help me salvage my project

[tuj]

Hey all:

So a few years ago I collected all the parts to build a Warmoth Jaguar with hum buckers. I wired the thing up and...nothing. Pretty sure it's my crap electronics skills. Tried going through the circuit with a multimeter, really couldn't figure out where the short or problem was located. Now I have a beautiful custom body and a great feeling neck and it's all stuck away in a case because I'm too embarrassed and sad about my project disaster.

I'm located in Houston, TX, so if you know any guitar techs that might be able to help with salvaging my wrecked project, I would really appreciate it. I'm ready to pay to have the guitar finished right, because clearly I can't do it.

[DRodriguez]

Pictures of how you have it wired or a diagram would be super helpful. If it's just electronics, should be easily salvageable.

[tuj]

I used the Fender Jag HH wiring diagram I found here: http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq293/jhamnett/jaguarhhwiringdiagram.jpg

(here's another link: http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... =7&t=69755)

I've got pics of my terrible soldering and can take more if it would help, but I'm struggling with this project.

Is there a good way to debug this? I lined the cavities with copper tape and grounded it. I'm guessing there is either a bad joint or a short somewhere but I'm so confused.

To be fair, I have successfully changed pickups, pots, and switches in other guitars.

[antennafarm]

every time i had a similar problem it was because i screwed up my ground somewhere. make sure that your grounds are clean and not touching your signal path (in particular i'd look at the wheel pots with their tiny little terminals and maybe any ground/shielding connection on your pickup wires).

ALSO, and this sounds dumb but I did it once when i wasn't paying attention and it confused the hell out of me until i went to basic shit: make sure you have your jack wired up properly (ground to sleeve, signal to tip).

[kosta]

I recently had a sneaky short where one of my switch terminals was touching the copper shielding tape in the cavity on a Tele that I put together. I'd pull the control plate and test it and it would be fine - put it back in and nothing because part of the switch would hit the tape. Jags and Jazzmasters are complicated. Do you get any sound from anything at all?

[tuj]

nah no sound at all. Nothing pops when switching anything nor are the pickups responding to metallic tapping. If it was at least doing something I would feel a little better.

[oscillateur]

Have you tried using alligator clips to connect each pickup directly to the output and check if you get sound ?
Then if so, you can "advance" through the wiring bit by bit and see where it goes wrong...

[BetterOffShred]

Have you tried using alligator clips to connect each pickup directly to the output and check if you get sound ?
Then if so, you can "advance" through the wiring bit by bit and see where it goes wrong...

This is where I'd start too. Another thing I've seen a few times is typically people follow the oldschool convention of soldering everything grounded to the back of one of the pots. If you aren't great at soldering or have a mediocre iron, you can put a lot of heat into a pot pretty quick and permanently destroy them. Just something you can check with your ohm meter.
I'd be willing to bet you have the 'out' from your switch or the system ground wired wrong if it doesn't work at all. Just worth looking into as oscillateur suggested
-Brett