Mustang wiring- what have I done wrong?

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sal paradise
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Mustang wiring- what have I done wrong?

Post by sal paradise » Mon Sep 19, 2022 5:11 am

Welcome to soldering school, Matt edition.

I was trying to put back the stock bridge pickup into a standard mij mustang & put a Creamery paf into my Kurt Cobain mustang.

Neither is working! Can you help identify any silly/obvious errors?

MIJ- working, but super low output
Image

KC- no sound
Image
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JSett
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Re: Mustang wiring- what have I done wrong?

Post by JSett » Mon Sep 19, 2022 10:50 pm

Your ground from the bridge pickup is in the wrong spot from what I can tell. If you look at the top picture it goes to switch one, top row, pin 2 and in your rework its going to pin 4. There's a bunch of moved wires too if S=switch A or B= top or bottom row and #=pin

S1A4 to S2B1, then S2B1 to S2A4 is on your original wiring for instance.

*EDIT: I've just realised that these are two separate guitars :fp:
Silly Rabbit, don't you know scooped mids are for kids?

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sal paradise
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Re: Mustang wiring- what have I done wrong?

Post by sal paradise » Mon Sep 19, 2022 11:09 pm

Yeah, sorry should have been clearer. Two different guitars, both standard wiring for the model.

Guitar 1, classic Mustang: changing the bridge pickup back to stock

Guitar 2, Cobain Mustang: swapping the humbucker
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Re: Mustang wiring- what have I done wrong?

Post by JSett » Mon Sep 19, 2022 11:48 pm

Well, the wiring is very different on both. My suggestion - and what I've found to be best practice in this sort of situation - is to completely de-wire and clean up the pins with a solder pump and start from scratch. Start by putting in all the connections one by one and leave the pickups until all those are in and double checked against a schematic....much easier than trying to find one or two bad bits in a whole bowl of spaghetti
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Re: Mustang wiring- what have I done wrong?

Post by sal paradise » Mon Sep 19, 2022 11:53 pm

johnnysomersett wrote:
Mon Sep 19, 2022 11:48 pm
Well, the wiring is very different on both. My suggestion - and what I've found to be best practice in this sort of situation - is to completely de-wire and clean up the pins with a solder pump and start from scratch. Start by putting in all the connections one by one and leave the pickups until all those are in and double checked against a schematic....much easier than trying to find one or two bad bits in a whole bowl of spaghetti
AKA: take it to a shop :D

It’s frustrating as all I’ve done is removed the current wires & put the other ones back in the same place. Not tried to mod anything.

I have zero soldering skills (as you can see by the burnt wires in the top photo), and even less about how to navigate wiring diagrams. Could be a good time to learn- although I’d rather do that on something unimportant. I want to play the Cobain one, not leave it in pieces for a year. The white stang is sold & someone is collecting it this week :fp:
I have nothing to offer anybody, except my own confusion?

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panoramic
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Re: Mustang wiring- what have I done wrong?

Post by panoramic » Tue Sep 20, 2022 6:00 am

sal paradise wrote:
Mon Sep 19, 2022 11:53 pm
johnnysomersett wrote:
Mon Sep 19, 2022 11:48 pm
Well, the wiring is very different on both. My suggestion - and what I've found to be best practice in this sort of situation - is to completely de-wire and clean up the pins with a solder pump and start from scratch. Start by putting in all the connections one by one and leave the pickups until all those are in and double checked against a schematic....much easier than trying to find one or two bad bits in a whole bowl of spaghetti
AKA: take it to a shop :D

It’s frustrating as all I’ve done is removed the current wires & put the other ones back in the same place. Not tried to mod anything.

I have zero soldering skills (as you can see by the burnt wires in the top photo), and even less about how to navigate wiring diagrams. Could be a good time to learn- although I’d rather do that on something unimportant. I want to play the Cobain one, not leave it in pieces for a year. The white stang is sold & someone is collecting it this week :fp:
I suck at soldering too but have done the rewire on jags and mustangs pretty well, I would go back and look at the diagram, if everything looks right then retouch all of the points with solder.
I used to be cool, now I just complain about prices.

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Re: Mustang wiring- what have I done wrong?

Post by JSett » Tue Sep 20, 2022 6:59 am

sal paradise wrote:
Mon Sep 19, 2022 11:53 pm

AKA: take it to a shop :D

It’s frustrating as all I’ve done is removed the current wires & put the other ones back in the same place. Not tried to mod anything.

I have zero soldering skills (as you can see by the burnt wires in the top photo), and even less about how to navigate wiring diagrams. Could be a good time to learn- although I’d rather do that on something unimportant. I want to play the Cobain one, not leave it in pieces for a year. The white stang is sold & someone is collecting it this week :fp:
Nah dude, you can do this, have a little faith in yourself. Sure, the soldering is a little scruffy but that's not the end of the world.

Honestly, if you can trace a line with your eyes you can (slowly but surely) read a wiring diagram...just take it one connection at a time. I have, in the past, printed one off and literally ticked off each one as I go so I know it's done.

Image
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Re: Mustang wiring- what have I done wrong?

Post by sal paradise » Tue Sep 20, 2022 7:38 am

White mustang is no longer an issue- the buyer is gonna take it with the twangbanger so at least it’s working.

So, yeah I’ve got time to play with the cobain mustang. I’ll take all the solder off both joints & start again. See where I get to.
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Re: Mustang wiring- what have I done wrong?

Post by sal paradise » Tue Oct 18, 2022 1:46 am

Update for anyone who’s interested…

I got it working! I looked up some videos on how to solder and worked out that my iron is hottest at a certain point. Made it much less stressful to remove & re-add connections. The ground is on way more securely now (need to buy an iron holder & a helping hand tool!).

Also turned out that I’d managed to disconnect the wire going to the controls/output when putting back together :fp: so yeah, a simple fix.

Changed the pickguard as the white bored me. A small issue where I lost a little bolt for the bridge pickup selector. Will sort that at some point, but this is mostly going to be bridge pickup only use anyways so not too much of a problem.

The PAF sounds lovely. It’s a bit hotter than I’d expected. But way smoother than the JB. Need to test against my LP at some point. Either way, kinda exactly what I wanted.

Now I’m thinking I want to spray this black like an old musicmaster… or maybe I need a mint or green guard? Any suggestions for body/guard colour appreciated.
Image
I have nothing to offer anybody, except my own confusion?

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