unklmickey

there's nothing wrong with a little fudge. it's even better if it's................. Vanilla.

hi JTech, it doesn't matter which direction those switches are installed. the poles (common "moveable" contacts) are on the lower left, and upper right. as far as which wiring is "better" ? #3 gives you one coil of the HB, and the middle pickup, when the switch is in the B+M position. #1 and #2 gives you both coils of the HB, and the middle pickup, when the switch is in the B+M position. so it depends on which sound you want. #1 and #2 do exactly the same thing, but #2 is layed out, closer to what you will see, on the back side of your pickguard. so IF you prefer that the full HB and middle for B+M, #2 might be easier to follow. also, in #2, the wire from the left lug of the volume pot, first goes to the pole on the upper right of the switch. that connection is not needed. there are no throws connected on that side of the switch. you could just connect directly to the lower left pole. cheers, unk

hi Mattia, no need to get the meter out for this one. the lower left, and upper right are the throws that are connected, when an on-on-on is in the center position. that's an industry standard. but it really doesn't hurt anything if it's connected the way Robert has it. cheers, unk

hi Mickguard, i think what's confusing some people, is the way you displayed the shielded cables. you did mention it: but, when people are focused on the drawing, they forget things like that. one thing i do want to mention: although it will work, you may find you don't like the operation of your tone control. placing it after the volume control, will cause the tone control to have a much larger effect when the volume is reduced. in general, it is better, if the tone control is placed before the volume control. (between the left lug of the volume control in your drawing and ground will work.) the center lug of the volume control, is then connected only to the tip of output jack. cheers, unk

patient: "doctor, it hurts when i move my arm, like this." doctor: "don't move your arm like that." okay, now that we have that shiznit out of the way.... there a few things you should try. a different guitar, a different cable, a different amp, a different location. while it is likely the problem is in your guitar, we need to rule out the other possibilities first, before we can go farther. good luck, unk

i'm not trying to be mean. but, please read what you wrote and try it again. thanks, unk

Gentlemen, i know electronics, but anyone else who has posted on this thread knows volumes more about building than i do! still, i can't say that i am impressed my the lack of tolerance and restraint shown here. especially in the wake of current events. i KNOW i'm just a newbie. but i ask that everybody push back from their keyboards and take a breath. and think about something i said earlier today. it just might change the entire tone of this conversation: "and remember to value those who remain, knowing each conversation, might possibly be our last with them." at least i hope it might. my sincerest regards, unk

with so many members on a board like this, it is unavoidable to lose members as they "go to a greater gig". the talents and skill required for guitar building are gradually acquired over a lifetime. so, the ones lost, are often older, more knowledgeable, and have the wisdom of their years. still, understanding the logic of this does nothing to fill the void left behind. all we can do, is express to their families, our sorrow for their loss. and remember to value those who remain, knowing each conversation, might possibly be our last with them. unk

ok, that puts a completely different spin on things! my apologies to all for starting a whirlwind here. before it was mentioned that there was work done inside, the most likely problem that fit the symptoms would be a break in the connection to the sleeve of the jack. often the nut gets loose, and over time and use, the jack gets turned enough to stress and break the wires. sometimes the break actually occurs when the user tightens the loose nut. if the contact is extremely poor between the sleeve of the jack and the barrel of th plug, it would cause the same symptoms. this is not very common. usually inserting and removing the plug will usually scrape the surface clean enough to restore contact. at least well enough that it works when the plug is jostled. since KoRg has done some work "under the hood", there's no telling where the problem lies, but it is probably somewhere in the ground circuit. i think we ALL agree on that. so KoRg, i think you're just gonna have to take a look inside. cheers, unk

holy shiznit, you guys are so close you can almost smell it, but nobody quite hit the bullseye. okay, that's an important clue ooh, real close, right outta the gate. not too far off, dry solder joint .......... loss of continuity. yer sooooooo close, but you have it the wrong way 'round. it's everything that SHOULD be connected to casing of the jack ......... isn't. the wire connecting the sleeve of the jack is broken. the only path for the strings is through the pickup winding, eventually to signal wire, and then to the tip of the cable.

Marksound, we must both be on the same WAVE-length. as i scrolled down the page and got to Southpa's post, i thought: "dang, that almost sounds like something Kip Addotta would write." then i scrolled down to your post... now you owe me some paper towels and windex for my monitor, and an ounce of coffee.

whooooooooooweeeeeeeee! i LOVE those. the regular LP double-cut has a slightly different body shape. i think the LP jr shares the same body shape as melody maker. but the melody maker has a unique, narrow, straight-sided headstock. please tell me you're planning on using that. and please tell me you're gonna use a standard wraparound bridge, or a Quan. .............but don't tell me yet. i'm still at work, and if i start drooling now, it could be embarassing!

hi 'frog, adding an active circuit could increase the possibility of noise, if the circuit came after a lot of exposed wiring or at the other end of the guitar cable. with active pickups, the preamp is right inside the pickup assembly. the low impedance output from the preamp makes it MUCH harder for external fields to induce a (hum and/or noise) voltage on the wires and cable carrying the signal. you're right about it not doing any harm. shielding and grounding the strings should actually help. but i doubt if you would be able to tell the difference. cheers, unk

a bit of trivia: quicksilver is an archaic term for mercury. mercury is toxic.

i agree with rich, in matters regarding ed roman. i tHink thE use of someone else’s pIctureS in An aDvertisement against them OUght to be seen as a CHEap and Bogus Act. a Grievous affront to all concerned.

