utah_aviator
New member
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2019
- Messages
- 1
Hello all. I have an old Epiphone Les Paul that I modded a long time ago and haven't touched for a long time. I pulled it out last night and played it; sounded pretty good. But I could not remember how I wired it so I removed the covers and started going thru everything to see what I did.
Here's what I found:
Upgraded to Gibson '57 Burstbucker Pickups (from '09 Re-issue), Standard Les Paul wiring (modern) w/ .022uF Caps, no treble bleed, an upgraded Switchcraft 3-Position switch, with all cavities copper shielded and tied to ground.
Here's my confusion:
As I was tracing my wiring with my voltmeter in continuity mode, I found my neck pickup to checkout as expected. However, when I switched to my bridge pickup I found that the output signal is somehow tied to ground! Yes, the guitar seems to play normal with the relatively same output levels on either pickup. So I focused on the 3-position switch. Confirmed that with the neck pickup selected ( switch is up) that it is not connected to ground. However, when I flip the switch to the down position (bridge pickup), the wiring is again correct BUT it also shows continuity to the ground lug on the switch! Of course when the switch is in the middle position, it shows continuity to ground as well. I finally focused all of my attention to the switch and I consistently see the same results above when testing at the switch lugs. It appears to me that the switch has an internal short to ground in the bottom and middle positions but at the same time it doesn't make sense to me. Also, I don't understand how I can clearly show that the bridge output signal is tied to ground and the guitar still outputs what seems to be a "normal" output. Bottom line: my bridge pickup output is tied to ground but still seems to output normally.
Does anyone have any insight as to what is really going on? I would have expected no output when set to the bridge due to a short to ground. But that's not the case! Help?!?!
Thanks!
Here's what I found:
Upgraded to Gibson '57 Burstbucker Pickups (from '09 Re-issue), Standard Les Paul wiring (modern) w/ .022uF Caps, no treble bleed, an upgraded Switchcraft 3-Position switch, with all cavities copper shielded and tied to ground.
Here's my confusion:
As I was tracing my wiring with my voltmeter in continuity mode, I found my neck pickup to checkout as expected. However, when I switched to my bridge pickup I found that the output signal is somehow tied to ground! Yes, the guitar seems to play normal with the relatively same output levels on either pickup. So I focused on the 3-position switch. Confirmed that with the neck pickup selected ( switch is up) that it is not connected to ground. However, when I flip the switch to the down position (bridge pickup), the wiring is again correct BUT it also shows continuity to the ground lug on the switch! Of course when the switch is in the middle position, it shows continuity to ground as well. I finally focused all of my attention to the switch and I consistently see the same results above when testing at the switch lugs. It appears to me that the switch has an internal short to ground in the bottom and middle positions but at the same time it doesn't make sense to me. Also, I don't understand how I can clearly show that the bridge output signal is tied to ground and the guitar still outputs what seems to be a "normal" output. Bottom line: my bridge pickup output is tied to ground but still seems to output normally.
Does anyone have any insight as to what is really going on? I would have expected no output when set to the bridge due to a short to ground. But that's not the case! Help?!?!
Thanks!