software

Well, with some help from Artie (thanks Man!!) I'm getting closer.

I bought a beater RG550 and attempted my first wiring job with a new Saraceno trembucker in the bridge and a PAF Joe in the neck. I wanted to leave the middle single unwired and use the stock five way as a two way with no splits. Through Artie's help and the schematics I think I got the pickups wired correctly. After a few attempts (mistakes) here's what I came up with.

The second to last time I restrung and plugged in I got nothing. I had wired the ground from the jack to the back of the volume pot and then ran a wire to the claw. Thought maybe this was the prob so I used the SD schem. and ran a ground straight from the jack to the claw. Plugged in and tapped the pups and got a response. Cool! Not!

After I restrung and plugged back in I got nothing. Damn! Just for giggles I stepped on the DS-1 and got some sound, albeit clean and very faint. Grabbed another guitar to check and everything is normal. Plugged the RG back in and played with the switch and wiggled the jack. Same results...the switching seems right, the pickups sound great but are super faint and can't even be heard without the distortion on and even then the sound is clean and barely audible.

I've already ordered new pots and a switch to start over. Any thoughts before I try again?

Hmmm . . . this is tough. A couple things to consider. I want to make sure you realize that there are at least 5 points that must be grounded, or connected together. 6, if you count the back of the pots.

1. the bare and green of the Blues.
2. whatever the ground wire of the PAF Joe is.
3. one lug of the volume control.
4. the ground lug of the output jack.
5. the quot;clawquot;
6. the back of the vol/tone pots.

And lastly, either one end of the tone control cap or one lug of the tone control pot.

It is possible that you cooked a pot. If you aren't sure, try hooking the Blues direct to the output jack as a test. Also, make sure you shorted the red/white wire of the Blues. (I'm guessing that its 4-conductor.)

Since neither the Blues or the PAF seemed to work, thats probably not the problem. Lastly, just double-check everything carefully. Sometimes the simplest thing can mess you up . . . like the bare wire touching something it shouldn't when you squeeze everything back into the control cavity. (I've done that.)

Let us know, how it goes.
Artie

Thanks Artie, my plan is to check all the grounding points you listed and compare with the schematic. I think it's probably something small like you suggested. The pots and the switch were in pretty bad shape so I'm gonna replace those and wire everything up fresh. I'll let you know.