Guitar Circuit Troubleshooting: Diagnosing a Faulty Circuit

In this video we are doing something completely different.
A customer purchased one of our ES-335 wiring kits a couple of weeks ago and has had issues with getting it to work. After exchanging a few emails and several photos without being able to successfully identify the fault, the customer sent it back to me for diagnosis.
The circuit initially looks OK and the soldering is pretty solid. So I turn to the trusted multimeter to try and find the issue.
Guitar wiring can be an utter nightmare - however, there are several things to check before packing it in.
More mini tutorials: • Soldering Braided Guit...
ES-335 wiring kit: sixstringsupplies.co.uk/colle...
Other guitar wiring kits: sixstringsupplies.co.uk/colle...
How to guides: sixstringsupplies.co.uk/pages...

[@flashy5150]

I just learned a trick from another channel. When soldering the ground wires to the tops of the pots, use “flux”, as the solder has a difficult time to stick to the metal on the tops of the pots, as it’s probably made out of more aluminum than steel. A lot of DIY’s tend to apply too much heat to the pots, trying to make the solder stick, which will burn out the components inside the potentiometer. If you don’t have “flux”, try scratching or scraping the surface of the pot and it will make a rough surface for the solder to stick to. Also, when installing a new pot, it’s best to put a drop of solder on the top of the pot before installing it into the guitar, then you can just heat up the solder and push the ground wire into the solder and voila, it’s neatly soldered with no hassle.

[@kennymonsters]

1 video to rule them all! Thanks a bunch, now the work begins

[@kennethsmith4202]

This is so helpful for testing our electronics on our 335 kit guitar. Great video

[@choimdachoim9491]

A perfect candidate for demonstration of every possibility and a good lesson...sometimes the fix is really simple.

[@DanielBobke]

Love these troubleshooting videos - great hints for tracing out connectivity problems! This guy is lucky he didn't destroy one of the pots with as much solder and he put on there. He likely heated up those pots quite a bit. Scratching the surface of the pot or using a small drop of flux will help with making the solder stick better and faster. Great work!

[@codykniffen]

This is incredibly helpful for someone that has definitely struggled with troubleshooting a bad soldering job / diagnosing a circuit. Thanks!

[@SixStringSupplies]

no worries Cody hope it helps. The gentleman who sent it to me was getting infuriated from constantly having to remove his pickups to find what the problem was. It is the tiniest nick of solder which has shorted the whole circuit. Everything else he did was pretty much perfect

[@crimadellaphone9374]

@@SixStringSupplies Hello, I have a simple question I'm desperate to get an answer for. In the last 4 days, obsessively reading and looking at many different mods, learning what I can of the science behind the circuits and learning(today) that dual concentric pots exist I have a kick ass ultimate mod I wish to do to my beloved Strat. While I will be using Treble bleeds to stop as much high frequency lost as possible I'm curious if 6 500k pots (3 dual concentrics) will be too much of a load on the pickups circuit? My idea is to have two switches, one for each humbucker partial coil split using a fixed Resistor(x2 - 1 for bridge/ 1 for neck), volume pot for each pickup(likely abandon the 5way switch, activating which pickups are selected by their individual vol pots) then having 3 master tone pots, Hi-cut, mid-cut(an experimental idea I came up with) and Low-cut wired in series. Before I order all the parts I need and go through the trouble of wiring this up I need to know that it's not a 'given' that 6 pots on a guitar with a passive-only circuit is going to automatically slaughter the tone by having too much of a load.

[@ericruddphotography]

I agree. This is so very helpful. I’m troubleshooting my strat which suddenly had a big drop in level. Almost nonexistent. Most videos I’ve watched show what to check using a circuit that functioning. Or they isolate “how to check a pot.” But they don’t show one that isn’t working. This is so great. This also helps to to understand that these really are simple circuits, and that there is only so much that can go/be wrong. Thanks for posting this.

[@sidneysnottley6414]

Another great vid - The whole site is a great resource. - Thanks

[@seannicholas363]

I have just had exactly the same problem. Your videos are great and so is your customer service.

[@SixStringSupplies]

Cheers Sean, your custom is valued 👍

[@mattmallard7712]

Great and informative video and a lesson for us all who like abit of diy electrical work. 👏

[@mountainman8775]

Very useful demonstration

[@gsuderman]

Outstanding diagnostic! I really learned an awful lot. Thank-you

[@Rey_eo]

Thank you! Incredibly useful!

[@gusmcbean9474]

C-R-A-Z-Y polyrhythmic riff intro! Loving it it!!!

[@MAaronEdwards]

Excellent video. Thank you.

[@geoffgrier8764]

BIG UP! Big help. I appreciate it.

