unklmickey

IMHO having lots of pickup combinations is a waste of time. Its like having 100 television channels, you keep flicking thru but cant settle on one.

...

i agree to some extent.

i think the best approach is to have a mule to find which sounds you really want.

then design the switching for your guitar(s) with a minimum set of must-have sounds.

...All humbucking amounts to is that you have two single coil PU's next to each other that are out of phase....

Rog, i think you have the right idea, but that came out a bit wrong.

SCs don't have to be next to each other to hum-cancel.

they can be made with the same magnetic polarity and winding direction, then connected out-of-phase. (thin jangly sound)

or they can be of opposite magnetic polarity and winding direction, then connected in-phase. (full normal sound)

hi HumanFuseBen, (scary name)

if you can follow a few simple directions, you won't need a special drawing.

if you can't, you shouldn't be messing with the wiring.

here is a link to a stock drawing of an RG 7421:

http://ibanez.com/support/wiringdiagrams.aspx

connect one wire to the left terminal of the volume pot.

connect another wire to the middle terminal of the volume pot.

connect those 2 wires to your switch.

done.

hi MetalSustain,

i'll let someone else point you in the right direction for parts sources.

before embarking on a Brian May style scheme, you'll want to see a thread i made on another forum.

http://guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.c...read=1168294514

it's probably been done here before, but if you can't find some help here, talk to these guys:

http://guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.c...&user=johnh

http://guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.c...user=channelman

they've done some work in that area, and can recommend networks that will be decent models to sim a pickup.

they've also run sims on guitar tone controls, treble bleed, affect of cable capacitance, etc.

...never be able to reverse engineer because they're knackered....

hi Robert,

i don't speak much English. my native language is "Merkin".

is knackered a (more polite?) way of saying "stuffed"?

hi Duggy,

pre-cut pickguards are not expensive, so it would be easy and cheap to just buy one, already cut for HSH.

what is an 8-way switch?

there are 2 possible meanings to Mullmuzzler's question.

Bertbart answered according to 1 meaning.

the other meaning would be: the wire is still attached to the trem, but broke at the other end.

if so then you will want to connect it where all the other ground are, at the back of the volume pot.

here's a link to the diagram:

http://ibanez.com/support/wiring/W97019.gif

EDIT: oh, i see i posted just before me, Mullmuzzler. good luck.

hi Sethmetal,

to get hum-canceling when in-phase, you need 1 "north" coil and one "south".

that explains the issue with splitting 2 HBs and using them together.

to fix that, you can wire ONE of the 2 HBs a little differently:

http://guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.c...ge=1#1155342546

for the problem on the HSH, i'm a little puzzled.

on an HSH, you want the split HB coils to have the same polarity as each other, but different from the middle.

are the bridge and neck HBs the same basic type?

i wonder if the one of the coils of the bridge HB is shorted. (only one coil, so no hum-canceling)

and the coil of the bridge HB that is working when split, has the same magnetic polarity as the middle?

i'm doing my best to try to match a possibility with your symptoms, but i might just be grasping at straws.

you should be able to test which coils are working in each position of your switching, by touching the pole-pieces with a screwdriver tip.

you will hear a loud thump in your amp, when the tip touches, if that coil is working. (start with the amp volume VERY low.)

if that coil is not working you might hear a click, but it will be much quieter.

to determine relative polarity, take a small magnet, and carefully allow it to attach itself to the pole-pieces.

test the middle SC first. which ever orientation the magnet is in, when attached to the pole-pieces, we'll call that right-side-up.

the magnet will attach itself upside-down on one set of pole-pieces of the HB, that's the coil you want for hum-canceling with the middle.

good luck, and let me know what (if any) progress you make.

i'll be back on Monday.

l8r,

unk

... When the vol. control was closed got a 0.00 reading on the 20ohm part of the meter. I gradually turned the volume up and got about a third of the way on it's sweep and had a 19.51 reading. As I went on the reading went to 0.L until I got the the last third of the sweep and then it read 18.1 and continued to decrease to 7.13 at the top end where it stabilized. I tried the tone control but the reading did not change.

okay, this is all normal so far.

you probably mean 20K ohms on the meter setting, right?

