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Non-scratchplate Guitars, How Do I Do The Wiring?


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Ok I understand how it works with strats.... there are cavities under the scratchplate to houe the pots, pickups, etc and they are all linked up with wires.

And with other guitars without scratchplates I understand too, the cavities are in the back, and are covered.

Now would this work....

The main body has the cavities all quite open with the pickups etc in, and I have a top of another wood to basically cover it all up, with holes to fit the tone knobs and pickups through. And there are no plastic covers anywhere. That works right?

Though I understand I wouldnt be able to ever change anything inside the guitar...

The main body would be black, and the top a translucent black finish, with cream binding around the edges.

Also, how do you link up all the cavities? I've seen pics of the backs of les pauls without the cavity covers on, with the selector switch on one side of the guitar and the pots on the other... where is the wire which connects these up?

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Though I understand I wouldnt be able to ever change anything inside the guitar...

End of idea No.1.

Let's move on to idea No. :D 2 please.

There is no such thing as a bad idea, all ideas are great and are our creative side coming out to play.

But not all ideas are worthy of taking action on, as this perfectly good idea was a good example of.

Keep thinking, thinking is good. :D

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You'll still need a way to get the pots and what not in. That would be through your 1/4" jack socket. You could change things afterwards, it just wouldn't be easy, but that's no reason not to do it. Is making guitars out of purple heart easy? Hell no, but it's rewarding. In the same line of thought, making guitars with no pickguards and no cavity access plates is by no means an easy task(at least once you get to the assembly stage), but it' sure is rewarding.

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Ok I understand how it works with strats.... there are cavities under the scratchplate to houe the pots, pickups, etc and they are all linked up with wires.

And with other guitars without scratchplates I understand too, the cavities are in the back, and are covered.

Now would this work....

The main body has the cavities all quite open with the pickups etc in, and I have a top of another wood to basically cover it all up, with holes to fit the tone knobs and pickups through. And there are no plastic covers anywhere. That works right?

Though I understand I wouldnt be able to ever change anything inside the guitar...

The main body would be black, and the top a translucent black finish, with cream binding around the edges.

Also, how do you link up all the cavities? I've seen pics of the backs of les pauls without the cavity covers on, with the selector switch on one side of the guitar and the pots on the other... where is the wire which connects these up?

I'm not fond of pickguards either so I know where your trying to go with this. It would look pretty slick but personally I would NEVER want the nightmare of having to service the thing, lol. You'd have to cut up the finish somewhere down the road to replace a scratchy pot or something. What a nightnamare!

You could incorporate some kind of tongue/lap joint on half of the top. Maybe hide hardware and screws inside of a pickup cavity or something... the possibillities are there but it all depends on exactly what compromises you can live with. I think that no matter how you go about it you're either going to end up with a multi piece cap/back, control covers, or a hermetically sealed timebomb.

On the other hand...

You could make the whole back of the guitar come off with a few screws...that might be interesting. Since it's on the back it would be a less intrusive look than a cavity cover. If you had some kind of tongue and groove system or latch hardware in key areas internally, or externally, you could screw it down with one screw (the strap button). The most important and hardest part would be keeping it all tight. I could see some kind of sliding, tapered, keyhole and button thing working pretty well.

Edited by Scrappy_Squirrel
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But does this mean I really have to drill little tunnels for the wires through the wood to get from one piece of electronics to another?

yes...

or you could do like gibson,and make a 2 piece body(back and top),and rout tunnels between all of your cavities before you glue thetop on.

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Here's what you do. I'll explain it assuming you're putting the cap on the front. First you figure out where your control cavity will be. Before putting the cap on, route out the area that will act as the control cavity. At this point, you can either route a channel to where the pickups will be and from each pickup slot to the next, or you can do that with a drill later. Now you glue your cap on. Route for your neck pocket and pickup holes as well as your tremolo(if you so choose to use one). Drill the holes for your pots and switches etc. Drill your hole for your 1/4" jack. Now put your jack plate over the hole and trace it and mark where the screws will go. Use a dremel or rasp or whatever you see fit to remove as much material as possible leaving about 1/8" extra around the perimeter(to give the plate something to overlap) and leave extra wood where your screws will go. You'll need a large enough hole to fit your electrical components through. If you didn't route channels before gluing the top on, you'll need to drill them now. First mark a line on the top of your guitar going from the bridge pickup route to the control cavity. Make certain it doesn't intersect anything like your bridge posts or tremolo hole or whatever. Drill the shallowest angle you can while trying to follow that line. I'd use a 3/8" long drill bit. You can buy them about 1' long at any hardware store. Now you'll need to connect your pickup cavities. Drill a hole intersecting all of the pickup cavities with the same bit. You do this by starting from the neck pocket and drilling parellel to the top of the guitar.