[@koteynikoi-kotei9301]

Very helpful 👍

[@pedraw]

subscribed......awesome work

[@bothorsen4292]

I have seen a bunch of your videos, but there's one thing I'm missing - pot multimeter readings on a wired guitar. The reason I'm searching for this is that I suspect the volume pot on my strat is cooked, but I don't know how to test it, other than unwire it and measure. When measuring between the center lug and the others, it keeps sitting at 0.00 ohms, which I guess is a short. But I can't see a short there and all other readings seem fine. Showing all multimeter readings in a video would be very helpful.

[@fulltiltgonzales]

Great video - I wrote down very specific instructions and this was my exact same problem - I had too much solder running down the back of my input lug on a volume control, connecting the regular circuit to the ground of the underside of the pot casing. You don't talk too much, your voice is calming, and your instructions are very clear - you are a great teacher - thank you so much!!!

[@spokes28]

? This tip did not solve my problem and I’m hoping that you would suggest something else. I just put together a diy kit with all new parts 4 CTS pots, and two humbuckers wired 50s style. I get sound from both pickups but very very low and only when the volume pot is all the way up. With a multi meter I have verified that everything is grounded, the pickups are at appropriate resistance (7-8k) and the capacitors are at about .23. I am at a loss to know what to do next. Thank you for your help.

[@marcuslewitzki4610]

I have the exact same problem wih my newly re-wired Les Paul. I'm not getting any sound from my bridge pickup so I poked around a bit with my multimeter and found that the input lug on the bridge volume pot is somehow connected to ground but I haven't got any clearly visible excess solder connecting the lug to the top of the pot or the shielding paint etc. and I'm scratching my head, trying to figure out where else it could connect the hot to ground.

[@johnulrich5572]

Very timely video for me. I recently purhased an ES335 type of guitar and the only flaw is that it produces a ground hum when either pick up is selected that goes away when I touch the tail piece or the strings. When the selector switch is in the middle position the hum goes away. Your video tutorial will give me a place to start. BTW, on your recommendation I ordered a Hakko soldering station which should get here Friday. I'm tired of using sub-par soldering irons. Thanks again for your tutorials and recommendations.

[@SixStringSupplies]

Hi John, good stuff and glad you like the tutorials (thanks for watching) You've got a faulty ground somewhere, so when you get your new soldering station I'd look at re-flowing the ground solder joints. Have a great weekend!

[@stephenhookings1985]

I got this on an SX bass - made a YT vid on the fix which was the ensure good contact between bridge earth wire and your common ground. Copper shielding can reduce noise from fluorescent lights - hum is often related to normal single coil picking up stray radiation - selecting two together if they are oriented properly and matched should cancel out noise. Once you fixed the bridge ground try orienting you guitar at different angles to your amp - there should be a sweet angle that significantly reduces the hum. Or use humbucker pickups that also eliminate most of the hum. Or a noise gate. Best of luck.

[@GodblessOsei]

This video is very helpful... Please can you help me out with how to wire two single coils together to create a humbucker

[@montag4516]

One of the single coil pups would need to be reverse wound compared to the other such as pairing a Strat middle and neck pickups together, otherwise you'll have a humbucker that won't minimize the hum.

[@Felipe-pb9gu]

Hi, I follow your 335 wiring tutorial and i not getting any sound, I checked everything as you indicate in the video and I'm not getting continuity on the switch ground but if there is in the neck and bridge lugs. Any suggestion? (I checked thoroughly and the solders are fine, so is not same problem). Thanks for this helpful video!!!

[@Airtrooper719]

Do you know what would cause a volume pot to only work slightly? It turns down but if I strum the output still bleeds through the amp with the volume knob completely off.

[@jreagle58]

As a newbie to building wiring harnesses I have installed one into a two humbucker guitar following a Seymour Duncan schematic of 2-vol./1- tone. Of course no sound. I checked continuity and all seemed fine with one exception. When I touched the outside lug of neck pot to ground it beeped. When I did the same to bridge pot, it did not. Any thoughts?

[@kencook.7093]

I have a 1960’s Teisco the tone pot has two legs soldered together. The capacitor was broken off (one leg) and I didn’t see how it was connected. Don’t know how to send pictures if you have time to look? Question: how do I hook up the new tone capacitor with original wiring with two legs soldered together. Middle and left legs??? Thanks for this video it helped me fix a different guitar. KC

[@Axer01250]

Idk if you've got an answer yet, but some of the old teisco tone pots were wired in an old school way in which middle and left lugs are soldered together ( in relation to the pots being bottom up). From that solder joint, one leg of the tone capacitor is soldered. The other leg of the capacitor is soldered to the middle leg of the volume pot. The right lug of the tone pot is then bent back and soldered to the pot casing. I hope that I explained that clearly and that it solves your problem. Good luck.

[@simmonphoenix3206]

Can you burn through a three or five way toggle switch?? I have narrowed the problem to either an over solder lug or I burned through the lug on the board. Wire is connected well but still no sound. I had it working for a bit but it stoped when I put the tele control plate back in.

