I installed guitar pickups but they arent working properly?

i put three new single coil pickups in my squire to kinda upgrade it a little bit. as i move the 5-way switch thru the positions and test the pickups by tapping them with a screwdriver they all work, but the sound barely resonates thru when i play a string. i THINK i made nice solid solder joints (but i could be wrong - it was the first time ive soldered anything). any ideas of what could possibly be going wrong? should i maybe take it apart and clean the pots? if anyone could help me i would really really appreciate it.