Jazz bass "no sound" trouble shooting.

[Ski3223]

Hello everyone,

I recently was asked to work on a Squier 4 string Jazz bass since I fixed a wiring issue on my Squier P bass a few years ago. Unfortunately, the obvious problem that happened on my P bass (disconnected hot wire to output) is not the case on this Jazz bass and I am troubleshooting whats up with it.

Here is a diagram of what I'm looking at on the inside. I'm curious why there is no ground to the output jack? Obviously it is made like this, but it confuses me.

http://support.fender.com/diagrams/b...136520CPg2.pdf

Has anyone worked on one of these before and had a similar problem? All the wires look like they're making a fine connection, I'm gonna go borrow my dad's volt meter thing to see what is getting power and what isn't. I am pretty positive that the pickups are NOT getting power, because when I tap or touch them with metal I get no pop (probably not good for them, but it was an accident at first, then I decided it might be worth trying).

I'm open to all suggestions, I just don't wanna embarrass myself and give up

Thanks for any help in advance.

[ReidK]

The output jack (and give yourself a cookie for not calling it the input jack) is grounded through the control plate. As long as the bass you're working on has the pots and the jack mounted on a single metal plate, the diagram is correct. The first thing to do is verify (with an ohmmeter) that there is continuity among all the pot cases and the jack sleeve. There should be only a small fraction of an ohm between any of them (it's close to zero, but many meters won't resolve smaller than 0.1).

Also, the pickups do not "get power" unless someone added active pickups to this bass, so don't expect to read any voltage on them. Plucking a string should produce a small (< 1 volt) signal that decays quickly.

Do a search in this forum, you'll find several threads about debugging a "no output" situation. Let me know if you need more help.

Reid

[spaz21387]

find the pickup wires then and look for shorts or possibly loose or disconnected wires. also check the jack for the wires going to the pots. its easy to miss since the jazz bass is a mess of wires... i know i completely re wired my fender j when i replaced the pots and pickups. also post up a pic of the wires, maybe someone can spot something you missed

[Ski3223]

Alright, the ohmmeter gave an equal reading at all three pots. However, with the volume up and a tap on the pickups (I have de-strung it) I get no response. So far my options seem to be:

Maybe the rheostat in the volume pot is bad?

Two completely non-functioning pickups

Bad wiring coming OUT of the pickups back through the pots to the output jack?

Hmmmmmm.

[M0ses]

If there is no "pop" that means that a) they are not connected properly or b) the pickups are broken and need to be rewound/replaced. If it's b), then you're not set up to do rewinding and it's gonna take a ton of effort to get set up. Unless they are vintage and therefore worth more than the price of new ones, rewinding yourself or by a professional will not be worth it. Check for continuity at the start and end of each pup. If it's not continuous, it's b). If they are, then it's a).

[Ski3223]

Hey folks, I figured out the issue:

The post that the wire connected to the output jack was burnt out. So I just switched the wire to the other post and it works fine now. Thanks for all the help guys!