PJ build electronics gone wrong

[juancaminos]

I installed Aguilar P/J-HC (AG 4P/J-HC) pick ups along with an Audere Classic Preamp. I have five previous builds under my belt but this one has been a pain.

The problem is that when the bridge and neck pick up are on together (balance at detent) there is little to no sound. I have great sound when each pick up is solo'd.

The pick up wiring instructions say to connect the bridge pick up grey wire to the bridge ground. But the preamp instructions say to attach this wire to the ground lug on the output jack, which I did.

Also note that I have slight buzzing until I touch the strings.

I'm getting ready to take it apart to cut the pick up grey wire loose then use a jumper to attach it to the bridge or a string and see what happens. Looking for advice, thanks.

 

[juancaminos]

I installed Aguilar P/J-HC (AG 4P/J-HC) pick ups along with an Audere Classic Preamp. I have five previous builds under my belt but this one has been a pain.

The problem is that when the bridge and neck pick up are on together (balance at detent) there is little to no sound. I have great sound when each pick up is solo'd.

The pick up wiring instructions say to connect the bridge pick up grey wire to the bridge ground. But the preamp instructions say to attach this wire to the ground lug on the output jack, which I did.

Also note that I have slight buzzing until I touch the strings.

I'm getting ready to take it apart to cut the pick up grey wire loose then use a jumper to attach it to the bridge or a string and see what happens. Looking for advice, thanks.

Well that didn't work...

 

[Beej]

I believe there is no bridge ground required, and that this could be the cause of your issues. The instructions actually refer to "cavity ground" and that should be connected to your shielding. Very likely there should not be a bridge ground hookup.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

Assuming all else is nominal, it would appear that the pickups might be opposing each other, (each is good, but both is not) indicating one (not both) might need to have its wires swapped...?

...and I go to the Aguilar website to look at the wiring diagram, and the page for that is "not found" - ugh.

 

[juancaminos]

 

[juancaminos]

I am assuming that white is "hot". And of course I don't have separate volume controls. The Audere is Volume/Balance.

 

[Beej]

Interesting, the online instructions I looked at were different.

 

[juancaminos]

I switched/reversed the bridge pick up wires. That took care of the balance issue!

 

[Max Bogosity]

On the wiring diagram, black goes to ground for the neck pickup but white goes to ground for the bridge pickup. That sure would trip me up.

 

[pedroims]

View attachment 4338962

Are the wires on the jazz pickup reversed? White common and black hot?

Check this comparison, looks like you need to swap the bridge wires

 

[DaveAceofBass]

Advice: Ditch the Audere and get an East.

 

[ctmullins]

Glad you got it sorted, @juancaminos ! I'm late, but just wanted to say - Wow, how DUMB of Aguilar to use white for the hot lead on the P, and black for the hot lead on the J. Your confusion is understandable; manufacturers "should" be consistent with their own wire colors...

 

[mikecd1]

how DUMB of Aguilar to use white for the hot lead on the P, and black for the hot lead on the J. Your confusion is understandable; manufacturers "should" be consistent with their own wire colors...

Its also a little confusing to have a coil ground on the J and not the P. Where hum is concerned Audere often suggests grounding the coils which can be done with a piece of copper tape on the coils and a wire to the cavity ground. If you're doing one, might as well do them both. Glad you got the wires sorted out and hope its smooooooth from there!

 

[juancaminos]

Advice: Ditch the Audere and get an East.

I have two J East, two Audere and two EMG systems. The EMG's were the easiest to install but the J East sound best. I bought the second Audere because I needed a generic install system and it was cheap (I'm all about cheap). My next build will be a Steampunk project. Not sure what I'll use for that...

 

[juancaminos]

On the wiring diagram, black goes to ground for the neck pickup but white goes to ground for the bridge pickup. That sure would trip me up.

Yeah I see that now!

 

[juancaminos]

Glad you got it sorted, @juancaminos ! I'm late, but just wanted to say - Wow, how DUMB of Aguilar to use white for the hot lead on the P, and black for the hot lead on the J. Your confusion is understandable; manufacturers "should" be consistent with their own wire colors...

Yeah I don't get that either, why not just switch the wires at the pick up?

 

[darwin-bass]

Glad you got it sorted, @juancaminos ! I'm late, but just wanted to say - Wow, how DUMB of Aguilar to use white for the hot lead on the P, and black for the hot lead on the J. Your confusion is understandable; manufacturers "should" be consistent with their own wire colors...

Well, technically there is no hot or ground lead on a pickup. It is just two ends of a coil. In Aguilar's case they have made it clear to the user that their bridge pickup is to be wired in reverse by instructing you to wire it "backwards". I agree it is confusing, but part of that is the wrong assumption that white is hot and black is ground (like house electrical wiring)

OOPS - house wiring is black=hot and white=return. Most electronic wiring using black as ground with other colors for power (red) which is what I'd expect in the guitar pickup world.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

I installed Aguilar P/J-HC (AG 4P/J-HC) pick ups along with an Audere Classic Preamp. I have five previous builds under my belt but this one has been a pain.

The problem is that when the bridge and neck pick up are on together (balance at detent) there is little to no sound. I have great sound when each pick up is solo'd.

The pick up wiring instructions say to connect the bridge pick up grey wire to the bridge ground. But the preamp instructions say to attach this wire to the ground lug on the output jack, which I did.

Also note that I have slight buzzing until I touch the strings.

I'm getting ready to take it apart to cut the pick up grey wire loose then use a jumper to attach it to the bridge or a string and see what happens. Looking for advice, thanks.

Yeah I see that now!

Yeah, those two diagrams show the the white and blacks are reversed for each j pickup. White is hot on one pic, ground on the other. Swap them around, and see what happens. I wouldn't hook it straight to the jack though. I'd just solder all of my grounds together in one bundle, and screw the mess into my sheilding paint.

 

[ctmullins]

Yeah, it’s not “wrong” from an engineering perspective, but it is wrong from a customer satisfaction perspective. Plenty of customers are not tech-heads, and the product line should be as easy/intuitive for those people as possible.

Sorry for the mini-rant, but we see this all the time in software user interfaces, and it’s become a bit of a soapbox for me.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

My next build will be a Steampunk project. Not sure what I'll use for that...

Tubes, Jacob's Ladders, Plasma Discharges of various sorts...all powered by a tiny steam turbine that vents out the headstock...though a tiny steam piston engine would be "more steampunk" and might let you get effectively a drum machine as part of the bass