Question about pickup output

[April]

I'm a little bit confused. All the pots in that bass are from week 37 in 1982! So the bass is 10 years older than your estimate! What headstock does it have ? What are the two starting letters of the serial number?

Also, what's happening here: A pot with only a middle connection ? Where is the second connection ? Or is that left lug connected with tons of solder to ground ? Also that middle connection of the hot wire looks wild!

Ralf

Hello again.

Plenty of nice info - we all are more or less "nosy" here - not in a bad way - but isn't it nicer to talk to someone you know a little about. Others know me, so I just tell you that I used to live in Bloomington MN - used to work at James Berns Music Store @8417 Pillsbury Ave S - three years. Then back home.

I am 68 - retired - roadie - FOH-engineer - repair tape recorders - used to work at Willi Studer in Switzerland - maker of finest reel-to-reel-recorders on earth - I play mostly fingerstyle.

Back to your problem - looking at the picture of cavity - I see no tone capacitor - has it been removed? Does the tone-pot have any effect?

The sound on this bass has always baffled me. A tech told me a long time ago that the guitar was wired incorrectly. If I turn the bridge pickup all the way down, it acts like an off switch. Back then I was playing in a band where tone really didn't matter, and if it did, I'd just do the changes on the amp. I usually just had everything on the bass up all the way. But I believe the tone dial makes no difference. I don't know if someone took the tone capacitor off, or it was never there in the first place. I agree with you, it is nice to know something about the people you are talking to. How are things in Finland?

The first two letters of the serial number are BE. Is it possible Guild used old pots on the new bass?

 

[April]

No battery and normal pots = passive pickups. That guitar looks like it's seen some stuff. I'd bet a quick proper soldering of the ugly solder joints on each end of the ground lead to the output jack would help immeasurably.

I'm going to take the bass to the guy who used to be our guitar tech. Unfortunately, it's a long drive to Indiana, where he lives now. That guitar HAS seen some stuff. It's been dropped, fallen over, fallen flat on it's face, run over, kicked...you know, normal road dog stuff.

 

[Nuuska]

Hello

The wiring looks correct except for two things.
- Like GAD & SFIV1967 suggested - soldering looks messy.
- Cables coming from pups seem to be reversed - shield goes to center connector and center wire coes to pot shield. Purely signal wise it does not matter - but it could add a lot hum.
Since there are only three components after pups - I suspect one of the pots being defective. Replace them all with new ones. And add the tone-cap. Others on this forum can tell you where to get them. I'm too faar located . . .

Thx for asking - in Finland we're doing fine - luckily we almost shut the country down - so we only have 329 dead - 6700 recovered - 219 still active Biggest problem seems to be the border to Sweden in north - there are plenty of brickheads, who think their right to go shopping in Sweden is more important than their lifes. Moneywise it's bad like everywhere - but we are not exactly a poor country - so we'll get over it.