Repairing old Fernandes Sustainer System?

[Stolenchild]

Hi there,
hoping not to be off-topic, but as I have seen some of you guys build your own Sustainer circuits it seems to me you have much more knowledge on these things than I.
I once had a Fernandes Neal Schoon guitar with built in sustainer (consisted of 1 SC driver PU - the one with dual blades, and one circuit board which inlcuded the mix/harmonic mode) as I never liked that guitar I tried to build the sustainer system into another guitar - but it never worked very well as I seem to have made some mistakes....
So I thought it would be a good idea to have a working sustainer at hand and I bought an old Fernandes Revival with built in Sustainer - but unfortunately I got ripped off at ebay because first the guitar worked - second day it didn't anymore. So I opened the guitar and what did I see? The wires had been cut everywhere and were just drilled together (without soldering) and some of them had loosened - I can't get the thing to work again - seems like I have again made mistakes in the wiring and worse thing is that this sustainer looked very different because it consists of 2 circuit boards, has no harmonic mode and even the PU looks like a normal Strat PU (with imprinted "Fernandes Sustainer" on it.

I really need help and I now know that I am absolutely incapable of building anything myself. I just want at least one of the guitars to work and I swear I will never touch a soldering bit again.

Stefan

PS: I already asked Fernandes a couple of times on repairs but never got an answer... and it seems that over here in germany nobody has experiences in repairing those electronics

[wordstep]

1_go here,take a look,same  as yours?
    http://www.fernandesguitars.com/support.html
2_http://www.fernandesguitars.com/support.html  download th manual,if is the same PCB,
   I think the wire colour can help,if it is the same pcb, solder the wires,you done
3_take some photo of your guitar(inside),find a place on web,put them on,
  I think a lot people want to see.and maybe one of them can help you.

good luck

[Stolenchild]

Unfortunately my pcb's look different because they are from older models. I guess I make some pics and put them online tonight after work.

But thanx for the links.

[wordstep]

fenderads  basic wireing,
Fernandes Revival    2 Humberker PICKUP/3 ways switch/one volume/one tone

get  http://fernandesguitars.com/manuals/FSK101.pdf   101 kits manual
goto page 3,you need the PIC(3 way pickup seletor) in the middle as reference
(different pcb,but you need it,print it big,then we talk)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
in that PIC. there is a  3 wires--wring clips--[ P/BL/Y ]

Y  ---neck pickup output(from G) go in -->PCB
BL ---the Y signal out of the PCB ---when SUSTAIN off (9 feet switch OFF)
      BL connect to Y (now the sustain off,you can use the guitar 3 way switch
      select different pickup)
P ----the bridge picup go out from the pcb(when sustain on w/harmonics,it come out with             harmonics signal)

[ Y/BL/P ]  all connect to the 9 feet on/off toggle switch 3pdt,

| 1 | 2 | 3 |
--------------   
| 4 | 5 | 6 |  this is the 9 feet switch
-------------
| 7 | 8 | 9 |

  off - on    -- sustain on/off side

lets see,you already see the sustain on/off side

in 4/5/6    Y---4  BL----5   6---empty,coneect nothing
in 1/2/3    P---2   1---bridge pickup out from PCB   3---bridge pickup with harmonics
in 7/8/9    8---- +V   7---give power to sustain pickup   8----give power to sustain driver

this is just a sample,maybe 7/8/9 in the position 4/5/6......
-----------------------------------------------------------------
so, use a meter, you can find the 8/6, and find the 4/5/2

I think you can done the others,different pcb doesnt matter.
*****************************************************************
because the 9 feet on/off switch,use 1/3 to cut off the neck signal when the sustainer
is on. other 2/3 I dont measure,but it will be that way.
*****************************************************************
I just try to write it down when I still sober,seems my word skill is poor.sorry.

[Paul Marossy]

Did you ensure that none of the wires are shorting out inside the guitar? That's the very first thing that I would check for.