Soldering EMG pickups

sahlomonic

sahlomonic

Well-known member
I have an 81/85 set with no solderless wiring kit. I installed them in my son's Jackson V according to the attached diagram.

Issue I'm having is after playing the guitar, set it down, then come back and hour or so later the volume cuts out when rolled past roughly halfway on the guitar. First thought was a heat damaged pot so I changed that out and then it played perfect. Came back a while later and then the same issue. Then thought it was a dead battery so put in a fresh one and again played perfect. Came back later and same issue as before. Yes guitar was unplugged each time it was set down. TRS instrument cable was not used; just regular cable. The pickups have the 3 solderless prongs, but was able to figure out from other diagrams how to wire it.

I'm admittedly pretty new to active pickups so I don't know how to problem solve this quote yet.
 

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Geo said:
Will the sound cut out on both pickups?
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Just went to check that . . . and of course it works now. Next time it starts cutting out I'll check if it affects both pickups.

If it does, what would that indicate?

Also, have yet to have it cut out while it plays perfectly. Always happens after it's been sitting unplugged and then fire up the amp (it's not a problem with the amp)
 
sahlomonic said:
Just went to check that . . . and of course it works now. Next time it starts cutting out I'll check if it affects both pickups.

If it does, what would that indicate?

Also, have yet to have it cut out while it plays perfectly. Always happens after it's been sitting unplugged and then fire up the amp (it's not a problem with the amp)
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I guess it would tell you whether the problem is isolated to one pickup. If it is, it should be easier to nail down.
 
I’d be looking for a short somewhere, maybe there’s one wire stripped back too far that’s touching something else?
 
glpg80 said:
I mean it’s intermittent it sounds like. You’re sure the soldering is good?
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I am questioning my soldering at this point. I'm not a high level pro at it, but believe I have swapped pickups and modded amps enough to think I'm pretty damn good at it :dunno: .

I'm probably putting the cart in front of the horse thinking it's a component issue rather than going back and checking my work thoroughly i.e. solder joints.
 
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