# New guitar pickup wiring problems (GFS Dream 180 bridge humbucker)



## AndrewK (Jul 20, 2013)

Hey guys, so I ordered a Dream 180 humbucker from guitar fetish for my es 335 build which just came in Friday. I wired everything up last night and the pickup only works if the positive wire from the Dream 180 is held in a certain position. Since it's going into an es 335 build I have to slip the wiring through the f-hole of the guitar, so keeping the wire at a certain position is pretty difficult. I tried re-soldering the positive lead to the volume pot and cutting the positive lead to get a fresh wire to solder on to the pot yet it still only works when the wire is held in a certain position! Do you guys have any ideas as to why this may be?? Would you say it is the pickup or maybe the pot? The pickup has 5 wire: A red and white that are used for coil tapping ( non-applicable to me), a black ground wire, a bare ground wire, and the green positive wire. By the way, the neck pickup works fine in both the neck position and middle position on the three way switch, only the Dream 180 gfs pickup (my bridge pickup) is having problems.
Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks,
Andrew


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

"Held in a certain position" is a rather ambiguous phrase. Do you literally mean that of yo turn it this way or that it stops functioning?

I do remember a rather dismissive statement Jason Lollar made about a year ago concerning the quality of the solder joint shown in the ad photo touting GFS "professional quality" pickups (though it was more a comment about "How could they use that ad copy and not notice what was in the pic?", than a comment about the sonic quality). Perhaps there is a loose joint, or alternatively a piece of tape covering a wire splice permits the splice to short out against something when twisted a little.


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## AndrewK (Jul 20, 2013)

mhammer said:


> "Held in a certain position" is a rather ambiguous phrase. Do you literally mean that of yo turn it this way or that it stops functioning?
> 
> I do remember a rather dismissive statement Jason Lollar made about a year ago concerning the quality of the solder joint shown in the ad photo touting GFS "professional quality" pickups (though it was more a comment about "How could they use that ad copy and not notice what was in the pic?", than a comment about the sonic quality). Perhaps there is a loose joint, or alternatively a piece of tape covering a wire splice permits the splice to short out against something when twisted a little.


that is exactly what I mean when I say "Held in a certain position", the pickup will stop working if I move the wire. I did attempt re-soldering the joint a bunch of times and I also cut it a couple times to get a fresh wire to solder but I kept getting the same result. Would you think this is more the fault of the pickup as opposed to the soldering?


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## J S Moore (Feb 18, 2006)

AndrewK said:


> that is exactly what I mean when I say "Held in a certain position", the pickup will stop working if I move the wire. I did attempt re-soldering the joint a bunch of times and I also cut it a couple times to get a fresh wire to solder but I kept getting the same result. Would you think this is more the fault of the pickup as opposed to the soldering?


Yes. It sounds like there is something further up the lead that is cutting out, possibly inside the pickup itself. Since the neck pickup is working I'm assuming you have the wiring codes correct. It sounds similar to Dimarzio except the hot and ground are opposite. You do have the red and white soldered together and taped off? Feel free to message me through my username if you like. It'll probably be easier to figure things out.

Mhammer, I remember that thread and it was about how that could have got through to a final copy. There may have been some "How can that be considered professional?" as well.


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