Robert gave you some good advice. GFS pickups are cheap and great value for the $. you could do some surgery on the damaged coil. if you identify the connection that is going to the FINISH of the winding, you could disconnect the coil wire and unwind until you get to the damaged portion. since there is about a mile of wire on the coil, discarding several feet won't make THAT much difference. then you would remove the enamel coating from the end of the wire, and solder that, to the wire that goes to the outside world. if you want to keep things in better balance, for hum-cancelling, you would then remove the same number of turns from the other coil. your pickup will be slighly underwound, compared to before, so it will be a little less "dark" and have a little less output. if at any time in the process you break the enamel wire going to the START of either winding, ... game over. unless you are skilled at microsurgery, i'd recommend skipping the whole endeavor. cheers, unk

i'm guilty as charged. i've been clowning around on those threads, not even thinking i should be reporting them............sorry. i'll be glad to do my part in the future. cheers, unk

i'm a little confused on exactly what this means. IF this means you have sound, but can't turn down the volume, i can think of a possible explanation. the heavy black lines in those drawings are your ground connections. it isn't perfectly clear, but where they connect to the case of the volume pot, that lug of the pot is also bent back so it touches the case. it also shares the same connection. if you don't have that connected, you won't reduce the volume (well maybe just a tiny bit) when you turn the control down. but IF you mean you only have a tiny bit of sound, that's a whole different problem. could you tell us which one you meant? thanks, unk

actually, if the neck is out-or-phase with the bridge coil that has the same magnetic polarity, that WILL be hum-canceling.

b.c. rich has the diagram on their site. http://bcrich.com/bcrsupport/schematics/sc...onze_series.htm

hi Dragonbat13, it might be easier to put the phase switch on the bridge, along with the coil-split. you can get both the in-phase and out-of-phase to hum-cancel if you play your cards right. i hate to start a conversation, and leave you hanging, but it's time for me to unplug for the weekend. if you check out some of our work over at GuitarNuts2 , we do this sort of thing on a regular basis. JohnH or ChrisK might be around there this weekend if you need help navigating. start by finding the schematics sub-board. you'll find lots of good ideas there. at PG, Robert the damned seems to be knowledgeable. i don't visit here as much, but i'm sure there are also lots of other guys that can give you some good ideas too. L8r, unk

Spazzyone covered the gist of it. here are some more details: RWRP - reverse wound, reverse polarity. magnetizes the area that the pickup will sense, with the opposite magnetic polarity than a normal pickup. has either the pickup wound in the opposite direction, or has the connections reversed. this double reverse (magnetic polarity and coil direction) results in signal having the same direction (in-phase) as a normal pickup would. but, hum from external things, like motors, CRTS, transformers, etc. will be out of phase, compared with a normal pickup. by itself, that doesn't help at all. but when a RWRP is connected together with a normal pickup, the hum (mostly) cancels. on a side note: if you connect 2 normally wound pickups out-of-phase, the hum (mostly) cancels. the signal from the strings also (mostly) cancels. if the pickups are right next to each other, the signal is VERY weak, because as the vibration travels down the string, there is very little difference in time between when the when the peaks pass each pickup. if they are farther away , there is enough difference in time, that they don't don't cancel nearly as well, and provide an interesting tone. when they are very far away, one at the neck, the other at the bridge, they have a larger difference in time, AND a much different harmonic content. an even more interesting and usable tone. i know at this point someone might be thinking "hey wait a minute... if they are farther away, won't the hum signal reach them at different times, and not cancel very well?" the difference in time for the hum signal will be miniscule. i won't tell you why, but if you think about it, you'll figure out why. cheers, unk

Pete, if you're not too tired, here's another interesting theory: in most applications driving coils for things like CRT deflection circuits and such, they use CURRENT feedback in the final drive. i am speculating this might be a VERY important avenue for experimentation in the sustainer arena. in it's simplest form, a small resistor is inserted between the "bottom" connection of the coil, and ground. this is used to sample the current through the coil. then through an appropriately sized resistor (to determine gain) this is returned the inverting input of the amplifier driving the coil. if you guys have not already worked in this direction, i strongly urge you to consider this. happy Thanksgiving everybody, see ya soon. unk

there's no maybe about it. every page i go here to causes my antivirus to go hyperactive. it wasn't this way in the morning.

yep, that's carbon paint, so it's conductive. it's like having a resistor connected to ground for anything that touches it. that's why that tone pot is acting strange. you only need to make a definite separation between the terminal and the shielding. also, is that carbon paint on the insulation at the end of the pickup wires? or is the insulation just 'melty'? if it's carbon paint, you need to clean that off too, it will load down the pickups and make them sound dull. again, you only need a short distance on the insulation that is completely clear of carbon paint. you can use acetone (nail polish remover) on a q-tip to remove the carbon paint, but BE CAREFUL. acetone will also disolve the finish on your guitar.