Tele pickups

HPhillipsmusic

Hi all
Tried to put what i think are Blackguard custom shop pickups in a japanese 62' bound tele. Bridge has gone in fine and is working, however the neck pickup had 3 wires coming from it which threw me, white, yellow, black. I read online that the yellow goes to switch and the white and black both go to ground, which seems odd as that would mean theres 4 wires going to ground but i did as it said, and simply get no noise from it at all. 
Of course, theres always a chance that my soldering is so shite that thats the problem, but the yellow wire going to the switch seems soldered as well as the bridge pick up is so slightly confused. 
The japanese electronics are different...the 3 way switch is a large white and black plastic brick rather than the usual US switch. 
Any ideas please? 

Guitarlarky

Many people add an extra ground to the neck pickup cover to enable a 4-way or 5-way switch mod.  A good way to proceed would be to see which wire is connected to what at the pickup end and/or check which is which with a multi-meter. You could also just try the white wire to switch to see if it works that way.
If you're not using a 4 or 5-way switch then the two grounds can be joined together.

poopot

Did the neck pickup look like this?

That’s the twisted tele pickup... if yes black and yellow to ground white to switch 

HPhillipsmusic

Thanks guys, actually the pickup wires didnt look like that, all 3 wires seemed to come from the same place and they seem to have quite burly rope housing rather than just rubber wire

poopot

Post a pic...

HPhillipsmusic

HPhillipsmusic

im very aware how poor my soldering is, i make no claims to be good at this, just couldnt bear forking out money i dont have on sending it to someone else. so please be kind haha

poopot

Can you post a pic of the wires coming off the pickup?

Funkfingers

poopot said:

Post a pic...

… of the neck/Rhythm pickup. Ideally, one from below (like the one poopot posted at 12:54) and another showing the three conductors where they meet the lower bobbin plate soldering eyelets.

HPhillipsmusic

I will, was hoping to find an image on google that shows the same wiring as ive put strings back on the guitar and am loathed to take them off to get the neck pick up out 

WezV

As above, the extra wire is likely for a cover.  Try white to switch and black/yellow to ground

HPhillipsmusic

Hey thanks, thats what i initially tried and got no joy

HPhillipsmusic

hope thats useful 

Funkfingers

Could we clarify the brand, please. "Custom Blackguard" is a product name used by Bare Knuckle Pickups. Custom Shop Blackguard is a name used by Fender.

In either case, all photographs of these pickups illustrate them with two conductors per pickup. 

Black insulation is always ground - both the start of the coil and the metal screening parts. The hot conductor colour varies between bright white, a grubby waxy off-white and strong yellow.

A neck/Rhythm Telecaster pickup has three conductors for one of three reasons.
1) Coil tap.
2) Coil splittage (dual coil pickups only).
3) Separating the coil and cover ground connections.

The latter is necessary for phase reversal and/or series/parallel interconnection.

If the BKP pickup has been modified in this way, swapping the white and yellow conductors should cure the problem.

poopot

Yep... yellow and black to ground white to switch

Funkfingers

HPhillipsmusic said:

hope that's useful 

Yes. A well chosen angle, showing everything that needed to be seen in a single pic. 

HPhillipsmusic

Thanks guys, so it is safe to say that the issue may be solved by switching the yellow and white wires? The pickups are Fender Custom shop, i believe 'blackguard' but dont see them for sale online these days, ive had these for a good few years.
Really appreciate everyones help

poopot

Looks like a twisted tele neck pickup...