Jazz pup woes.

[gary mac]

I finally got around to installing a set of wizard 84's in to my daughter's VMJ today.

It all went quite well, first up removed the old pups and screened out the cavities and rear of pick guard. Soldered up the cables exactly as the existing were wired.

Put everything back together and plugged in and although it works and sounds good, something is not quite right.


The neck pup seems fine, but the bridge unit becomes quieter when the the knob is turned all the way to max. It seems to operate at full volume only by backing off the knob a bit.

Can't think what the problem could be and hope I've explained well enough for a grown up to offer some help.


Thanks in advance.

[Ou7shined]

Do you have a spare pot you could temporarily swap the offending one with to check it's ok?

[ikay]

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='961325' date='Sep 19 2010, 05:10 PM']Do you have a spare pot you could temporarily swap the offending one with to check it's ok?[/quote]

To check the bridge pot, swap the 'hot' wires from the pups over. The 'bridge' vol will now control the neck pup and vice versa. If you still have the same problem but this time with the neck pup then the pot is faulty.

Could just be some dirt in there so, if you have some aerosol contact cleaner to hand, just give the offending pot a quick squirt (into the small gap near the terminals on the pot) first.

[gary mac]

Thanks chaps will give it a go tomorrow.

[gary mac]

This is getting very frustrating.

One of my solder joints wasn't good, so I've redone it today.


Still got the problem, I'm sure it's something fairly basic, but can't think what.


Bridge pick up works fine on it's own, as does the neck pickup. But when opting to dial in both pups I have to turn the bridge pup knob the wrong way to achieve full volume.


I'm sure I've put everything back the way it was with the original pups, so is it possible that the pickup wires have been soldered up the wrong way round by wizard. I know it's not likely, but just a thought.


Some help would be hugely appreciated, so that I can maintain hero status with my daughter.


Thanks Gary

[dave_bass5]

It could well be that one of the pups has been wired the oposite fo the other, like you have said.
Have you checked that both pups are wired in phase.
when i put my wizards in to my HW-one i only put the neck one in to start with. I went with white to white, black to black, as per the stock pups.
Either pup worked fine but there was a huge drop in volume when both were on full. I just reversed the leads on the wizard and all was fine.

It might be worth a try.

Edited September 22, 2010 by dave_bass5

[gary mac]

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='964531' date='Sep 22 2010, 02:49 PM']It could well be that one of the pups has been wired the oposite fo the other, like you have said.
Have you checked that both pups are wired in phase.
when i put my wizards in to my HW-one i only put the neck one in to start with. I went with white to white, black to black, as per the stock pups.
Either pup worked fine but there was a huge drop in volume when both were on full. I just reversed the leads on the wizard and all was fine.

It might be worth a try.[/quote]



Thanks Dave.

Probably a dumb question, but how do I check they are wired in phase? Is it just a case of the white and black cables coming off the same sides on both pups.


I stupidly told my daughter I'd have this job done double quick

[Mr. Foxen]

I've always found jazzes are quieter both on full. back either off and it comes back, there is a cancellation somewhere in the low mids due to the way the string moves or something. Much worse if you have far apart pickups.

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='gary mac' post='964591' date='Sep 22 2010, 03:48 PM']Thanks Dave.

Probably a dumb question, but how do I check they are wired in phase? Is it just a case of the white and black cables coming off the same sides on both pups.


I stupidly told my daughter I'd have this job done double quick[/quote]

Yeah, just take one pup and reverse the wires. Both pups should be wound the same way but you never know. As far as i know it doesn't matter what colour goes to ground.

[gafbass02]

Ive had some reversed wires to the colours i took out before now from wizard

[gary mac]

Thanks chaps, it's finally sorted.

Got on to Andy at Wizard. Turned out they were wired incorrectly.
I've sorted it with a bit of swapping and soldering.

Frustrating job all in all, but Andy couldn't have been more apologetic and immediately offered to have them back.



Hope my daughter likes the end result. I thought they sounded very good, although only tried the bass through my little practice amp.

[dave_bass5]

Its strange but my Wizards are back to front as well All the other pups ive had have been black to ground but not the Wizards.

Glad you got it sorted.