- when the volume was at zero, you are reading the wiper being right up against the CCW end of the pot - no resistance -- good.

- as you approach the point where the resistance is equal between the wiper and each end of the pot (about 8 on the knob) you should read about 83K ohms. that's off-scale on the 20K ohm setting, so your reading was OL -- good.

- with the volume at max, you had the full resistance of the volume pot (250K onms) in parallel with the resistance of the pickup. this will read just a tiny bit less than the pickup, so your pickup resistance is something like 7.35K ohms -- good.

- the tone capacitor is in series with the tone pot, so it blocks DC -- adjusting the tone pot doesn't affect the resistance measurements -- good.

your guitar seems healthy!

i'd look for a problem in your cable, or your amp.

easiest way would be to plug your guitar into a know good cable, and a known good amp. the guitar should work fine.

then substitute the cable in question and the amp, one at a time. then you'll know which one is the problem.

good luck, and let us know the results.

unk

troubleshooting by remote control is a tricky business.

there are some clues here that seem to point in a particular direction:

Hi Gang,

I got myself into a bit of trouble. I rewired my tele using Van Zandt pickups, 2 new Fender 250K solid shaft pots, a 4 way switch (Switchcraft) and a .047 Angela Tin Foil tone capacitor. I am not getting any volume unless the volume control is all the way open. Anything less and you don't hear anything. So this means no real tone either. I'm sure I did something wrong as this is my 1st attempt at electronics outside of replacing a pickup.

The pickups are not new and were working fine before. I have checked the wiring over and over again to see if I possible messed up on the switch but everything looks right.

Any help troubleshooting is appreciated.

hi BBrocks,

sometimes things that are wrong aren't obvious, or even visible.

by no real tone, i'll assume you mean there's no treble to speak of.

one thing that will cause that, is if the pickup(s) are loaded heavily with a low resistance.

if that low resistance comes after the volume control, that would also explain why the volume drops abruptly, when the volume control is reduced from max.

Melvyn is right about the meter. they're dirt cheap ($5~10) and are the second best troubleshooting tool.

you won't even need to open the guitar up, to begin.

put your meter on resistance. 20,000 ohms scale will be just fine. plug one end of your guitar cable into your Tele. turn the volume control to max. select just one pickup.

connect the probes of your meter, one to the tip, and the other to the barrel of the loose end of your guitar cable. (doesn't matter which one is red and which one black)

normally, you would get a reading of about 6,000 ohms give or take a thousand or so. but i'm guessing your reading will be much less. maybe hundreds of ohms or even tens of ohms.

if this is true, we need to determine where the problem is.

disconnect the cable from the guitar and measure between the tip and barrel again. it should read infinite. (depending on the meter, this might be indicated by a 1 in the left-most digit, with the other digits blank. or maybe the display will read OL. anyway, it's the same as when you don't have the probes touching anything.)

if your cable shows less than infinite resistance between the tip and barrel, get another cable. if it was O.K., lets move on.

you may have the connection from the wiper of the volume control to the output jack, partially grounded. if you have carbon paint shielding the control cavity or the jack cavity, the connections might be touching the paint.

or the wires (or shielded cable?) connecting the jack to the volume control, may have the insulation melted from too much heat, when soldering.

let us know what you find.

hi "Froggy",

that's probably the easiest and best way to get there.

i was thinking along the lines of a Varitone, but with the inductor and capacitor(s) in parallel, rather than series.

but that would take a bit of experimentation to get things right.

hi Sid,

these switch puzzles are fun. i dont want to take any of that away from you so .... no peeking.

when you solve it, compare your result to this:

http://guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.c...ge=1#1158330256

and/or this:

http://guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.c...ge=1#1130287410

it will be interesting to see the similarities and differences between what you come up with, and what i did.

good luck,

unk

...I've read that diode clipping

is suppost to sound fairly harsh but what I'm getting is barely noticeable....

