Passive P/J pickup issue, thoughts?

[Sibob]

My Lakland bass is a straight-up passive P/J, nothing fancy.

It was working perfectly, both pickups on full, sounded lovely, nothing weird.

Then I took it to a tech who, for reasons that are boring, removed the pickups and then had to refit them.

However, now, when both pickups are on full, they are horribly out of phase, thin and weedy sounding. I have to slightly back one of them off to get them working properly again.

I’ll post a pic of the cavity tomorrow, but any immediate thoughts why this might have started happening after the refit? Wired in a particular (wrong?) way?

 

Cheers

Si

Edited November 17, 2023 by Sibob

[Doctor J]

He has wired one arseways and now they're out of phase with each other, i.e. ground to the live lug, hot to ground.

[Andyjr1515]

21 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

He has wired one arseways and now they're out of phase with each other, i.e. ground to the live lug, hot to ground.

Yes - almost certainly this ^    Usually an easy fix - just a case of desoldering two wires and swopping them round.

[Sibob]

How does this look in relation to your diagnosis? @Doctor J @Andyjr1515

 

Thanks very much

Si

[Andyjr1515]

If you swop the blue and the black round at that middle pot it should sort it.

[Sibob]

6 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

If you swop the blue and the black round at that middle pot it should sort it.

 

Thanks, will give that a go today! 
 

Cheers

Si

[NAS Bass]

9 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

If you swop the blue and the black round at that middle pot it should sort it.

 

Correct. Also, your 'tech' hasn't done a very good solder job. I'd get all of that re-done. 

[ahpook]

12 minutes ago, NAS Bass said:

 

Correct. Also, your 'tech' hasn't done a very good solder job. I'd get all of that re-done. 

 

Reticent to criticise another's efforts, but I have to agree - I'd not be happy if that was my work.

[Sibob]

24 minutes ago, NAS Bass said:

 

Correct. Also, your 'tech' hasn't done a very good solder job. I'd get all of that re-done. 

It has somewhat made me question my ‘tech’ decisions….regarding electronics in any case. Setups have always been fine.

 

Si

[NAS Bass]

15 minutes ago, ahpook said:

 

Reticent to criticise another's efforts, but I have to agree - I'd not be happy if that was my work.

I feel it is absolutely relevant to the subject of the OPs concerns - competent wiring. 

[prowla]

I think the "tech" needs a decent soldering iron.

[Sibob]

So purely for my own understanding......the wiring looks to be 'correct' when going by this generic layout I found via the Googulz:

 

If I swap the two cables as mentioned, isn't that just sending the Jazz p'up live to ground?
Or is there a suggestion that the Jazz wire colours aren't correct (ie colour for live, black for ground).

 

Again, purely for me to try and do some learning.

 

Cheers
Si

[ped]

If the wring is OK, would putting one of the pickups in the wrong way round lead to the phase issue? 

[Sibob]

Paging @Andyjr1515 and @Doctor J 😅

[Andyjr1515]

1 hour ago, Sibob said:

So purely for my own understanding......the wiring looks to be 'correct' when going by this generic layout I found via the Googulz:

 

If I swap the two cables as mentioned, isn't that just sending the Jazz p'up live to ground?
Or is there a suggestion that the Jazz wire colours aren't correct (ie colour for live, black for ground).

 

Again, purely for me to try and do some learning.

 

Cheers
Si

 

Ref the diagram, that depends entirely on the pickups whether the phasing of each pickup and the wiring colours match.  From what you have described, @Sibob our assumption is that the two pickups are not a matched pair and happen to have different phasing.  As long as the pickups have insulated cases and are simply two-conductor ones, then the two wires can be fitted either way round and the pickup, on its own, will work fine - the black wire isn't actually an earth it's a...well...just a black wire. 

 

There are fancy ways of checking, but the simplest and quickest is to swop the two and try it - and if it is no better, or worse, then swop them back and look elsewhere for the problem.  But I think I would bet a pint that it will sort it

 

 

 

  

 

[Sibob]

1 minute ago, Andyjr1515 said:

 

Ref the diagram, that depends entirely on the pickups whether the phasing of each pickup and the wiring colours match.  From what you have described, @Sibob our assumption is that the two pickups are not a matched pair and happen to have different phasing.  As long as the pickups have insulated cases and are simply two-conductor ones, then the two wires can be fitted either way round and the pickup, on its own, will work fine - the black wire isn't actually an earth it's a...well...just a black wire. 

 

There are fancy ways of checking, but the simplest and quickest is to swop the two and try it - and if it is no better, or worse, then swop them back and look elsewhere for the problem.  But I think I would bet a pint that it will sort it

 

 

 

  

 

Brill, thanks for the clarification!
Going to try it in a bit!

 

Si

[Andyjr1515]

1 hour ago, ped said:

If the wring is OK, would putting one of the pickups in the wrong way round lead to the phase issue? 

 

No, @ped.  The only way that the electrical current would actually change direction would be to take all the magnets out (of one of the pickups) and turn them around, or to wind the windings around the magnets the other way round 

Edited November 20, 2023 by Andyjr1515

[Sibob]

18 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

 

Ref the diagram, that depends entirely on the pickups whether the phasing of each pickup and the wiring colours match.  From what you have described, @Sibob our assumption is that the two pickups are not a matched pair and happen to have different phasing.  As long as the pickups have insulated cases and are simply two-conductor ones, then the two wires can be fitted either way round and the pickup, on its own, will work fine - the black wire isn't actually an earth it's a...well...just a black wire. 

 

There are fancy ways of checking, but the simplest and quickest is to swop the two and try it - and if it is no better, or worse, then swop them back and look elsewhere for the problem.  But I think I would bet a pint that it will sort it

 

 

 

  

 

Ok......I owe you a pint! 😆

All fixed! Thanks for all the help everyone! Basschat strikes again!

 

Cheers
Si

[Sibob]

Oh and a pint owed to @Doctor J as well haha.

 

Si

[ped]

Can I have one too

[Sibob]

1 minute ago, ped said:

Can I have one too

Absolutely of course!! A ROUND FOR EVERYONE!!

 

Si

[Andyjr1515]

Great news!

 

 

 

(Phew!    )