions out we want but if you don't know how to wire it up yourself you're not going to be able to fix anyways.


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## Guest (Dec 5, 2012)

@Gerry. I'll come up Sunday to take pic's for you.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Hi Gerry:

Just as reference, this is the wiring diagram I used when "trying" to repair your guitar.
I know that you have 2 or 3 other wiring diagrams that you have tried.

I might have used an 0.022 cap in it...I can't remember.

Cheers

Dave


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## Guest (Dec 10, 2012)

Here's a pic of the cavity. @Dave. The wiring/soldering is fine.
I played it through different amps and cables. It does what
Gerry describes. He'll be swapping out the pup as a final test.
I believe this may be the problem.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

laristotle said:


>


Hi Larry and Gerry...that pic brings back many memories...LOL
I'm pleased to hear that there are no obvious issues with the soldering/wiring. 

Please keep updating...I will be very interested to know if a pickup can be "intermittent" in the manner being described in this thread.

Cheers

Dave


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## Guest (Dec 10, 2012)

We'll find out eventually. And also, it was built in china.


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## RIFF WRATH (Jan 22, 2007)

installed a "golden age" humbucker and also added a small toggle switch for series/coil cut / parallel...........47k cap.........fired her up last night.........he's loud.........hopefully the ghost is out of the machine...........lol.....cheers, Gerry


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Way to go Gerry !!...Ghostbuster!

Cheers

Dave


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