Epi les paul,No neck pickup!

[konceppt]

Hi all,

 

I just bought a second hand Epiphone Les Paul Studio Deluxe LTD edition.

It was in a bad way when i got it.It had a loose tone pot for the neck pickup as well.

 

I have now tightened the loose pot (The red wire on the back of the pot had also broken off) and soldered the wire back on.

 

I restrung it and plugged it inot my amp.Now it seems the neck pickup is not working.If you switch to bridge pickup,both the tone and volume control work fine.Switch to the middle position and it quietens slightly but the neck pickup volume control operates to a point (It will get louder when turned but when you get to 8 and above it shuts off) But the tone knob has no affect.

 

Switch to neck pickup and i get nothing at all.

 

I have been told that the 3 way switches are prone to being faulty but the guy i bought it from has never played it so he doesnt know whether it worked to start with.I stripped the switch and cleaned all the contacts and used wire wool on the contacts but it has no effect.

 

I am struggling to find a wiring diagram but really the wiring hasnt been touched since new.I also have an Epi les paul standard plus top but the 2 seem to be wired differently (different colour wiring too) which i find strange since they are both 2 humbuckers,2 volume and 2 control knobs with the same 3 way switch.

 

This guitar is a 2002 so its 10 years old and supposedly never played.Is it possible it just has knackered pots even if it hasnt ever been played?

[Blueman335]

Several things:

 

1) Pull out (but don't disconnect) the toggle. Look at it when you're flipping it and the guitar is plugged in. Make sure it makes the same connections for the bridge and neck. If not, gently bend the prong(s) so it makes the connections. To keep problems from happening in the future, keep the toggle in the middle position when the guitar's not plugged in. Sitting for years in the bridge PU position the toggle may suffer from metal fatigue and eventually make the neck PU connection not work (and vice versa).

 

2) Go to a website with diagrams, like Seymour Duncan, and verify which wires go to which pot lugs. On the volumes, looking from the bottom, the left lug is ground, middle is toggle, and the right is to the PU and tone pot. All the grounds are connected together in a big loop. Every electrical part (PU, toggle, pots, and jack) have a ground and hot connection.

 

3) When it's plugged in, wiggle the wires to see if anything shorts or crackles. Make sure all the solders are firm and shiny, and that there's no bare wire or strands of wire that could touch something else and short it out.

 

Guitar wiring is very simple and low tech. In this case, don't worry about wire color (Korean vs Chinese), all you care about is which is hot and which is ground.

[RSDx]

 

To keep problems from happening in the future, keep the toggle in the middle position when the guitar's not plugged in. Sitting for years in the bridge PU position the toggle may suffer from metal fatigue and eventually make the neck PU connection not work (and vice versa).

 

 

Interesting ..... I thought I was the only one that did this ...LOL I mean, it makes sense, my '07 w/ original switch works just fine so far...I'm a practical (cheap) bassturd ... if it ain't "broke", rarely will I "fix" it, unless it's something I can't live with. The stock Epi switch still works perfectly, doing what it's supposed to do every time. If/when it dies, sure, I'll upgrade. I ain't in no hurry ;)

[konceppt]

Problem solved,

 

I didnt realise that the live and earth wires for the neck tone pot are within one sheath so i soldered the whole thing in one place.I just unsoldered and seperated the wires and resoldered them seperastely and its all working.

 

Only thing is,If you have the selector switch in the central position (i.e both pickups) then turn either volume all the way down,I lose all sound.

e.g if i have both pickups selected and turn the neck pickup volume all the way down,i lose the sound from the bridge pickup too.

 

Is that normal?

 

I havent checked my other guitars but i will later.

[konceppt]

Ignore that last part,

 

Just plugged in my other LP and that's the same

[Blueman335]

Only thing is,If you have the selector switch in the central position (i.e both pickups) then turn either volume all the way down,I lose all sound.

e.g if i have both pickups selected and turn the neck pickup volume all the way down,i lose the sound from the bridge pickup too.

 

Is that normal?

 

Yes, that's called 'dependent volume controls'. I don't care for it, as you can't blend PU's. I change all of mine to independent volume controls. Easy fix. There's a post from last week expalining what to do.

[K5MR]

Just experienced the same problem with my 2021 EPI LP Standard.  Bridge pickup working  fine.  No signal in  neck pickup position and no output with selector switch in middle position.  

Removed switch cover on backside and checked switch wiring with ohm meter.  Solder joints looked good and switch continuity was fine in all 3 positions.  Finally used small flat blade screwdriver to bend both outside switch wire lugs in toward center lug.  That resolved the issue.  Both bridge and neck pickups working now with plenty of output.  Be careful not to get switch wire lugs so close together that they short out to each other.  Long term solution would be to replace switch with higher quality part.  Good luck!

[Pinch]

On 5/1/2012 at 6:32 PM, konceppt said:

Ignore that last part,

 

Just plugged in my other LP and that's the same

Dang, there I was thinking "at least I can help with this one" 🙂