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Need help with the back compartment

C

Clyde Chikondi Chisale

Member
Hello everyone. I am new here and I joined this forum because I was given a guitar as a present. The guitar is Ernie Ball Music Man Axis Sport. I plugged and played the guitar only once and decided to open the back compartment after I realized I was getting a scratchy noise every time I am fiddling with the Tone knob.



The picture attached shows how I found the compartment. I am not sure what, but I can see that something was removed and wires were cut off. Please help, I am not sure if there was some kind of circuit board or something. I just want to replace that and help me where to fine it. Thank you all.

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Well ... looks like an HH Sport that's wired up to a 3-way lever They've taped up where the coils on the humbuckers meet so they can't be split. And a leftover Silent Circuit. I'm guessing this was an MM90 Sport that someone put humbuckers in. There are some leftover power wires there as well. Pics would definitely help.

There wasn't ever a circuit board. But I'm guessing it originally had different pickups (MM90s- Music Man's equivalent of P90 pickups.). If you like the pickups there, maybe consider wiring it up like the current Axis Super Sports? Use a 5-way switch (rather than a 3-way) and you get get combinations of single coils for more flexibility.

Or you can leave it as is. The scratchy tone pot can be fixed by spraying some contact cleaner (Deoxit) in there. Or you can replace it with a new one.
 
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Thank you so much for your insightful pieces of advice and recommendations. I just checked the serial number on the link you provided. Here is what I found

Serial # G05951
Manufactured May 12, 1999
Build Code 380-12-20-00
Model Axis Sport MM90 Tremolo
GWDavis28 said:
What's the configuration of your guitar? HH, SSS, HSS? Is there a battery in the battery compartment? Post pics of the guitar itself. Did you check the serial number database to get DOB of the guitar?

www.music-man.com

Serial Number Database

www.music-man.com

Glenn |B)
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Clyde Chikondi Chisale said:
Thank you so much for your insightful pieces of advice and recommendations. I just checked the serial number on the link you provided. Here is what I found

Serial # G05951
Manufactured May 12, 1999
Build Code 380-12-20-00
Model Axis Sport MM90 Tremolo
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Yes there is a battery in the battery compartment, but the power cables (red and black) are actually disconnected or cut and I dont even know where they are supposed to be connected to.
 
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The power cables are for the Silent Circuit (the round thing with the blue trimpot in the left of your pic). It's used to remove hum when you're using single coil pickups. But it looks like this guitar doesn't have the original pickups anymore.

Since this seems to be wired up with humbuckers (judging from the 4-conductor pickup wires), you don't need the Silent Circuit or battery. If you ever want to revert, you can email customer support for a copy of the original wiring diagram. (You'd need to solder longer wires on the Silent Circuit since they've been cut).

Anyhow, if it sounds good I'd just leave it as-is, unless you're looking for a project.
 
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beej said:
The power cables are for the Silent Circuit (the round thing with the blue trimpot in the left of your pic). It's used to remove hum when you're using single coil pickups. But it looks like this guitar doesn't have the original pickups anymore.

Since this seems to be wired up with humbuckers (judging from the 4-conductor pickup wires), you don't need the Silent Circuit or battery. If you ever want to revert, you can email customer support for a copy of the original wiring diagram. (You'd need to solder longer wires on the Silent Circuit since they've been cut).

Anyhow, if it sounds good I'd just leave it as-is, unless you're looking for a project.
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Thank you a million times. You have been of great help. I am very impressed and satisfied with your timely responses and insight into this matter. Thanks again
 
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Clyde Chikondi Chisale said:
Thank you a million times. You have been of great help. I am very impressed and satisfied with your timely responses and insight into this matter. Thanks again
Click to expand...
I plugged the guitar and nothing comes out. its just a small buzz especially after turning the volume up. Its not playing at all. All the wires are intact as I found them, I am not sure why its not playing. Like I said in my first post, I only plugged it once and played a few chords, and that was it.

Maybe I am missing something ?
 
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Looks like you're missing a jumper wire from the bottom lug of the tone pot (where the white wire from the lever switch goes) to the volume pot (the empty lug). Could be more but it's hard to tell from the photos.

If you aren't handy with a soldering iron, I'd suggest taking it to a shop, tech, or someone that's done this sort of thing before. It's not rocket science but you might need to debug a few things.

Oh- and let's see a pic of the top of the guitar!
 
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beej said:
Looks like you're missing a jumper wire from the bottom lug of the tone pot (where the white wire from the lever switch goes) to the volume pot (the empty lug). Could be more but it's hard to tell from the photos.
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Upon closer inspection- there is a jumper wire on the tone pot. I just can't see where it goes. It's supposed to be wired to the bottom lug of the volume pot.

Nice guitar btw. Yes, someone's definitely routed for the humbuckers.
 
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beej said:
Upon closer inspection- there is a jumper wire on the tone pot. I just can't see where it goes. It's supposed to be wired to the bottom lug of the volume pot.

Nice guitar btw. Yes, someone's definitely routed for the humbuckers.
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Thank you so much Beej. I will get it to the shop where they fix guitars. I hope someone will be able to figure out the problem.
 
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