Another way to do it would be to hollow out the whole body and then glue the top on. If you went that route, you could put your electronics in through your pickup holes and you would not need to route/drill channels or enlarge the input hole.

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Another way to do it would be to hollow out the whole body and then glue the top on. If you went that route, you could put your electronics in through your pickup holes and you would not need to route/drill channels or enlarge the input hole.

don't you think it is a bit irresponsible to say this without adding the caveat about extra feedback(like,alot) and without mentioning that you need to leave support under the bridge and around the neck?

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I don't think expecting people to have just a tad bit of common sense or at least sense enough to ask a few more questions is irresponsable. And saying that it will add "alot" of feedback is a gross generalization. That is entirely dependent on exactly where and how much wood you remove, how thick your top is, and wether or not your pickups are potted.

EDIT: I really hope you're not looking for an argument wes, because I already had more than I could take from Perry yesterday. Let's keep this civil, shall we.

regards,

russ

Edited by thegarehanman
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EDIT: I really hope you're not looking for an argument wes, because I already had more than I could take from Perry yesterday. Let's keep this civil, shall we.

judging by this...YOU are looking for an argument...not i...you seem to always start things and then blame others for it..why is that?

stop trying to be defensive and admit that if the guy does not know enough to know how to rout and drill holes,then he does not know about the extra feedback and supporting the bridge..

and yes...alot is exactly what i mean..as in ALOT :D

how thick your top is does not matter...you said

Another way to do it would be to hollow out the whole body and then glue the top on.

as in "whole body"

feedback city,buddy...unless you take other precautions...which you should mention...if you know them

i never "look for arguments"...i only look to keep the info honest around here.dude says he doesn't care about the feedback...so cool...but if you mention something...you should try to cover at least the most major drawbacks

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as in "whole body"

feedback city,buddy...unless you take other precautions...which you should mention...if you know them

Fair enough wes. Next time I shall be more specific. However, the thickness of the top is extremely relavant. It's the vibrations of the top that cause the feedback(indirectly, of course). The thicker your top is, the more it will act like a solidbody in terms of feedback. On that same note. If you were to use a 1/2" top or something of the like, you would need to thin it out where the controls would be before gluing it on. And as far as arguments go, perhaps it seems as though I fish for them, but that is not my intention whatsoever. I enjoy helping people through problems and ego driven arguments only cloud the view of the objective. I have had my fair share of silly arguments, but I make an honest effort to avoid them. We all get wrapped up in ourselves at some point; some more than others.

Edited by thegarehanman
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However, the thickness of the top is extremely relavant. It's the vibrations of the top that cause the feedback(indirectly, of course).

you sure about that?i would think the lack of shielding between the pickups,the control pots,and the jack would cause most of that...

i believe you are thinking of microphonic squeel,or whatever it is called...

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Oh, you mean interference and buzzing? Because I'm talking about micro phonic(or is it sympathetic, meh) feedback. You know, the top vibrating at the same frequency as the sound coming from the speakers. That's what I mean by it.

Because you can still get rid of most of the shielding problems there. On the hollow body I'm building, I put shielding paint on a good portion of the inside of the body. The humbuckers have metal covers so they're already shielded, no problem there. If you go the extra mile and shield all of the leads in your wiring, there's very little to worry about. As a jazz musician, I've played and listened to quite a few hollow body guitars. Most companies do a good job of killing hum in their high end models. So what I'm saying is, it can be done. Feedback is a much bigger concern really, but there are ways to fix that as well.

edit: and potted pickups, potted pickups(or really tightly wound pickups) are very important in reducing feedback in a hollow body.

Edited by thegarehanman
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If you look at old Gibson hollowbodies, they had no control covers. Everything was slid in through the sound hole. Oh what a pain that would be. Hurts just thinking about it. LOL

Personally, before I'd even think about doing something like this, I'd have to find pots that were guaranteed to never fail or get scratchy, with tons of real world evidence. Also, I'd want caps that never fail, and you'd have to figure out some way to bullet proof the wiring. Let's not forget switches. They will ALWAYS fail at some point (you could get around this with a blend pot on a two pickup design, but you'd need the magic pots I mention above).. Of course, if you want a guitar that you are going to throw away or cut holes in at some later date, then that is your business.

Now, as mentioned, you could get creative with your cavity. Drak, do you have any pics of your cavity covers? (I know I keep harping on this, but man, I was really blown away the first time I saw this). Drak uses a scroll saw to cut cavities and their covers out of the body blank. From more than a foot or two (from what I could see in the photos), you can't hardly tell there is a cavity cover. The grain matches up perfectly.

Also, you could create an access hole in your pickup cavity if going the humbucker or p90 route.

There has to be a way to do this, but I would highly recommend against sealing the body up tight with no way to get at the innards.

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