ObsidianWire Trouble Shooting

-

If you are here, it is likely that you are having trouble installing your ObsidianWire harness.

Rest assured that we are dedicated to getting everything running smoothly for you. You can find answers to our most commonly asked questions, and install issues below.

If you can not find an answer, you can also contact us using the form at the bottom of the page.

At the very bottom of the page you can also leave a public comment. This is a great way to help others, or suggest ways we can improve our page.

-

Compatibility

Find out if we make a harness to fit your guitar, or if we can make a harness to fit your guitar.

Compatibility

To ensure you get the best possible fit for your guitar, refer to individual product pages for compatibility information.

This is listed in the product description.

Note - If your guitar is not listed, it will likely not fit.

If one of our stock products fits your guitar, then absolutely yes.

Otherwise no.

We are not able to build any custom models at this stage, but we are always happy to hear what you would like. This helps us develop new cool products in the future.

Unfortunately still no.

We have a small team that is already working super hard keeping up with orders, quality controlling and packing our standard line up.

If I ask them to build anything else they may bite me.

Our Les Paul sets work well with most Epiphones with some adjustments.

Please also check the hole layout against our diagram HERE

Adjustments:
1) Widen the control holes out to around 10mm
2) Get new US spec 24 spline knobs to fit the higher spec electronics

ObsidianWire products built for Fender guitars and basses will work well with a Squier with some adjustments:

Strat® Adjustments:
1) Widen the control holes out to around 10mm

2) Get new US spec, 24 spline knobs to fit the higher spec electronics.

Tele®, P Bass® & J Bass® Adjustments:
1) Widen the control holes out to around 10mm (or get a new genuine Fender control plate)

2) Get new US Spec 1/4" knobs

Technically no.

If you are super keen, a Jazz bass or Telecaster harness will work okay because the hole layouts are symmetrical, but your controls will work backwards.

General Install Issues

Find solutions that can occur with any guitar here

Pickup Trouble

We have put together a list of popular pickup builders HERE.

For others, checkout your pickup builders install manual.

Many of our products are made for standard two wire pickups.

If your pickups have more wires, please check with the pickup builder to see what needs to be done with them.

You can also checkout our guide for many popular builders HERE.

Check that the pickup is not faulty. This applies especially to new pickups.

Check
that all of your wires are installed in the correct slots & are held tight by the Plug, Play & Enjoy Connectors.

Check that no part of your Pro-Wired Electronics is touching your guitars cavity or jack cavity. This could cause your signal to short out.

Check
that the underside of your harness is not touching your pickguard or control plate. Only the spacer nuts should touch.

Check that you are installing your wires starting at the correct end of the connector.

No Sound or Bad Sound

Ensure the nuts that came pre-loaded on your board are still in place. These must sit between the wiring harness and your control plate or cavity.

Check that no part of your Pro-Wired Electronics is touching your guitars cavity or jack cavity. This could cause your signal to short out. Note that some guitars use conductive shielding paint so it is not always obvious.

Check that the underside of your harness is not touching your pickguard or control plate. Only the spacer nuts should touch.

Check that all of your wires are installed in the correct slots & are held tight by the Plug, Play & Enjoy Connectors.

Check that you are installing your wires starting at the correct end of the connector.

Some hum can be expected from all guitars, especially those with single coil pickups. If you are getting more than usual hum check the following:

Ensure that your bridge and strings are grounded to your Pro-Wired Electronics & that the wires are secure

Ensure that any cavity shielding is grounded to your Pro-Wired Electronics & that the wires are secure

Ensure the jack output wires are in the correct slots (refer to your install manual)

Ensure the pickup output wires are in the correct slots (refer to your install manual)

This is usually caused when two pickups are out of phase witch each other.

This is common when using two different brands of pickups in the same guitar.

The best fix is to reverse the positions of the hot and ground wires from one of the pickups.

Before you make the change, take some time to work out which pickup is least likely to interfere with other switch positions. If you have just installed a new pickup, change this one.

This is usually caused when the two humbucker coils are out of phase with each other.

Ensure your pickup wires are in the correct slots - check out our pickup wire guide HERE for more information on ensuring your pickup wires are in the correct slots.

Guitar Specific Issues

Find solutions to specific guitar related issues here.

Strat® trouble / FAQs

Find solutions to common Strat harness issues here.

It can seem backwards at first, but that is correct.

The blender control was originally designed as a way of balancing the treble on the bridge pickup.

In position 1 (bridge only) it works in the same direction as a tone control - i.e position 10 is the brightest and 0 is the warmest.

The design has not changed but the range of uses has. We now think of it as a way to add in the neck pickup to the bridge and vice versa, so it can seem backwards.

It sounds like your humbucker is out of phase with your single coils, which will give the thin weedy sound in position 2 (middle + bridge humbucker)

To fix this, switch the position of the hot and ground wires from the middle pickup, and then do the same again for the neck pickup.

Do not switch the humbucker wires, as this will also change the coil that is active while in the split position.

To avoid having to string up, you can test this by plugging the guitar in to an amp and tapping the pickup magnets with a screw driver. If the pickup is active, you will hear the tapping through the amp.

Tele® trouble / FAQs

Check that the neck pickups ground wire & cover ground wires are in the correct slots.

If these are reversed, the switching is not able to operate which will leave the neck pickup on in all positions.

Check that the link between your pickups ground wire & the cover ground wire has been removed

Check that the switches full length of travel is allowed by the control plate slot.
An easy way to do this is to remove the switch from the control plate and see if it works correctly in all four positions.

Les Paul® trouble / FAQs

Yes. You can use vintage braid type / single conductor pickups.

You can checkout a guide for using these HERE

For the vintage braid type wires you can either run the entire wire through the screw down connector and lightly clamp down on the braid (ground), or de-braid and run a portion of the outer wire through the screw down connecter.

The inner core (HOT) needs to be insulated from the outer braid and sent to the main terminal hot slot.

We use long shaft pots.

You may also be able to use these in guitars that use short shaft pots, by setting a nut (supplied with the harness) halfway up the shaft to set the effective length that pokes through the other side.

Just check that there is enough depth in the cavity for the extra pot length.

Yes and no.

P-Rails will work fine with our SC set, but you can only split to one side of the pickups (i.e rails OR p90), not both.

To get the full function of P-Rails, we recommend checking out the Seymour Duncan triple shots, which can be used with our ObsidianWire VINTAGE MKII FOR LES PAUL®.

Bass trouble / FAQs

The ObsidianWire harness for bass is designed for standard single coil pickups with two wires.

If you have more wires, check with your pickup builders install manual to see how to handle the extra wires, or checkout our pickup guide HERE