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Thunderbird Club

#235,301
Stealth57 said:
I’ll try to diagram things out in the morning. I can see everything except what’s going on with the cap. It’s wedges between what I would call the first and second posts.

Maybe someone with a VP can compare when I post the diagram.
Click to expand...


The cap should go from the the third lug to ground, the tone pot case which should be the same lug that goes to the jack (hot). I don't think your problem is anything to to with the tone cap. The pickup is good, I assume the other pickup works? The one you soldered in has a grounded lug to the case, the hot is going to the middle lug, and the other lug is connected to the third lugs of the other vol, the tone, and the jack?
 
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#235,302
TBird1958 said:
This showed up in my FB feed, they may be changing the pickups/position on the newest models.

tbxaxTi.jpg
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That might be interesting in a short scale, like the SG/EB model. I do like the color.
 
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#235,303
Stealth57 said:
I tested 9 kOhms with the com on the braided sheath and the red on the central wire. How do I test the pot? Across the signal in and signal out legs? I’m I checking ohms or something else? Sorry, I’m a chemical engineer not an EE :)
Click to expand...
You test the pot by measuring across the outer legs (with nothing else connected). It should 500K or maybe 250K.
The center leg is a swiper that "taps" the resistance. At the beginning of it's sweep it zero to one leg and 500K to the other. At the other end of the sweep its 500K to one leg and zero to the other. The sweep is not at a constant rate, it's logarithmic.
I would also hook up the pickup directly to a spare output jack and plug it into an amp to see if it's good.
 
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#235,306
Engle said:
You test the pot by measuring across the outer legs (with nothing else connected). It should 500K or maybe 250K.
The center leg is a swiper that "taps" the resistance. At the beginning of it's sweep it zero to one leg and 500K to the other. At the other end of the sweep its 500K to one leg and zero to the other. The sweep is not at a constant rate, it's logarithmic.
I would also hook up the pickup directly to a spare output jack and plug it into an amp to see if it's good.
Click to expand...


I assumed since he was getting 9K across the pickup wire it was probably good.
 
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#235,308
Stealth57 said:
It was completely dead before because the wire wasn’t attached to the pot at all. After reconnecting, I get a faint signal with the pot at 10.

View attachment 4943976
Click to expand...


Where is that little white wire that's soldered to the case of the middle pot under the larger blue wire going? That's not going to the third lug (left) is it? If it is that's might be your problem.
 
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#235,314
Gaolee said:
I like going fast. A 1950s car is a death trap, but flogging one is a blast. Later Fords are too big an heavy.
Click to expand...

this was a death trap - Porsche 550 Spyder - the man in the pic to the left warned JD that this car would lead to his death... it did.

27927418529_82c9c04e31_z.jpg
 
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#235,317
bobyoung53 said:
The cap should go from the the third lug to ground, the tone pot case which should be the same lug that goes to the jack (hot). I don't think your problem is anything to to with the tone cap. The pickup is good, I assume the other pickup works? The one you soldered in has a grounded lug to the case, the hot is going to the middle lug, and the other lug is connected to the third lugs of the other vol, the tone, and the jack?
Click to expand...
Got to it tonight. Yes, the neck pickup is working fine. I haven't tested what happens to volume on the neck pickup if I turn the tone knob up. I normally leave it at zero. There is an extraneous solder ball on the top of the neck volume pot. It does appear someone was messing with the wiring at some point so verifying that what I see is correct or not would be a great next step.

VP wiring.jpg
 
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#235,318
bobyoung53 said:
Where is that little white wire that's soldered to the case of the middle pot under the larger blue wire going? That's not going to the third lug (left) is it? If it is that's might be your problem.
Click to expand...
It's not soldered to the ground, it just looks that way. It's going to the third post. That blue sheath wire is actually 2 wires. One is soldered to the volume pot back and goes to the tone pot back and the white wire goes from the third post on that pot to the third post on the tone pot. I really hate multiple wires inside a sheath as it gets confusing in the photos.
 
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#235,319
Stealth57 said:
Got to it tonight. Yes, the neck pickup is working fine. I haven't tested what happens to volume on the neck pickup if I turn the tone knob up. I normally leave it at zero. There is an extraneous solder ball on the top of the neck volume pot. It does appear someone was messing with the wiring at some point so verifying that what I see is correct or not would be a great next step.

View attachment 4944009
Click to expand...

Yes - that is the generic wiring of a VVT two pu bass.
 
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