lovekraft Posted November 3, 2005 Report Share Posted November 3, 2005 ...they say specifically in the instructions that it has to go to chassis, not star...They're probably assuming that their target audience doesn't know what a star ground is, much less where to connect to one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted November 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 No, the instructions seem pretty explicit. You can check it out at guitarnuts.com. It's the 'main' "Quieting the Beast" tutorial / instructions. The thinking seems to be that the braided wire is really just an extension of the 'copper foil' / chassis ground, the same way that the pot shells are. Well heck, here's the text: Move braided shields that also carry the audio signal to the signal return ring, too. For pickups which have a separate non-signal-carrying shield braid (hint, there must be at least two wires besides the braid), move the negative lead to the signal return ring but leave the non-signal-carrying shield soldered to the pot shell or other shield-ground point. This pickup has 2 wires plus the braid. In your diagram, the negative lead goes to the switch, rather than the signal return ring, but otherwise I'm trying to follow John's instructions. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted November 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 Just a quick bumpity-do-- I haven't had a chance to solder a different pot yet, but I'm at a loss to explain how the knob could be acting in reverse. Is it possible that I have the other lead (the one going to the volume knob) in the wrong lug? Is that what would cause such behaviour? Any ideas about the other tone-knob related stuff I mentioned? I'm not at home right now in order to look at the guitar, but I was hoping to fix it up as soon as I arrive. I hope someone out there is as addicted to forums as I am and will have a suggestion by the time I get home (around 5:00 EST). Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted November 4, 2005 Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 Is this the way you've got your tone pot wired? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted November 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 Nope! Since I'm using star grounding, I didn't solder the cap back to the casing of the pot, I just sent it right to star. Is that wrong? The only 'deviation' from your diagram (on page 1 of this thread) that I made was instead of soldering back to the casing, I went directly to ground. I thought I was avoiding ground loops that way or something. Also, I'm fairly certain (almost about to go home now so i can check, but my memory on this is fairly clear) that the capacitor is on the middle lug, as per your diagram. That diagram was my bible, and I usually triple-checked before wiring up. So it goes from middle lug to star. I'm not sure about the other lugs, but I can assume I did ithe tone-to-volume wire correctly because my volume knob works, right? Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted November 4, 2005 Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 So. like this? I forgot that's what was shown in the master diagram - I wasn't really paying enough attention to anything other than the switching, so that tone control is totally "cut-and-paste". At any rate, the above diagram shows the correct wiring for that particular configuration - probably all you'll have to do is move the wire coming from the volume pot from its current position to the other outside lug on the tone pot. My bad, sorry - this is what happens when one assumes things not in evidence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted November 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 The capacitor is correct, but using the above illustration as a 'guide', the wire to volume on my guitar is located on the left instead of on the right as above. So yeah, I should just need to switch the wire over. I'm not loving the 0.01 cap-- even though I wanted my tone control to be more focused on the treble frequencies (I don't ever really go down into the mucky range of my tone knob), the result hasn't been spectacular anyhow. I may end up putting in a 0.022 instead. Thanks for the amendment! Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted November 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2005 I had my old wiring diagram that I was going to use out-- from Guitarelectronics.com, and I noticed that they have the capacitor on the right lug, and the wire to volume on the middle. So now I'm confused again. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted November 5, 2005 Report Share Posted November 5, 2005 Don't let it confuse you - take a look: These three circuits are all electrically (and sonically) identical - you can wire your tone control in any of these configurations without affecting the sound at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted November 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2005 Excellent. Well, even before I saw this reply, I just did it the way you told me to and it works great! I'm well impressed with the way it turned out. There's not all that much difference between the two "SC+SC" combinations, but it IS noticeable. With the wiring you gave me, which is which again? (parallel vs. serial) I'll post up sound-clips soon. Along the way I had to knock the saddles way out of place (to access one of the screws), so there's still intonation that needs adjusting. The switch wouldn't accept the old 'normal strat' style switch tip, so I threw a top-hat style mother on there, and I love it. It takes a bit to get used to in terms of looks, but I love the feel of this kind of switch tip. I'm an idiot, though. I switch the wire, and then 'tested' the tone control... so dumb... dumb dumb newbie mistake... I had only put one string on, because if I had to pull the whole guitar apart again at some point in time, I didn't want to deal with taking off 6 new strings. That one string didn't give me enough of a picture of the tone control's range, so I thought the 0.01 wasn't doing enough. Put a 0.022 back in, and now I'm back to the exact same tone control before, which I find gets too muddy already at about halfway, now that I have all the strings back on. I'd put the 0.01 back on -again-, but I'm not sure it survived getting removed. The little wires got wiggled around so much that I'm not sure they're structurally sound anymore. Pics and sound clips soon enough. LK, you are a prince among men. Thanks so much for the wiring diagram and patiently holding my hand through 3 pages of this thread (plus other related threads). Without your quick attention to my questions, I surely would have struggled more and run into more frustrations. Thank you so much!!!! Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted November 5, 2005 Report Share Posted November 5, 2005 ...With the wiring you gave me, which is which again? (parallel vs. serial)... Heck, you don't expect me to remember, do ya? Let me look back at the diagram... 1. Neck only 2. Neck and one bridge coil, humbucking, parallel 3. Neck and one bridge coil, humbucking, series 4. Bridge single coil 5. Full bridge humbucker And don't worry abour that cap - it takes a remarkable amount of work to tear one up. If everything else is currently working, however, I'd play it for a week or so to make sure you really want to change it. First impressions (at least in my case) are often unrealistic, and colored by expectations. Anyway, don't sell yourself short - you did all the work, all I did was nag you until you got it did! A most noble and heroic effort, sir (especially considering all my cryptic advice) - I salute you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted November 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2005 The parallel mode seems to hum more than the series mode, but it's definitely still bucking the hum. Is that normal? You know, regarding the cap-- I almost always just leave the tone up to full anyhow, so I think I'll take your advice and leave it for now. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted November 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2005 Bah! One more question... honest! With standard wiring, when you touch the strings, the hum gets reduced, because all thsoe electronics are grounded to -you-, correct? In this wiring, touching the strings doesn't affect the noise levels whatsoever. Is that because everything's getting grounded to the 400V capacitor? I'm still only 85% grasping everything that's going on in my electronics cavity.... Also, while the chassis is electrically continuous (I can touch a pickup and a screw in the control cavity cover with a multimeter and complete a circuit!), I don't get continuity between a pickup and the ground of my cable. Is that as it should be? Something's striking me as dodgy, but I can't quite put my finger on it. I could use some reassurance that touching the strings shouldn't quiet down the hum anymore. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted November 6, 2005 Report Share Posted November 6, 2005 I could use some reassurance that touching the strings shouldn't quiet down the hum anymore.OK, how's this? With an unshielded wiring setup, touching the strings grounds your body, effectively making it a ground plane that shields the guitar. If your guitar is adequately shielded, grounding your body simply doesn't add any significant increase in the shielding - hence, no hum reduction. Anyway, that's my guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted November 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2005 In other words, it might just be that I did a kick-ass job shielding the guitar? Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.