Loose wire in cavity

[Gnermo]

Hello everyone.

I've bought a Schack bass the other day and it played AND sounded absolutely amazing.

But somehow I managed to screw it up by disconnecting a wire, accidentally pulled out the PCB a bit too hard.
So now it produces no sound with the batteries in, it does when you unplug those, sans for a huge plopping sound when you use the toggle.
I tried to figure it out by connecting the wire to the volume and balance put on the pegs or top, nothing happened.

Here's some pics:



Balance

Toggle


Anyone have ANY idea where this wire is supposed to go? (And maybe you guys could use some more pictures)
Schack doesn't reply to any e-mails and I think he went out of business.

[megafiddle]

Possibly it was connected to the case on that control pot (upper right in photo)

Is that a short little wire end hanging off of the pot case?

[ringy]

This may (or may not!) be useful: http://www.schack-guitars.de/BC3P_Anleitung.pdf

[mech]

I'll start by saying that I don't know if the above diagram is for your bass, but if it is....

It looks like the wire is #18 per the wiring diagram. If no other wire from the connector is soldered to the body of the blend pot, another pot or jack ground to furnish ground to the preamp, that's where it goes. According to the diagram, all the pot bodies should be grounded.

BTW...that's some tacky looking soldering.

mech

[ringy]

The wiring diagram refers to the connections for the Schack BC-3-P EQ PCB rather than anything model specific so I would be confident using it as a guide.

I ran the pdf through a translation engine, wire 18 (which the loose wire appears to be) is indeed the ground for the PCB and should be soldered onto a pot body or some other suitable grounding point. I can't see any grounding wires between the pots, it's relying on the copper shielding to provide the grounding circuit.

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by ringy

I can't see any grounding wires between the pots, it's relying on the copper shielding to provide the grounding circuit.

And if you look how oxidized that foil is, I'd go ahead and run some ground wires between the pots.

[Angel LaHash]

its basicaly a filter system .. looks like a nice design.. ill have to scrable the PDF file via Google and see if it can translate it a bit more for myself

always wanting to get teh most out of any thing i make

[ringy]

Originally Posted by Angel LaHash

ill have to scrable the PDF file via Google and see if it can translate it a bit more for myself

Google translates the text but doesn't show the wiring diagram itself or rather shows it but without the lines indicating the wires!

[Gnermo]

Originally Posted by megafiddle

Possibly it was connected to the case on that control pot (upper right in photo)

Is that a short little wire end hanging off of the pot case?

That could well be it. I tried connecting the wire to that pot while having it plugged in but it still gave me no sound however.

Originally Posted by mech

I'll start by saying that I don't know if the above diagram is for your bass, but if it is....

It looks like the wire is #18 per the wiring diagram. If no other wire from the connector is soldered to the body of the blend pot, another pot or jack ground to furnish ground to the preamp, that's where it goes. According to the diagram, all the pot bodies should be grounded.

BTW...that's some tacky looking soldering.

mech

There is however a small grey wire connected to the side of the orange wire, but it ends halfway. Could the orange one also be #1?

Originally Posted by SGD Lutherie

And if you look how oxidized that foil is, I'd go ahead and run some ground wires between the pots.

Would it hurt not to do this? The bass has been operating fine for years now, it's built between 1995 and 97.

[iiipopes]

If the pots have never been touched, and they use lockwashers, then the lockwashers have indented into the foil, which assuming there was no oxidation to begin with, would seal the foil and make an acceptable connection for the time being.

However, once the pots are loosened, as may be the situation when this odd wire is chased and properly connected, then oxidation starts, and the grounds should all be soldered properly as set forth above.

[ringy]

The problem is we're all guessing here, never going to get a clear view of what's going where in a photo. Gnermo, I think what you need to do is go through it thoroughly, wire by wire, and see where they go. #1 = neck PU hot, #2 = bridge PU hot, the rest are fairly obvious even from the German diagram. Also, I'd consider checking the continuity of all the wires from the PCB, if you managed to break one connection it is quite possible that there may be other wires damaged even if they look OK, ie a break within the insulation.

I agree with iiipopes, if the pots have never been disturbed then grounding through the foil should be ok. Personally I would use a circuit tester just to make sure.

[Angel LaHash]

Originally Posted by ringy

Google translates the text but doesn't show the wiring diagram itself or rather shows it but without the lines indicating the wires!

but it dose say what Freq each switch dose, and isnt that just a Resistor and Cap to change that frequency of each part