Super Switch And Cap To Pot Soldering

[Pacifica 112M]

I am working on a 15 (or so) tone set up that uses a 5-way 4-position "super switch". The diagram shows the pos. HB lead connecting across 4 of the switch's soldering lugs. Do you strip sufficient jacket from the wire to span all 4 lugs with exposed wire or do you make 3 little "loops"?

Also, what is the procedure for soldering an orange drop cap to the push/pull pot body? I need specific info about how to make this solder connection without damaging the pot or the cap.

Thanks.

[retro_10s]

I think as far as damaging the Pot, just be as quick as you can with the heat.. but Pots aren't as fragile as they used to be... when i did my first re-pot last year and new nothing I must've held my 40w iron on a dimarzio pot for a good 10sec and it still worked fine when plugged in etc no probs.

[Keegan]

And as for the soldering, use little spans of wire for the other connections, don't just run a bare wire though, unless you plan on taping over it with electrical tape.

[GregP]

I'd be curious to see your diagram!

As for the 4-lugs thing... the odds of accidentally touching the exposed wire with another wrong lead are pretty slim in most cavities... I wouldn't personally bother with 3 little loops. I can say that having already done the "bazillions of little loops" thing. I find it really fiddly and annoying to do all that claustrophobic work for no actual benefit. Remember, you will have to solder *2* wires at once doing it the "little loops" way. Once you've soldered one little loop and you go to add the next one in the series, the heat on the lug will melt the original loop's connection... so you're re-soldering it at the very least, and having to fart around holding it in place at the most.

There's probably a better technique for doing the "little loops" thing than I used, but even if there is... I can't imagine it being as easy and straight forward as one bare wire across the 4 lugs.

Covering it with electrical tape isn't a bad idea at all, though. The way it was worded made it sound like a "hack" or whatever, but that's what the tape is for. By all means, cover the bare wire with electrical tape if you decide to go with the 1 bare wire method.

Greg

[Keegan]

I've got all kinds of wires running around my guitar so i do have to watch out for any touching >_>

[retro_10s]

wonderful thing heatshrink....

Edited June 8, 2007 by retro_10s

[GregP]

Yup. Though, the heatshrink wouldn't do anything for the wire across 4 lugs.

[retro_10s]

Meh

[psw]

Hey...I am going to do a superswitch wire in the near future...Here's a tip that sprung from the sustainer thread...I use nail polish over bear wires in tight spaces where I fear they may touch...seems to work out ok, even comes in colours, check out the bargian shops for cheap stuff, comes in handy...

I just used some on my new sustainer driver on the back of a very small connection plate that could easily short out if not careful, but is so small that heat shrinking was not an option...

Make sure it is all wired ok before applying, as the soldering iron will make it stink and it will be hard to make good connections with all that burn nail polish gunk on there

pete

[Alac Luin]

Yup. Though, the heatshrink wouldn't do anything for the wire across 4 lugs.

couldn't one say strip about an inch (or 3/4 inch or whatever..) and place small amounts of heatshrink placed over the exposed wire, leaving gaps where the solder joint goes?

I am going to be wiring up a 4 pole switch in a few days, I may try this....

[Alac Luin]

Tried it, wasn't worth the effort

It was just easier to go the little loop way, I guess I wasn't brave enough to try out the one bare wire thing.

[GregP]

A heatshrink tube only works well when it's allowed to stay as a "tube"... otherwise it's just a weird shriveled piece of plastic that doesn't cling to much. Electrical tape would have been the way to go in conjunction with the bare wire.

Ironically, I think the 1 bare wire is the easier and *less* adventurous way! 3 little loops is for the hardcore and those who don't mind a little pain and suffering. ;-) I tried the 3 little loops and it was a nightmare for me.

As long as you got it sorted out, though, both will "work" equally fine! If you're wired up and ready for rock'n'roll, then mission accomplished.

Greg

[Alac Luin]

I just don't like having that much exposed wire, the heatshrink would have only needed to act as insulation in the open area to calm my mind, and I'm not satisfied with the adhesive qualities of electrical tape to use it as permanent fix.

I could convince myself to shield it with something like this....

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/serv...746783_-1_10409

in the 1/4ID size, but not sure if it would fit the switch. (smaller sizes can be found other places)

Am I over reacting? Probably

Only recently getting into guitar electronics I find many aspects, um, haphazard, but it works so who am I to complain.

[JohnH]

I think bare wire is not a problem unless it is touching something it shouldnt, or flopping about so it might do. A bare wire linking several lugs on te same switch seems fine to me, and you can inspect to see a good air gap to anything else. A problem with trying to insulte that is that the insulation may hide a multitude of sins, and cover a short circuit, perhaps where heat from soldering has melted it.

John

[GregP]

I just don't like having that much exposed wire, the heatshrink would have only needed to act as insulation in the open area to calm my mind, and I'm not satisfied with the adhesive qualities of electrical tape to use it as permanent fix.

As long as you're that picky about every single other wire in the cavity, this can be your one bare wire without any stress at all. Mind you, I think that like the poster above, if you have sufficient 'air' anyhow, it'd never be an issue. As for the electrical tape, it'd be just fine. ;-) The idea isn't for it to stick to the metal so much as to itself. Fold it over those lugs+wire, and it'll stick to itself, too.... with good adhesion!

I could convince myself to shield it with something like this....

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/serv...746783_-1_10409

in the 1/4ID size, but not sure if it would fit the switch. (smaller sizes can be found other places)

If you could get that stuff in a teeny size, that might be neat, and worthwhile going into the future, too, for further upgrades/restorations.

Am I over reacting? Probably

Definitely! But some people are literally paralyzed unless they flick a switch exactly 3 times, so who am I to judge someone who's overcautious about something that IS a logical concern at least on some level?

