brunomendez Posted January 28, 2009 Report Share Posted January 28, 2009 Hi, I got a strat and I wanted to change some things in it, so I came with something simple: only the 3 strat pickups and volumes for each one. So I wired them like this, each pickup to a volume pot, then I connected all hots to the jack. The problem was that theres no sound from the guitar when I plug it in, pickups all work fine, it should be the wiring. PS - For the tone, I wired the capacitor directly into the main hot and ground wire before the jack. Anyone already used this kind of wiring?? I need some help wiring this simple...thing.. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHowell Posted January 29, 2009 Report Share Posted January 29, 2009 Can you post a schematic and a photograph of your wiring? Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brunomendez Posted January 29, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2009 Can you post a schematic and a photograph of your wiring? Keith Ok I will draw it, but I don´t know how to post it in the forum.. Thanks for your reply! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted January 30, 2009 Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 Yes...i think we would need a diagram to find out where you went wrong...i suspect that there are some things you don't understand here as well...with three volumes there is no room for a tone control and no place to put the cap and things. Each pot to the hot of the jack, ground to everything else and jack ground, string ground and any other grounds. Whats going on with the selector in your scheme...and what is it that you are trying to achieve with the multiple volume controls? Does not sound like the most practical or advantageous scheme to me, but you might surprise me! pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brunomendez Posted February 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 (edited) Hi there, here´s the wiring diagram, hi tried to be as accurate as possible: This is just a "exploring guitar idea".... it doesn´t have a pickup selector, the idea is to cut the pickup with the volume, as for the tone, there isn´t a pot for it, just wired directly into the the main wiring (maybe this is the problem...) Please don´t get me wrong, I´m just trying to do something different for me.. Many thanks for the replys Edited February 4, 2009 by brunomendez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihocky2 Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Do you have the casings of the pots grounded? You don't show it in the diagram so I wasn't sure. That should not cause the volume problem, but can lead to excess noise issues, especially if the bridge is ground to the pot casing, but the casing is not attached to the ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brunomendez Posted February 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Do you have the casings of the pots grounded? You don't show it in the diagram so I wasn't sure. That should not cause the volume problem, but can lead to excess noise issues, especially if the bridge is ground to the pot casing, but the casing is not attached to the ground. Hi, thanks for the reply, I edited the drawing, I forgot to draw the ground in the pot sleeve and pot casing. Well, I only connected to the ground the bridge pot, the others I didn´t cause I think it will effect the volume of the pots, in my mind I have that if i connect all the pots (ground like this: wire to the ground each pot or wire between pots and then to the ground ), the volumes will function (wrong) as a main and not single for each pickup. Later in the wiring all grounds connect themselves, maybe the problem it´s that they meet in the end of the wiring....but I think that, for ground, in the end or begining ist the same.... I know I can be very wrong about this ground matter... Hope e could explain it good... Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 What happens if you take out that capacitor completely...this seems like a very bad idea and may be causing the short. Generally speaking...no sound can only mean one of two things (other than a broken pickup which is unlikely as there are three of them!)... #1 a short between hot and ground. This could be the shielding or any number of other simple mis-wirings #2 less common, a break so that the hot and ground are not connecting to the jack correctly...less likely. Otherwise, the diagram seems to be generally ok...often there will be an interaction between the volume controls, however it should work and is not that different from say a Les paul with separate volume controls with the selector in the middle position, you can adjust the volume of each separately. I did a mod with a volume on the middle pickup on a strat and a three way selector that worked well...and worked independently, so it is possible. To further test what might be going wrong you may need a multimeter. The most obvious thing to do (besides getting rid of that capacitor which is creating a short of sorts) is to disconnect all but one pickup and control and get that working. Then add another and another...then you can try things like this cap, but it is a bad idea really and may be the cause of some of your problems. The "tone cap" works with the tone pot resistor to drain highs to ground...without a tone pot, there is no resistance and all of the high signal is being drained to ground...potentially though, you could be draining almost all the signal to ground. Whatever the result, this cap can only reduce the effectiveness of a guitar...if you want a darker sound, use your amp controls as this cap at best only serves to filter out tone, not enhance it! hope that helps...good luck pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHowell Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 (edited) What value capacitor did you use? Are you sure your soldering on the back of the pots is not dry? Often pots are quite difficult to get a decent solder joint. Your diagram shows the pot case as an integral part of the circuit with two solder connections on to the case. Better to solder your pickup ground and output ground on to the pot lug and then take a single ground to the pot case. That way you are sure the ground is continuous and the pot case is not part of the circuit and only sheilding the pot at ground potential. Keith Edited February 5, 2009 by KeithHowell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brunomendez Posted February 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 What happens if you take out that capacitor completely...this seems like a very bad idea and may be causing the short. Generally speaking...no sound can only mean one of two things (other than a broken pickup which is unlikely as there are three of them!)... #1 a short between hot and ground. This could be the shielding or any number of other simple mis-wirings #2 less common, a break so that the hot and ground are not connecting to the jack correctly...less likely. Otherwise, the diagram seems to be generally ok...often there will be an interaction between the volume controls, however it should work and is not that different from say a Les paul with separate volume controls with the selector in the middle position, you can adjust the volume of each separately. I did a mod with a volume on the middle pickup on a strat and a three way selector that worked well...and worked independently, so it is possible. To further test what might be going wrong you may need a multimeter. The most obvious thing to do (besides getting rid of that capacitor which is creating a short of sorts) is to disconnect all but one pickup and control and get that working. Then add another and another...then you can try things like this cap, but it is a bad idea really and may be the cause of some of your problems. The "tone cap" works with the tone pot resistor to drain highs to ground...without a tone pot, there is no resistance and all of the high signal is being drained to ground...potentially though, you could be draining almost all the signal to ground. Whatever the result, this cap can only reduce the effectiveness of a guitar...if you want a darker sound, use your amp controls as this cap at best only serves to filter out tone, not enhance it! hope that helps...good luck pete Hi, it really helps, yesterday I was thinking of doing that thing you say by connect one pickup at the time or/and remove the capacitor! I think I´m very wrong in concept about the tone cap, I will remove it first and see the result. Thanks for all the replys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brunomendez Posted February 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 What value capacitor did you use? Are you sure your soldering on the back of the pots is not dry? Often pots are quite difficult to get a decent solder joint. Your diagram shows the pot case as an integral part of the circuit with two solder connections on to the case. Better to solder your pickup ground and output ground on to the pot lug and then take a single ground to the pot case. That way you are sure the ground is continuous and the pot case is not part of the circuit and only sheilding the pot at ground potential. Keith Hi thanks for the reply, the capacitor is .047, it came with the guitar. I see your point on soldering, it really is dificult to get a decent solder joint, but it seems ok, I will try to remove the cap first to see if this is the problem and then I will do as you say. Thanks bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brunomendez Posted February 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 Hello everyone, Problem solved....I removed the capacitor from circuit and now everything works fine!! Thanks for all the help bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted February 7, 2009 Report Share Posted February 7, 2009 I'm glad it worked out...let us know how you like this set up once you have settled into it for a while...and if you get full independent pickup control. I knew that cap was suspect...I also suspect it stems from a common misunderstanding of the tone cap...it is there to remove "tone", not enhance it. Anyway...all's well that ends well! pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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