Bass wiring

[Bobbe]

Hello!

I've just installed a Seymour Duncan Music Man pu in my Ibanez Roadster bass.

I've nevner done much soldering other than cables for my bass(when I was young).

The bass sounds great.
It's set up passive, with v - v - t. I've followed the soldering scheme from Seymour Duncan.
How ever there is one (well basically three problems).
When the volume knobs are turned down, the bass still bleeds through.
What could be the problem?

Also the volume knobs is controlling wrong coil,(Front v - bridge coil, Back v -neck coil).
How could that be?

Third the cap I soldered on to the tone pot, has wrong value. I've ordered a new, so that should be ok.

Any suggestions?

In advance, thanks!

Bobbe

 

[abarson]

Let's have a photo of your wiring, please.

 

[Bobbe]

Hello!

Good idea with photos!!!
Here are some (as you can see, I'm a newbie to soldering):

The Bass

Overview. As you can see there is little space, and lots of wiring.

Tone pot, with cap.
White woven - hot, from tip
Black woven - ground.

Volume bridge
Lots of things going on here!
White woven - hot
Red plastic - from Seymour Duncan pu
Brown plastic - ground to bridge
White plastic - ground from aluminum pickup mounting plate
Black woven - ground

Volume neck
White woven - hot
Black plastic - from Seymour Duncan
Green plastic - from Seymour Duncan
White plastic - from Seymour Duncan
Bare - from Seymour Duncan
Black woven - ground

Thick red - soldered to copper shielding in pick up routing.

Bobbe

 

[abarson]

In the third photo, both legs of the cap are in contact with the pot cover, essentially shorting it out. The lead of the cap going the pot’s tab must not touch the casing or shielding.
In general when soldering you want to have as little exposed wire as possible to avoid inadvertent shorts.
One method that helps is to mount the pots on a piece of board (even cardboard) with the same spacing of the mounting holes, and do all your soldering outside of the cramped control cavity. Once the harness is done, all you need to do is mount it, and attach the pickup and ground.

 

[Bobbe]

In the third photo, both legs of the cap are in contact with the pot cover, essentially shorting it out. The lead of the cap going the pot’s tab must not touch the casing or shielding.
In general when soldering you want to have as little exposed wire as possible to avoid inadvertent shorts.
One method that helps is to mount the pots on a piece of board (even cardboard) with the same spacing of the mounting holes, and do all your soldering outside of the cramped control cavity. Once the harness is done, all you need to do is mount it, and attach the pickup and ground.

Hello!
Thanks a lot!
I see that both legs are in contact with the pot cover. I'll see to that. It is possible to shorten the legs?

I see that I've exposed too much wire. I'll loosen all and shorten the exposed cable ends. Good idea mounting the pots on a board outside the control cavity. Didn't think of that!

Again, thanks a lot!

Bobbe