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Help! Wire has come loose


Saz

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My Les paul special II was plugged into my vox ac15c1 and i started hearing very loud weird feedback type noises coming in short bursts. I figured it wasn't the amp and opened up the back of my guitar to find a loose red wire with solder on the end that has come loose.

 

Here are pictures:

 

http://img824.imageshack.us/i/sam1532.jpg/

 

http://img130.imageshack.us/i/sam1534.jpg/

 

I am wondering how to fix this - where to attach it back to / solder it to, and any advice to help really

thanks

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My Les paul special II was plugged into my vox ac15c1 and i started hearing very loud weird feedback type noises coming in short bursts. I figured it wasn't the amp and opened up the back of my guitar to find a loose red wire with solder on the end that has come loose.

 

Here are pictures:

 

http://img824.imageshack.us/i/sam1532.jpg/

 

http://img130.imageshack.us/i/sam1534.jpg/

 

I am wondering how to fix this - where to attach it back to / solder it to, and any advice to help really

thanks

 

Try tracking the missing wire according to this diagram:

lpspecial_wiring.jpg

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The red and black wires coming out of the body and into the cavity are heavier wires. I believe they are your pickups.

The loose red wire seems to be thinner but also seems to be coming into the cavity from the body.

 

It may be your bridge ground wire.

Try taping it to the back of the pot and see what happens.

Worst case senario....nothing.

And yes, if that is it, it does need to be resoldered to some grounding point.

 

Lord, I hate Epiphone wiring!

 

Willy

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Hard to tell from those pics, but my guess is it came off the switch.

 

Try to pull the wires gently out of the way of the switch and pot and take some more pics so we can get a better look see.

 

thanks people :) i've taken some more pictures

 

This one shows where the wire comes from : http://img191.imageshack.us/i/wirer.jpg/

 

http://img521.imageshack.us/i/witchm.jpg/

 

http://img703.imageshack.us/i/gnfhm.jpg/ tone/volume pot thing

 

http://img602.imageshack.us/i/pien.jpg/ other tone/volume pot thing

 

dunno if they are relevant [blink]

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The red and black wires coming out of the body and into the cavity are heavier wires. I believe they are your pickups.

The loose red wire seems to be thinner but also seems to be coming into the cavity from the body.

 

It may be your bridge ground wire.

Try taping it to the back of the pot and see what happens.

Worst case senario....nothing.

And yes, if that is it, it does need to be resoldered to some grounding point.

 

Lord, I hate Epiphone wiring!

 

Willy

 

i masking taped it on haha, and it seemed to work for a few minutes.. then some really loud white noise came through my amp :S

probably cause the masking tape came off.

 

So if this is the case where abouts do i solder it to ? ive posted some more pictures

:) thanks

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Saz,

 

By the way...Welcome to the forum!

 

Okey dokey, here we go.

First things first. Confirm that the wire is indeed the bridge ground wire.

As I previously stated it looks like it is coming from inside the body into the control cavity. Make sure that is the case! It should be coming into the cavity through it's own separate hole...by itself. (refer to Traffic Lights diagram for a reference.)

So far so good?

 

Double check by once again temporarily taping to the back of a pot. Make sure that the selector switch, volume and tone control are working correctly in all positions. If this proves to be the case we can be fairly sure that it is indeed the bridge ground wire. (as I do not have the guitar to examine for myself, I want you to be positively sure.)

 

Now, Do you have a soldering iron and do you know how to use it? If not, I would suggest either taking it to a tech or getting some practice on a piece of tin with some scrap wire. It is best done with a small chisel tip and the correct type of solder.

If any of the above is not the case stop here and let us know!

 

If you feel you have all the bases covered then you might be ready to go.

The bridge ground wire can be soldered to the back of the pot but there are considerations.

If you do it inside the cavity great care must be taken so as to not touch other wires with the iron!!!

If you burn or melt one of the other wires you could be worse off than before.

 

If you have enough wire inside the cavity you are better off removing the knob, nut and washer and taking the pot out of the cavity.

Take a small piece of cardboard (not sure a simple playing card wouldn't work) and punch a hole in it.

