Pacifica 112M

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?

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.

Thanks. According to the specs, the body is Alder.

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.

Well, here it is, our father-son project. My son's first guitar was a Pacifica 112J and I been a fan of these since. We wanted to do a project guitar, so when I found this black 112M sans tremolo on ebay, it seemed to be the perfect choice. I first thought we would just scrounge used parts on ebay, but I ended up buying all new. The guitar itself was almost brand new. Sigler Music (super nice people, by the way) here in AR had it as part of the inventory purchased from another music shop closing out. Apparently someone needed the vintage trem, scavenged it and never replaced it. The plastic protective film was still on the pickguard. BEFORE And the original guts... AFTER Here's what it has: GFS Strat Vintage Alnico Stagger pickups in the neck & mid positions GFS Dream 180 in the bridge 250k Alpha push/pull pots at volume and tone controls .022uf Sprague Orange Drop tone capacitor Stainless steel trem with brass block from Dancing Dragon (thanks for recommending this one lowbrow!). I think this is a Mighty Mite part, but I can't be sure. 5-position 4-pole lever switch from Guitar Electronics. I bought my copper shielding tape and wiring from these folks as well. We decided that the black & white scheme would look cool, so I bought the knobs and switch. The 15 tone wiring scheme was done for my son by Deaf Eddie. Deaf Eddie is just about the nicest and most informative guy I've ever encountered on the net. Fitment issues were minimal. Like lowbrow mentioned about the trem, I did take a router and made an ever-so-slight relief in the trem rout for the nut that secures the tremolo arm. The Dream 180 was just a smidge too big to go into the hole that housed the original Yamaha humbucker, so I made a small router jig and took another 1/32" or so off one long edge of the opening. The GFS black pickup covers did not exactly fit their Vintage set, but it didn't take much to make them work. I had a fresh set of drills, and fortunately I was able to gently twist a new 7/32" bit by hand in the holes and it fit just fine. The black covers were just a smidge taller than the white ones that came with the set, but I just trimmed a bit of thickness from the flange and this worked out fine as well. The copper tape for guitarelectronics works great. It adheres well and is conductive without soldering the laps. It sounds great. Maybe I can convince my son to post some clips. He's the player. I'm just a wannabe.

If its just a single wire inside a shielded braid the inner wire is your signal or hot wire and is connected to your volume pot center tab and jack tip lug and the shield is the earth which is connected to the earth point in the control cavity, normaly the Volume pot casing , and the other lug for the casing of the jack. Thanks. I understand about the hot wire. Just to make sure I don't misunderstand, the braided portion serves as the ground (earth), connected to the volume pot body at one end and the ground lug at the output jack? So if I'm using a shielded cable then, this is the only cable to the output and there is no other cable to it?

Revealing my inexperience again. How do you use the shielded wire that is typically connected to the output jack? I have some shielded wire that came with a kit, braided outer with a single conductor inner. Can someone explain to me how and where the braided shielding is to be connected?

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.

I am going to put copper foil shielding in the pickup and control cavity. Right now, the stock pickguard has aluminum shielding in the area of the controls. Is there any problem with leaving the current aluminum shielding in place?

Try deaf-eddie.net. He's the one who helped my son with a h/s/s setup the includes a superswithc 5-way 4-pole and two push pulls.

Anybody clips or know where there is a link to sound clips of the GFS Dream 180?

I found out that it does appear to be a might mite part. I just ordered one from their ebay listing. Another poster on the H-C forum had put this trem in a Yamaha and had rave reviews for it.

Will the Wilkinson VSVG work with the 2-1/16" hole spacing? It is a good looking trem.

Any opinions on the Dancing Dragon vintage trem? It has 2-1/16" spacing, brass block, and claims to have a stainless steel plate and saddles.

i know that the Pacifica sounds pretty good right outta the box, but I'm a little surprised that the GFS would not be an improvement. We thought abut the Duncan pickups but the GFS pups are getting such rave reviews that we thought we'd give them a try. For the trems, unless I want to plug, drill or otherwise modify, I'm stuck with a bridge that offers 2-1/16" spacing. I have wondered if I can use a 2 pt instead of the 6 pt. I have no fear of installing the studs as long as I realize a benefit and that the new bridge will cover the remaining 4 holes. I don't want to get into finishing issues. Thanks for your input.

I have bought a Yamaha Pacifica 112M that is in almost unplayed condition as a father-son project guitar. The only thing it does not have is a tremolo. Apparently the music shop cannibalized the trem from this guitar and stuck it back in the repair shop. The seller had bought out all the original shop's inventory and sold the Pac for cheap on ebay. The black finish is gorgeous and appears to be very thickly applied. Tthe maple fingerboard has nice grain and so does the neck. No glue-up lines in the headstock- this is all one piece. Other than the missing trem, the only issue appears to be that a couple of the fret ends need to be filed just a smidge, because you can feel an ever-so-slight protrusion at the neck. First decision we need to make is for the tremolo. I now know that I need a trem with 2-1/16" spacing. So many decisions. Cast saddles vs. stamped steel. Zinc vs brass vs steel blocks. Like everybody else, I want the most bang for my buck. FWIW, the woodworking end of things is not a problem. I have a fairly well equipped woodworking shop, so drilling, routing, etc. is not a problem. Once we get our trem issues figured out, here's what we plan to do: Pickups: GFS I01 Strat Vintage alnico stagger single coils for neck and middle GFS Dream 180 Black on Black for Bridge. We might vary and do a PAF of Cruncy PAF or even their Liverpool Vintage but the dual-purpose promise of chime and PAF sound from the Dream 180 sounds pretty good. We plan to do some of the creating wiring techniques, add switches for the whole series / parallel/ out of phase / coil tapping stuff. This is going to be for everything from Beatles to Jimi to later classic rock like Zepellin. Current amp is a Vox Valvetronix AD30VT. Why a Pacifia, you ask? When we shopped for a first guitar a few years ago, the Pacifica kept coming up as a good first guitar. We ended up with a 112J in Old Violin Sunburst and it has turned out to be just as described. A great guitar for the money and then some. I've come to prefer it's shape as it varies a bit from the Strat. The Pac 112 is just a bit sleeker. The neck is legendary - everyone seems to rave about it. This first Pac 112J has been played so much it's about due for a fret dressing. We want to mod a guitar, but I hate to start on the first guitar. So we decide to get this Pacifica, experiment on it. We feel like the quality of this guitar justifies it's use as a mid-grade modder. Interest in hearing advice on the trem issues as well as your thoughts on the pickups.