Hi,
I was playing my Squier Strat through a tube amp last week. Everything was working fine until I unplugged the cable, plugged it into another instrument and then plugged it back in. No sound was produced by the guitar. However, I noticed that the slight hum of the pickups is still heard (and disappears when you turn the volume knob to 0). I also tried plugging a different guitar with the same cable and amp and it works fine.
I opened up the pick guard of the strat and all the connections looked fine. There weren't any signs of anything being burnt. I also tried testing the resistance of the pickups and of the volume and tone pots and they seemed to be working fine (I'm no electronics professional but I followed some YouTube videos).
Has this happened to anyone before? Would anyone have an suggestions as to what the problem might be? Any troubleshooting?
SM
By chance could it have Active pickups which utilize a 9V battery? If so, sounds like the battery died. If not, you may need to check the jacket for a twisted or loose connection.
Bish
"I play live as playing dead is harder than it sounds!"
Outside of plugging your guitar into an AC power outlet, there is nothing you can do that would cause anything to look burned inside your guitar. There just isn't that much electricity at that point. My first thought was that the cable was bad, but you said you tried another guitar with the same cable, and it worked. That could also be tested by just touching the cable tip with you finger. You'd hear a loud buzz from your body picking up all the electrical crud in the air around you and sending it to the amp. If that works, I'd look at the cable jack in the guitar. Sometimes they can get a little bend with use, and not make good contact with the tip of the cable plug. If that's the case, you can just bend it to restore a good contact. Again, if you touch the metal prong on the jack that the tip of the cable plug snaps into (with the cable plugged in and the amp on), you would hear the amp buzz. In fact, if touching the jack tip connector makes it buzz, you work your way towards the pickups by touching the center volume pot terminal... that should make it buzz too (loudness depending on the volume setting), and the ungrounded volume pot terminal (buzz at full volume). I have had a pickup go bad on me. The coil wire broke at the terminal where it was attached to the pickup lead wire, and I had to solder it back on, but if that was the case, your other pickups would work. The only other thing I can think of is the pickup switch breaking.