Lay it over the top of the cavity with the pot placed on the cardboard and the shaft in the hole. (sound sexy?)

You should now be looking at the bottom of the pot. This is where you can solder the bridge ground wire.

 

Important Precaution!!...Make sure the pot is set at zero! If the pot gets overheated while soldering it can create a dead spot. If that happens it is best if it happens at zero. If you know what you are doing there should be no reason to overheat the pot but, it is still a good precaution. If the pot gets far overheated you can completely destroy it and you are back to square one.

 

I think I have covered all the basics. If anyone spots anything I have missed please chime in.

If you have any other concerns it is better to straighten them out ahead of time than regret them afterwords.

 

Willy

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its obviously the bridge ground. it has its own seperate little hole it should by right be black but you probably got the color blind assembly man on this one you have two choices where to solder it . one attatch it to the back of either pot both of them are grounded or go directly to the output plug and attatch it to the ground terminal of that simple the easy way is the back of the pot where it lays. btw usually if something comes loose its pretty much where it belongs till you start moving stuff around. you can probably tell by looking on the back of the pot where it was there should be a dull spot there where it was attatched . poor solder job.

when you re solder it put the wire on the back of the pot and hold it there with the slodering iron. let it get good and hot then lay the solder in from the side the heat will suck the solder in. then grab the wire to keep it in place and remove the soldering iron. i put that ground on the back of pots al the time.

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Based on your pics, and the fact that the wire is coming into the

cavity thru it's own "little hole" also lead me to believe that it's

the bridge/tailpiece ground wire. Yeeeesh - what a lame soldering job,

wire end looks like [cursing] ....

 

T.T. Lights, AMX, And Willy are heading you in the correct direction.

If you had a multi-meter, this could be confimed in seconds. Without one,

just do the "tape to back of Pot" thing as Willy recommended. Maybe electrical tape

for a bit more holding power?

 

If willy's suggestion proves correct regarding re-establishing the Ground via taping,

just re-solder to back of a potentiometer. That should put you back in business!

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Lord, I hate Epiphone wiring!

 

Willy

Hi Willy - Your comment prompts me to ask if Epiphone's weak wiring extends into more expensive Epis. As I consider another guitar several months down the road, should I assume any Epi, even something hundreds of $$ more than my Epi SG, would have the same crappy wiring?

By the way, thanks for your response on my tabs vs note reading thread.

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DMC:

 

Unfortunately, the wiring, pots, switch and jack seem to be weak spots in Epiphone electrics, which is why many DIY owners will replace all of it right off the bat. Then, there are owners like me who, while aware of the situation, take a "if it's not broke don't fix it" attitude. In my case, for example, the jack ground broke off because of the typical loosening jack. So, I replaced it with a quality Switchcraft unit, instead of re-soldering and reusing the crappy stock jack.

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i own 5 epis . the wiring is generally cheap crap. with the exception of my dot. ive rewired two right from the start. if you look ay the harness its all very thin poorly insulated crap with bad soldering joints. you get what you pay for. and epiphone went from korea to china for a reason and that is the chineese work cheaper. ad as you know quality control is not there motto. on the other hand after redoing the wiring and replacing cheap pots and switches ther very nice guitars. go figure. got a dot studio in the bench now piece of crap electricly. but i bouthg it for a porject so i didnt care. had i bought it to use as is id have been very disapointed. but on the other hand the pots were full size ones so thats am improvement but the wire was that angel hair crap like the other ones.

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  • 9 years later...

Yes err ..... can I speak now ?    Oh thanks .....  I have a similar problem, I have just  received my Chinese Gibson copy of an es 295 Scottie Moore replica in metallic blue without the whammy bar. etc .     The problem is the bridge pick up was rattling around inside the body of the guitar when I opened up the packaging !!!!   And after a few frustrating efforts of removing the pick guard and the cover etc.,   I found that it had come adrift from its wire  ..... only trouble is there’s only one black wire loose inside. Should there be two ???   Also the neck pick up wire  is red is that significant .  for supposedly p90 Pick ups ????    In other words is there Just  one wire for each pick up ???

Edited by Nige
amending the text
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