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wiring a telecaster, with a humbucker in the bridge, and a stacked bucker in the neck. three way switch, one vol, one tone.everything wired per diagram from guitar electronics.com, but the guitar can only be heard through the amp when the pickup switch is in-between positions. can anyone shed any light on this for me? I've never run into it before, and I've successfully wired/rewired dozens of guitars before. this client also happens to have a gig tomorrow night....... please help!

1) Do you have a multimeter?

2) Are you sure the switch is oriented the same as the diagram (common and poles laid out the same way)?

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

If only one pickup works in the in between position, concentrate on the other pickup wiring?
A multimeter would be indispensible.
If the pickup has a shield and ground lead, sometimes the ground lead is soldered to the shield wire or pickup case. If so, make sure the ground wire is not being used as the hot wire?

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

I'm guessing this may just be a case of a drawing made for a switch oriented different from the one you're using (a good example of why drawings are inferior to schematics). Locate the common on your switch, vs the common on the drawing. My guess is that they are not the same.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

I do have a very nice meter, but most of my electrical background is automotive. testing guitar circuits with it has eluded me a bit. I am very confident that the hot pickup wires are connected properly, and the ground and shield connected together properly, and the coil splits are twisted together and taped off. I will try flipping my connections on the switch, maybe I did just have it oriented wrong compared to the picture. I guess that would make perfect sense... bear with me

Good,luck Mark!

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

What would be the common? The diagram has four contacts on either side, like the switch I am using. Bridge pup hot going to the top two contacts on left side, neck the two lower on the right. Signal to pot from lower most on left, and upper most on right.... Leaving one contact on each side bare. Is it necessary to ground the case of the switch?

The bridge pickup works perfect in between the bridge and blend point, and the neck is perfect between blend and neck points. No position gives me blend

All the switches and pots should be grounded to each other. I guess maybe we need to see what kind of switch you are using. I have only wired les paul type 3 ways. I wire the pups to the volume pots first, then from each pot to each side of the 3 way. the middle 2 are soldered together and ran to the output jack. All the grounds are soldered to the other end of it. The tone pot is soldered to the volume pot at the same connection as the pup.

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

As far as I can remeber, Two contacts need to be shorted for the bridge wire, and two contacts have to be shorted for the neck wire for the middle switch position to blend the two.
That sounds like the way you have it wired.
Here is a link that may help, but I don't know what style switch you have.
http://www.stewmac.com/How-To/Online_Re ... witch.html

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

The answer is in my second post. Pretty sure of it. You have the switch wired backward.

Ignore the drawings (drawings are worthless, and this demonstrates why). Look at the connections on your switch, locate the common on each side and then note the tabs which connect to common in each position. This should all be visually apparent simply by looking at how the switch works. From there it's nothing more than followi where electricity flows through metal in each position.

Typical Tele wiring, one common on each side connects to a pickup. Then on the bridge side positions 1&2 are linked to positions 2&3 on the neck side, then to the volume pot. Your switch likely has the commons on a different side of the position lugs than your drawing does.

All you should have to do is visually follow the path of metal in the switch contacts, and the answer should become evident.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Look at the connections in these switches - spot the commons on opposite ends?

Chances are you have a switch of one type, and are using a drawing made for another. True schematics don't allow for such errors, as you can apply them just as easily to one type of switch as another. Unfortunately since there seem to be so few resources offering real schematics for jobs like this you'll have to follow the connections as you see them, and it shouldn't be terribly difficult to sort out what has to go where.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

thanks guys. the original switch i was wiring was a dud. i put in a nice CRL like pictured above and everything is gravy now, lol. thanks again.