Matt300ZXT
Well-known member
I've got this Warrior with dual hums and a 3 way switch, 1 volume, 1 tone, with 2 micro 2 way switches and a piezo bridge with a preamp inside the cavity. The bridge pickup is microphonic on occasion and what's likely wax potting holding the cover to the pickup is the same as on the neck (no solder blobs), but I don't recall the neck ever squealing. I contacted Duncan and they said the adhesive looking stuff holding it together is likely the potting wax and it may not be the cover at all, but maybe the screws holding it to the ring may shift and sometimes cause ringing, who knows. He said sometimes just resetting the screws/springs holding it to the ring can fix it. I don't necessarily buy it.
Anyways, once upon a time, I took it to a tech to have the frets leveled and dressed from a few notes dying out on the high e and he had to remove the neck pickup to get at those frets cleanly. I got it back and it worked great for a day or so, then just farted out and no output. I replaced the 9v, installed a new jack (it's a fancy Neutrik locking jack for stereo operation) with a brand new replacement like from the factory and nothing still. I took it to a friend who used to be a tech and he figured out that because of the factory's sloppy wiring, an unshielded wire from the switch was rubbing up against the body of the neck pickup, or something like that, and causing it to have no output. It apparently was fairly common on early 00s Warriors (made in the same area as where he lives) because it wasn't the first time he had heard of this. Apparently, whoever was doing wiring back then was lazy and sloppy.
Anywho, here's what I need you guys for. Take a look at the cavity and the picture I drew up, which should cover every single wire and where it goes to. Help me come up with a new way to wire this thing. I will probably replace both the volume and tone pots, because they're cheap, 20 years old, and the tone pot is a tiny little thing anyways with a cheap cap. Also, there isn't much difference in the sound when I adjust the tone pot anyways. Not that I ever use the tone, but if it's there, it may as well be of some use. The pot closest to the jack is a blend knob I think for the piezo bridge, which I have never once used. I don't really need to de-wire that as I may one day get a wild hair up my ass, pop in a 9v, use a splitter cable and run the piezo, but I doubt it.
I'd like to wire it traditionally, but maybe use the 2 microswitches as coil taps, as I think that's what they do currently. One switch to tap the neck, the other switch to tap the bridge. Once again, I rarely use that either, but if I can tap it and get a bit nicer of a clean tone, it may come in very handy for the guitar's intended use.
See if you can figure out what Warrior did with the wiring and what they were thinking, and how I can improve it, even if it's just new pots and better solder joints on the back of the pots. I think the switch wiring has grounds that tie in to the neck pickup for maybe less wires coming through the wiring channel or something, at least that's what my tech friend figured out.
Edit: I forgot to draw the 3rd wire from the jack, that connects to the middle leg on the tone pot.
Anyways, once upon a time, I took it to a tech to have the frets leveled and dressed from a few notes dying out on the high e and he had to remove the neck pickup to get at those frets cleanly. I got it back and it worked great for a day or so, then just farted out and no output. I replaced the 9v, installed a new jack (it's a fancy Neutrik locking jack for stereo operation) with a brand new replacement like from the factory and nothing still. I took it to a friend who used to be a tech and he figured out that because of the factory's sloppy wiring, an unshielded wire from the switch was rubbing up against the body of the neck pickup, or something like that, and causing it to have no output. It apparently was fairly common on early 00s Warriors (made in the same area as where he lives) because it wasn't the first time he had heard of this. Apparently, whoever was doing wiring back then was lazy and sloppy.
Anywho, here's what I need you guys for. Take a look at the cavity and the picture I drew up, which should cover every single wire and where it goes to. Help me come up with a new way to wire this thing. I will probably replace both the volume and tone pots, because they're cheap, 20 years old, and the tone pot is a tiny little thing anyways with a cheap cap. Also, there isn't much difference in the sound when I adjust the tone pot anyways. Not that I ever use the tone, but if it's there, it may as well be of some use. The pot closest to the jack is a blend knob I think for the piezo bridge, which I have never once used. I don't really need to de-wire that as I may one day get a wild hair up my ass, pop in a 9v, use a splitter cable and run the piezo, but I doubt it.
I'd like to wire it traditionally, but maybe use the 2 microswitches as coil taps, as I think that's what they do currently. One switch to tap the neck, the other switch to tap the bridge. Once again, I rarely use that either, but if I can tap it and get a bit nicer of a clean tone, it may come in very handy for the guitar's intended use.
See if you can figure out what Warrior did with the wiring and what they were thinking, and how I can improve it, even if it's just new pots and better solder joints on the back of the pots. I think the switch wiring has grounds that tie in to the neck pickup for maybe less wires coming through the wiring channel or something, at least that's what my tech friend figured out.
Edit: I forgot to draw the 3rd wire from the jack, that connects to the middle leg on the tone pot.