Only recently getting into guitar electronics I find many aspects, um, haphazard, but it works so who am I to complain.

I can't say with any honesty that any of my electronics projects has EVER gone perfectly smoothly. I always get the vague sensation that there's something I'm doing wrong or that I could at least do better. After hearing and reading so much about perfect solder joints (and how imperfect "cold" ones can eventually create a loss of conductivity) I STILL haven't felt comfortable with many of my joints. Once in a while, you just "know" you did it right... but the rest of the time I think to myself, "I think that'll do" rather than "yup, I KNOW that'll do."

Greg

[Alac Luin]

My issue with electrical tape comes from seeing what happens within a car's engine compartment, the constant heat melts the stick stuff.

I have to remember that it's rather unlikely for a guitar's control cavity to reach 300 degrees F.

I've thought about picking up some of that slit Convoluted Tubing I linked to earlier for use as a wire loom, to hold the pick-up wires for routing through the canal of a strat body. I can honestly find many uses for it, so I think I can justify buying some.

[Pacifica 112M]

I'd be curious to see your diagram!

As for the 4-lugs thing... the odds of accidentally touching the exposed wire with another wrong lead are pretty slim in most cavities... I wouldn't personally bother with 3 little loops. I can say that having already done the "bazillions of little loops" thing. I find it really fiddly and annoying to do all that claustrophobic work for no actual benefit. Remember, you will have to solder *2* wires at once doing it the "little loops" way. Once you've soldered one little loop and you go to add the next one in the series, the heat on the lug will melt the original loop's connection... so you're re-soldering it at the very least, and having to fart around holding it in place at the most.

There's probably a better technique for doing the "little loops" thing than I used, but even if there is... I can't imagine it being as easy and straight forward as one bare wire across the 4 lugs.

Covering it with electrical tape isn't a bad idea at all, though. The way it was worded made it sound like a "hack" or whatever, but that's what the tape is for. By all means, cover the bare wire with electrical tape if you decide to go with the 1 bare wire method.

Greg

Here's the finished product in the In Progress forum.

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=30588

Thanks to all for the advice and help.

[GregP]

Wow! That looked like quite an undertaking.

It looks like you're still including the ground wires from pot casing to pot casing-- am I just blind? The conductive tape should be able to do that job, so you're setting up the potential for ground loops if you duplicate the ground path.

But if it's all wired up and you're not hearing any obnoxious hum, probably best to leave well enough alone! Don't fix something that ain't broke, and all that stuff. Hats off to you for this wiring job. I feel co-frustration at soldering fiddly wiring, though perhaps you didn't find yourself frustrated at all. All those lugs, all those wires... I've done it, and I'll do it again... but it really starts to do a number on my hand-eye coordination and my concentration.

[Pacifica 112M]

Wow! That looked like quite an undertaking.

It looks like you're still including the ground wires from pot casing to pot casing-- am I just blind? The conductive tape should be able to do that job, so you're setting up the potential for ground loops if you duplicate the ground path.

But if it's all wired up and you're not hearing any obnoxious hum, probably best to leave well enough alone! Don't fix something that ain't broke, and all that stuff. Hats off to you for this wiring job. I feel co-frustration at soldering fiddly wiring, though perhaps you didn't find yourself frustrated at all. All those lugs, all those wires... I've done it, and I'll do it again... but it really starts to do a number on my hand-eye coordination and my concentration.

I see what you're saying about ground loops. You're right, I didn't really think about that. It does not hum, however. It's definitely quieter than the other stock 112 my son has. Still, I may need to revisit that issue.

As far as being fiddly, it helps when you have two pairs of hands. There was a lot of four-handed soldering going on, this being a father-son project.

Edited June 25, 2007 by Pacifica 112M

[GregP]

Heh. When I'm soldering, I always have to beg my gf to help. Hemostats and clamps only go "so" far.

[Pacifica 112M]

Wow! That looked like quite an undertaking.

It looks like you're still including the ground wires from pot casing to pot casing-- am I just blind? The conductive tape should be able to do that job, so you're setting up the potential for ground loops if you duplicate the ground path.

But if it's all wired up and you're not hearing any obnoxious hum, probably best to leave well enough alone! Don't fix something that ain't broke, and all that stuff. Hats off to you for this wiring job. I feel co-frustration at soldering fiddly wiring, though perhaps you didn't find yourself frustrated at all. All those lugs, all those wires... I've done it, and I'll do it again... but it really starts to do a number on my hand-eye coordination and my concentration.

Going back to the ground loop issue... I went back and looked at the stock pots and they were connected together by a ground wire as well as sharing the connection I assume was created by the stock aluminum shielding. Is it common to leave off the pot casing ground wires when you have the conductive shielding?

[GregP]

That's the typical thing, yes. Ensure continuity with a multimeter, but if they're already continuous via the shielding, they don't need to have the wires. Ultimately, this entire collection of continuous surface (the shielding plus the pots) DOES have to make it to ground, though, and a wire from ONE of the pot casings will do the trick.

If you're going to be desoldering and redoing the whole thing, I would also recommend star-grounding. All your grounds (the 1 wire from a pot casing, your pickup grounds, the grounds from potentiometer lugs) all end up soldered to one spot (most people just use a metal washer). This includes unbending the vol lug away from the pot casing and putting a wire in place instead. One wire goes from the washer (the "star") to ground lug of output jack. The "star" is taped up so that it doesn't touch any metal components or bare wires inside the cavity.

It's the guaranteed way to not have ground loops.

But honestly... if your guitar is already hum-free and it's working properly, I'm not really sure I'd bother. It's more fun to play the guitar than to rewire it.