[@jreagle58]

On my project the alarm sounds when I place the multimeter on the lug of the volume pots that the selector cables are soldered to. Based on your video am I correct that it should not alarm?

[@lewissharman409]

I have a situation with both pickups not working

[@davebarber3827]

I've fitted a humbucker to my strat I added everything from you video the resistors 500 k ohm volume pot a 250k ohm for the single coil pick ups and a 500k ohm for the humbucker tone control but I am not getting anything from the single coil pick ups but the humbucker is working. Any suggestions

[@Elevtr]

I made the mistake of dropping too much, is it ok if it falls on the pick gaurd? Meaning no shorts?

[@anexiole]

if you wanted to test the pots to see if they are working properly, can the pot be tested with the multimeter with the pot connected to the circuit?

[@Emorejets]

hello I've been trying to fix my guitar. I've tested the capacitors on my guitar, both of them are meant to be .47uf. However one of the capacitors is reporting a capacitance of .42uf could this be the issue?

[@ngobrolmusik8635]

My guitar has loud noise when i turn down the volume, can you help me with that?

[@Foghornish]

After several burnt fingers and a very sore back, and a little mini nervous break down last night, I have finally decided to bite the bullet and purchase a multimeter.

[@abhinavaggarwal4062]

Hi ! I just received a new original series fender strat ordered online. To my dismay, it sounds very weak and not chimy and resonant like a strat is supposed to. The sound of the guitar is very weak and kind of muffled and it is barely audible even at volume 5. As opposed to my other strat which sounds big and open and chimy even at volume 4. I have not yet opened the pickguard of the guitar. Do you think this is something I can troubleshoot and fix myself or should I just return the guitar. I really wanna keep this guitar because acoustically it sounds good and feels good. Please help !

[@nathancruz6210]

Hey six string, I just got all my stuff for guitar building and I have 2 Seymour Duncan humbuckers, a fender 3 way switch, 2 500k tone pots, 1 500k volume pot, 2 capacitors, and 1 tremolo. I’m trying to put this into my stratocaster and I can’t find a wiring demo or a diagram, if you see this can you please reply with an email or maybe anyway I can contact you, I have no previous knowledge on how to do this and it would help tremendously.

[@johnulrich5572]

Just received my Hakko soldering iron today. I was wondering at what temperature do you set your iron for guitar wiring?

[@SixStringSupplies]

Hi John it depends on the solder you’re using. I use silver solder, so typicall at 379-389. If you’re using leaded you can go lower and lead free (with no solder) you’d go higher. But you’d need to practice trial error and get a feel of the flow. Enjoy!

[@johnulrich5572]

@@SixStringSupplies Thanks for the advice...looking foreward to future videos. All my guitars need a little work and many of your past videos have covered most of them. Thanks!

[@fanopallarespapasseit8427]

Hello! I’ve just installed a new harness on my epi casino... but the cts 500k pots seems to do nuthing until the very last part of the sweep... then goes from 0 to 10 very suddently... and the tone pots are very drastic, too ... with the tone rolled off it gets so muffled and theres also a big drop in volume....don’t know what is wrong there, but it’s so annoying! Maybe I shouldn’t get these suspiciously cheap ‘cts’ pots and ‘sprague orange drops’ at a chinese crappy cheap online shop🤦🏻‍♂️

[@SixStringSupplies]

Hi Fano, yes I suspect the pots have a very short audio sweep, maybe 90% (meaning 90% of the sweep is in the last 10% of the turn) which is very drastic. I'd look at either using linear pots or try finding pots with a 70/30 sweep. Thanks for watching!

[@tommartin7728]

He he, this is what my soldering looks like. Bloody awful but it's always worked for me in the past. I'm watching this because I've rewired my Les Paul and it's not making a sound.

[@barrytrewern3347]

Put your glasses on and use a small blowtorch 😂

[@DougHinVA]

a strong British accent is NOT easily understood by USA users...

[@MisterFatherSir310]

Yes it is

[@chrisgeo1642]

Honestly trouble shooting is cool but once all the components are out you are just as well served as wiring up new pots and caps. Literally talking about spending 30 or 40 bucks and saving a lot of time and frustration. I don’t bother trying to find wiring issues any more it takes longer to figure it out, fix it and re-install than it does to just replace the components.

[@SixStringSupplies]

That’s true, but the components weren’t out (except the capacitor) I only ended up replacing one pot. Replacing all the components in this wiring kit would’ve been cost a lot more, and I guess if you get it wrong again...it can start to add up. Thanks for watching!

[@g8sbs944]

hhhhhmmmm you made the first basic error of any tests you did not check the circuit for any solder bridges or any other problems visually if you had then you would have spotted the solder problem before using the test meter

[@Alpine_Nightly]

Yikes! And I thought MY soldering was terrible. Whoever the owner of this guitar is makes my work look like Nikola Tesla's.