New Guy Needs Basics

[wohzah]

Ok a few really basic questions.

-First, when wiring your guitar are the wires from the pickups interchangable, ie do all the wires from the pickups do the samething?

-Can all pickups be mixed and matched?

-Can multiple pots have different resistances?

-Also anyone one could just basically explain what goes where for a complete beginner (if at all possible without sending me to a schematic) how to wire my guitar (very basically).

I have basic electrical knowledge, amperage, resistance, voltage, wattage etc.

[MiKro]

Ok a few really basic questions.

-First, when wiring your guitar are the wires from the pickups interchangable, ie do all the wires from the pickups do the samething?

-Can all pickups be mixed and matched?

-Can multiple pots have different resistances?

-Also anyone one could just basically explain what goes where for a complete beginner (if at all possible without sending me to a schematic) how to wire my guitar (very basically).

I have basic electrical knowledge, amperage, resistance, voltage, wattage etc.

-First, when wiring your guitar are the wires from the pickups interchangable, ie do all the wires from the pickups do the samething? NO!

-Can all pickups be mixed and matched? Yes sorta!! depends on your taste!

-Can multiple pots have different resistances? Most definitely!!!!!

-Also anyone one could just basically explain what goes where for a complete beginner (if at all possible without sending me to a schematic) how to wire my guitar (very basically). NO!

[wohzah]

Thanks alot (seriously no sarcasm intended). I think after about 2 days of complete confusion I am sortof getting the jist of how things work.

-Another question, when I see something is grounded in a basic diagram and it is not grounded into the bridge, what is it grounded into

-What is the purpose of the bridge ground?

Edited February 27, 2008 by wohzah

[MiKro]

Thanks alot (seriously no sarcasm intended). I think after about 2 days of complete confusion I am sortof getting the jist of how things work.

-Another question, when I see something is grounded in a basic diagram and it is not grounded into the bridge, what is it grounded into

-What is the purpose of the bridge ground?

First, I was not trying to be sarcastic, but with your knowledge of the basics,"I have basic electrical knowledge, amperage, resistance, voltage, wattage etc." the questions asked were somewhat odd!

As far as your next question. It is grounded to the existing circuit coming from the amp in relation to the power from your Home in order to complete the circuit. As far as the bridge, it bleeds off the grounding effect of your body when touching the strings and you becoming a shorter path to ground. Your resistance is greater than the wiring, therefore the electrical path finds the least resist path. This is why people in older homes that DO NOT have grounded outlets experience more than normal electrical HUM (because the resistance is not as great). It is basically an async ground loop that gets created without it.

MK

[jnewman]

Actually, when you touch the strings, YOU get grounded - if the bridge isn't grounded, you don't act as a path to ground, you act as an antenna.

If you're not touching something conductive that is grounded and don't have bare feet in the wet dirt, you are not grounded and can't provide a path to ground for anything.

[wohzah]

I hope my questions are not getting annoying but i think it would be better to keep them in one thread so as to not clog up the system.

My next questions

-So when I see these ground symbols, what are the wires connected to?

-What voltage capacitor do I need for my guitar?

[Rick500]

All the grounds are connected together.

Just about any voltage capacitor will do. The voltages you're dealing with are very, very low.

[Tim37]

http://www.projectguitar.com/ref/wire.htm

Seymour Duncan has a lot of standard wiring diagrams for just about any configuration you want and if you are wanting somehting a little more unusual you can just try a google search something is bound to be out there that suits you.

[wohzah]

So you are saying, that for example in this schematic http://www.flatearthguitars.com/Tele-Schematic.gif (this is the one I am basing my setup off of) that the ground on the neck pickup is connected to the ground on the bridge pickup which is connected to the ground on tone control which is connected to the ground on the volume pot which is connected to the ground on the output?

[ihocky2]

Yes. All of your grounds connect to one place. Usually the back of a pot and then a wire from the back of the pot to the outputs ground. Look at the diagrams on Seymour Duncans website. They use a very easy to read picture that will help a lot. Plus they have a FAQ section that will also help.

[black_labb]

as for the first question, the wires comign from a single coil both do the same thng, as well as a 2 wire humbucker. the wires are just connected to different ends of a pickup's winding. some people believe that using the outside of the pickup as the grounded side (or negative) then you reduce the hum as the outer coils will act as a shield to the inner's, but otherwise there is going to be not difference. wether the other theory is true i dont know, but its possible.

[Geo]

as for the first question, the wires comign from a single coil both do the same thng, as well as a 2 wire humbucker. the wires are just connected to different ends of a pickup's winding. some people believe that using the outside of the pickup as the grounded side (or negative) then you reduce the hum as the outer coils will act as a shield to the inner's, but otherwise there is going to be not difference. wether the other theory is true i dont know, but its possible.

It doesn't matter if you're just using one pickup. But if you have multiple pickups and want a switch setting with both pickups on, you need to get the phase or polarity of the pickups right. Otherwise you get a phase-cancelled sound... which is cool, but not what you're used to.

It gets complicated if you want hum cancelling... in which case you need the two coils wired electrically out of phase and magnetically out of phase.