Help fixing custom bass electronics

[Wrathch1ld]

Hello,

I got a Leo Jaymz RB Rickenbacker-style bass kit for Christmas, and I have been having troubles with the electronics. I'm getting continuity everywhere I should, but as soon as I plug the cord into the jack (the cord and amp are both good), everything goes silent. I've checked the knobs, jack and even re-soldered the entire thing, and still nothing works. I attached an image of the currently wired bass below. Any help would be very much appreciated!

 

[MidlifeBeginner]

Turn all the knobs up. Once I fixed up a guitar, then spent 30 minutes looking for a short when the volume pot was just turned off.

Check resistance, not continuity. A shorted pickup and a good pickup both have continuity. A short is near 0 resistance.

Try pickups individually. That will narrow down the problem.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

What stands out is that the wiring, especially the soldering, needs a lot of clean up work. What is the wattage rating for the soldering iron you are using. It might be too low for the job. Are you using rosen core solder?

You have way too much bare cable shield exposed. It's possible that when you put everything together, something gets shorted against a shield. Get some heat shrink tubing to cover the shields so they aren't exposed.

Also your wires and cables should all be much shorter than they are.

When you say, "everything goes silent", what were you hearing before you plugged in?

 

[MidlifeBeginner]

Some little bits of electrical tape can cover exposed wires.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

What's happening with the potentiometer labeled BV? It looks like the shielded part of the cable is connected to the middle terminal and the hot is on the end, grounded, terminal? I'm looking on my phone so I could be mistaken.

And, yes, there's a bunch of exposed shielding at those Molex plugs. It could easily be touching a hot terminal when the controls are assembled.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Some little bits of electrical tape can cover exposed wires.

Yes, if it doesn't unravel over time, or leave a nasty residue when you have to remove it.
IMO, nothing says "sloppy and unprofessional" as much as wrapping up bare wires in an instrument, with tape.

Heat shrink tubing has been readily available at reasonable cost going back decades now.
Which is about when I stopped wrapping wires in tape.

 

[MidlifeBeginner]

Wiring on the volume pots does look off. Wiring should be very much like a Les Paul guitar. Don't worry about the values of the capacitors and pots.

 

[Wrathch1ld]

Thanks for all of the responses! I'm going to go out and get some wire and strip it down, clean it up, and restart. I'll keep you updated!

 

[fig]

What's happening with the potentiometer labeled BV? It looks like the shielded part of the cable is connected to the middle terminal and the hot is on the end, grounded, terminal?

That's what I'm seeing, too. Looks to be the same on the NV pot. Then, the white adjacent wire of each shield gets sent to the Pickup Select switch. Wonkiness, I say LOL

Thanks for all of the responses! I'm going to go out and get some wire and strip it down, clean it up, and restart. I'll keep you updated!

Good idea. That circuit needs an enema

 

[drewphishesp]

It's being shorted by exposed wire hitting the shielding. Grounding it

 

[Andy Marshman]

I've never seen an output jack that looked quite like that. Be sure that the hot signal from the pots isn't accidentally grounded at the jack. In fact, I'd get rid of that jack and put in a Switchcraft.

 

[Thumpin6string]

The output jack looks like the ground tab is bent over and touching the tip tab. That's a dead short.