Pickup/ Neck Selector Problem?

[bradsteel]

Hi guys,

For everybody who is interested.. this is now sorted. But it required some mods!

In the end, it was a bit of an anomaly really. The issue was put down to ‘Parasitic/ stray capacitance, resulting in some unwanted coupling’. Whatever that means basically, there were some parts of the guitar which weren’t grounded. So the wiring in the undercarriage was modified to ground the switch, trim and farthest cross shaft.

Pretty neat work really.

[Danny Mitchell]

Glad to hear your problem's sorted, Brad. Safe at last!

Although with 'resulting in unwanted coupling'
I think you might've been taken for a ride.

[bradsteel]

Indeed! Nevermind grounding; sounds like grounds for divorce..

[Tony Russell Davis]

Indeed! Nevermind grounding; sounds like grounds for divorce..

Ah! Uncoupling?

[bradsteel]

Indeed Tony lol!

[Jif]

Good that you've got it fixed Brad, strange fault. I would have thought that all metal parts would be connected together in some way, perhaps through the changer. But hey if it's working now that's the main thing. Out of interest what make is your steel?

I can't imagine any circumstances where coupling would be unwanted

[bradsteel]

Very strange Geoff! The majority of the guitar was grounded with no problem at all; just those three places were causing buzz upon contact. The video I attached just showed the switch and pedal, whereas later on I found that it was also the aluminium trim running alongside the switch too.

The guitar is a 2006 Magnum D10 - quite similar to a Carter, just without all the trimmings I suppose. Other than this problem, it’s a lovely guitar actually.

P.S. I did read that a guy with a similar problem had to perform a similar fix to a Sho-Bud. He said:-

“I did add some wires on my Sho-Bud from the changer to parts of the undercarriage because of apparent breaks in grounding continuity from [the] strings to the rest of the works”. This sounds very much like the problem I had.