That top knob has some weird shit going on. You're probably best starting from scratch, but it looks like all though wires to the chassis of the pot are just grounds. You'd never hook up anything that actually was used for important signal that way.

The pots tend to read, looking at the back from left to right, in - out - ground. Essentially what the pot does is it takes a signal from the left little stub, and as you turn the knob it dumps the signal from 100% to the 2nd stub and 0% to the third stub, to 0% to the second stub and 100% at the 3rd stub. Think of it like a dimmer switch, cause that's what a dimmer switch is.

Pickups tend to have different wires for different things, but they all basically have a lead and a ground and those are the two most important ones. Pickups do not take in a signal, but rather the strings over the poles "create" a signal that transfers down one wire called the "hot" or "lead". That lead goes to the left part of the pot, and then can come out from the 3rd stub or 2nd stub, whichever you prefer, to the TIP of the jack. The tip is that thing that's like a little knub. It touches the tip of your 1/4" instrument cable.

Tone knobs are stupid, and actually may be a bit complex for you at the moment. They tend to not be so straightforward as a tone knob only ATTENUATES THE HIGH FREQUENCIES. It adds NOTHING to the signal. They are relatively pointless and often you would need to solder in some other components like a resistor or a capacitor to help adjust how much comes off and how. Not worth it, I take mine out most of the time.

Hope that helps.

1) If a single pickup/single knob diagram is too confusing for you, have someone else do the work. Not trying to insult you, just gently indicating you might not be up to the job.

2) If you're the guy that clipped those wires, and in the places where it was done, let someone else pull out your electronics for you next time. You should have desoldered\clipped at the pot, NOT 3 inches from the pickup.

3) Desolder everything. If possible, get new pots. (not necessary, but cleaner.) Then, follow the SD wiring diagram.

4) Nothing TTOC is saying is wrong, but he's really going to get you over thinking or over complicating this. 1 pickup 1 volume is as simple as it gets. If this isn't easy enough, maybe you should not work on your own guitar? I would honestly find someone who knows what they are doing who will let you watch and explain what they're doing.

The man speaks the truth.

I was going to suggest new pots but wasn't sure if he would know what values to get. And yeah, removing the parts is as important as replacing them. You should def look at how it was set up, make a sketch / notes, and THEN remove.

When I took the plate off on the back it was just a mess of wires. It had two knobs to start with, and two pickups, and three switches (coil tap switches), no wires were soldered except to the pots, and the person had two or three different colored wires going to other colored wires, so it was confusing just to look at. It was hacked up, so i just wanted to simplify it. Filled in where the neck pickup was, and filled in the other holes leaving one hole for the volume and output jack.

this thread helped me a lot, thanks. I should be shredding tonight if I don't have a breakdown with my floyd rose

Just remember, always clip at the pot. All those other wires are 100% unimportant, but you want to keep as much lead coming from the pickups as possible. That's why there were all different colored wires in the first place, because you can and will use anything you got lying around to make the other connections.

fixd

i'm just gonna say fuck it and get an emg 81 and do it all from scratch with a good pickup instead of the stock pick up. i'm assuming its going to come with a wiring diagram, and i think itll be easier instead of trying to figure out what the person who had it before me had it wired like. fuck that noise

or what ever is a good pick up for playing thrash/death. gimmie suggestions

replacing that pickup with an emg is going to require you replacing all the 250k pots with 1meg pots as well... if you're into that, then go for it. emg pickups usually come with a diagram for wiring them together. do you have room for the battery pack? emg's are active, might require more room than you have, but if you're just having one pickup, then you shouldn't have much to worry about.
i don't prefer emg's, as yes, they are GOOD for metal. but you can find something else that will sound GREAT for metal and everything else.
i like the dimarzio line... everything is real high in quality. they wax dip their pickups so they are far more resistant to feedback (like squealing cheap pickup gain feedback when you're not playing and probably want it to be quiet)
The tone zone is a pretty high output pickup... lots of bass and mids. really nice for pushing a high gain amp, and warm enough to use it for cleans without sounding like a lame hack high school guitarist. If you really don't care about cleans, they have higher output pickups... super distortion, Evolution... check em out. seymour duncan has a couple similar pickups as well. look around and guess. if you read enough reviews and descriptions you probably will pick the right one for you.

when i buy the pickup, doesn't it come with all that crap or do I gotta buy it seperate?

t2daeek, I thought EMGs required 25k pots not 1Meg. 1Meg would make them sound bright and brittle as fuck. More than they do with 25k pots.

If you buy an 81/85 set, they'll come with the pots and everything else, but I think if you only get the one pickup, you'll have to get all that extrat shit on your own, including the 9 volt clip etc...

This.

^ya that

if you get emg pickups go for the solderless wirings... they rule took me five minutes to put them in

i have no clue about those