Gibson Burstbuckers - unbalanced output?

[KMud]

I've fitted burstbuckers into my bros' Epiphone LP and the output is horrifically uneven. All I changed was the pickups, the pots and cap are still as stock...so in total I unsoldered and resoldered the 4 joints expected (earth + signal, twice). The neck pickup now booms and the bridge is very quiet, out of the range of pickup height adjustment.

Have I got the pickups mixed up somehow (there seems to be no identifying markings on them), or is something else awry? I thought I was so careful about which pickup was which (swapped them out 1 at a time), but that's the only explanation I can think of offhand.

[metalchurch79]

Could be that you've mixed them up, or if not, maybe they were mixed up prior by someone else?

You could have a few wires crossed,but I'm almost certain that they are a 2 conductor wiring.
Should have 1 hot wire, and 1 ground. There might be 3 wires though: 1 hot, 1 for single coil mode, and 1 ground wire.

If there are 3 wires try switching the wires(might be white or red, or both if there's 3 altogether)on the bridge pickup around, and see if that does it.
Remember, the unshielded or bare wire is the ground.

If that doesn't work, then just swap the pickups around. It has to be something simple like that going on.

Good Luck

[Bert]

mixing them up shouldn't make a huge difference (generally bridge pickups have slightly higher output, but it shouldn't be night and day.) Sounds like one of the solder joints may be bad... or the pickup might be bad.

[KMud]

They are indeed 2 wire. I'll have a go at resoldering the joints without swapping them over tomorrow then

[straycat]

Should be 1 wire in the center and sheilded ground is the outer braided cover. Solder the braided cover to the back of the pot.
If the neck pickup is too woofie lower it down all the way and start adjusting it up to where you notice it getting woofie and back it down some.The bridge and neck pickup should be about the same vol so get them as equal as you can then start tweaking the pole pieces to fine tune it.A tip here if the pickups are too close to the strings you will lose harmonics and sustain.
Shoot me a P.M. if you want more help with it.

[JACKSONFREAK]

Could be a bad pot for the bridge pup too. If it got too hot when ya soldered the ground to the back of the chassis. It could've damaged the pot. First try resoldering the connectoins. If it still isn't working right replace the pot and see if that does it. check the pup with a multimeter to make sure it's not bad while you're at it too.
Gil

[straycat]

+1 always test the pickup 1st.Hotter pickup goes in the bridge.

[KMud]

I checked my soldering job, I don't think I've done anything wrong (not my first pickup job, I'm just not a pro)...I'm recommending changing the pots from this epiphone cack as I may well have accidentally cooked one (though CTS pots seem to accept my abuse just fine!). I'm also recommending the guitar gets shielded as it came with absolutely no shield :p

The pickups heights are ridiculous already, the neck pickup is way into the body and still booms.

[metalchurch79]

Not sure what to tell you bro, but what I'd do then is just switch them around and be done with it. Sounds to me as if they are backwards anyway, from the way you are describing it. Chance are that your wiring is ok, cause you seem to know what you are doing, and a 2 conductor setup is hard to mess up.
I'm sure that you'll get this one easily.