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No sound - dodgy electrics help


RickyV
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Ok. Took delivery of a new bass yesterday, one of the famed 'deko' items from Thomann for only £27. It's a standard Harley Benton jazz, very nice as it goes, but unfortunately there seems to be some problems with the electrics and/or pick-ups. When I plug it in, the bridge pup is completely dead and with the neck pup there seems to be some output but I can only hear it very faintly through an amp with the volume up full! There is some buzz when I touch the magnets on the neck pup but nothing on the bridge. Obviously I have made sure the volume pots for each pick up are rolled fully on.

Now, long term this isn't a major problem as I was planning to swap out the pups for better ones anyway considering what I paid, but it would be nice to get some noise out of it as it is.

My question is then, how do I check that this is a pick up problem or a problem with the pots or both. I understand I will probably need a multimeter for this but exactly what do I do then? Or could this just be a connection issue and resoldering everything could work? There are currently no loose connections that I can see. I am a complete electronics numpty so detailed descriptions or diagrams would be awesome. Any other advice or pointers would be most welcome.

Many thanks in advance.

Oh, and it definitely isn't the lead or the amp as these work fine with other basses.

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[quote name='RickyV' timestamp='1425586133' post='2708912']...I am a complete electronics numpty so detailed descriptions or diagrams would be awesome. Any other advice or pointers would be most welcome...
[/quote]

An easy check, which may be within your scope, would be to identify the lead coming from the p/up itself, de-solder it (Make a note of how it was, so as to be able to put it back. Take a photo..? Do a sketch..?), and connect it instead to a lead with a standard jack at t'other end. Plug that into the amp, play and listen. It should sound OK. If the p/up, directly into the amp like that, doesn't 'sound', then it's duff, and you can't do much more with it. If it sounds OK, then the problem lies elsewhere, in the 'gubbins' (technical term...).
Try that if you want to at least isolate the problem as a p/up one, or further on.
Hope this helps.

Edited by Dad3353
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[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1425588956' post='2708957']
An easy check, which may be within your scope, would be to identify the lead coming from the p/up itself, de-solder it (Make a note of how it was, so as to be able to put it back. Take a photo..? Do a sketch..?), and connect it instead to a lead with a standard jack at t'other end. Plug that into the amp, play and listen. It should sound OK. If the p/up, directly into the amp like that, doesn't 'sound', then it's duff, and you can't do much more with it. If it sounds OK, then the problem lies elsewhere, in the 'gubbins' (technical term...).
Try that if you want to at least isolate the problem as a p/up one, or further on.
Hope this helps.
[/quote]

Thanks Dad. I will give that a go. On closer inspection I have found that the bridge grounding wire is completely disconnected from where it was originally soldered to (I think from the back of the tone pot). Would this cause the whole thing not to work properly as described in my OP?

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[quote name='RickyV' timestamp='1425841998' post='2711373']


Thanks Dad. I will give that a go. On closer inspection I have found that the bridge grounding wire is completely disconnected from where it was originally soldered to (I think from the back of the tone pot). Would this cause the whole thing not to work properly as described in my OP?
[/quote]

Yes, very possibly

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