... Bypassing the emitter resistor with a Cap also doesn't have a noticeable effect

the signal needs to be considerably larger than the voltage drop across the diodes.

since each diode will have about 0.7 volts across it, you will want the signal to be capable of much more than 1.4V peak-to-peak.

you might want to try some germanium diodes. or some Schottky diodes instead.

i'm amazed that bypassing the emitter resistor didn't result in a huge increase in gain. what size is cap did you use?

i think it will take more than diodes to be able to measure AC at such low voltages.

1V ? seems too high. i would guess about 1/10 V.

hi Leverd,

the first change i would make, would be to get rid of R6. you don't need it, and it will attenuate the input signal.

i would make R3 larger (maybe 33k) and increase the value of C2 (.1 uF?).

then adjust the value of R1 to get about 5v at the collector of Q1 (smaller value to decrease, larger value to increase.)

this should put you in a region that will provide a reasonable amount of gain.

finally, i would bypass R1 with a cap (25uF ?) and the gain will skyrocket, since you will no longer be getting degeneration at the emitter.

in fact you might be able to get by with the circuit as-is, and just bypass R1, but i won't guarantee it.

cheers,

unk

Is this gonna work? In a word.... No...

okay SonicSid,

you got the one word answer, here's the long version...

at the heart of your circuit, is a series/parallel switch.

when turning off a pickup in a parallel circuit, you just disconnect it.

when turning off a pickup in a series circuit, you disconnect it AND replace it with a "shunt".

your circuit will work correctly in series, whether both, one, or no pickup is selected.

but in parallel, it will only work with both pickups on.

IMHO, this leaves too many possibilities for "dead spots".

there are a few alternatives.

you could use 2 DPDT switches, and get the following combinations:

both parallel

neck only

bridge only

both series.

i do like this one. it requires 2 fairly simple switches, and there are no dead spots.

you could use a SP3T switch and a DPDT to get the above combination, but in a different manner.

in one position of the DPDT, the SP3T functions like a LP or Tele selector.

neck / both (parallel) / bridge

in the other position of the DPDT, the pickups are in series regardless of the position of the SP3T.

although, it required 1 more complicated switch, having the series combo available at the flip of one switch is seen by some as a huge benefit.

Help Make This Guitar Metal, its not metal enough

okay, ya want a metal guitar? this one's pure metal:

http://www.gymshoesmusic.us/images/wallpap...etal-guitar.jpg

yeah, i know how that can be. (been there, done that....)

such a disappointment.

i was so excited when we first got married and she told me i could have her annually. then, i found out it meant once a year.....

X ?

ya mean Wes is a member of the "been there, done that, broomed her, and lived to tell about it." club?

i recently recieved in myt regular mailbox a letter that said in big bold letters "you,mr.fisher,are a sex god!"

i took it to work and showed everybody...told them i finally got the recognition i deserve

then Wes showed it to his wife. i know he did............................i could hear her laughter, all the way over here.

...Did you guys know that a sure fire real method of male anatomy enhancement is now available?? ...

man, every morning there are at least a dozen e-mails in my inbox for "enlargement".

there's only one thing i wanna know..............................how did they know!

... someone tried to tell me it's because you add yourself to the ground as an additional "shield", but I dunno about that. ...

no, that's not it at all Greg, because "You're just a big ole' Bucket O' Noise". really. http://www.guitarnuts.com/technical/noisebucket.php

...I have a theory that the neck pickup is exempt from this annoying microphonicness because it's toggle switch is directly grounded to the jack, as in the diagram. Is there a way to ground the other switches without screwing up the circuit? That is, if that is indeed to blame...

hi Chris, i think you theory is right.

but i think it might only explain part of the problem.

if the frame of the pickup is connected to the violet wire, you will have this problem with all pickups, except the one at the top of the drawing.

IF THIS IS THE PROBLEM, you will also have this problem with the pickup at the top of the drawing if you put it out of phase.

if that is the case, you need to find a way to separate that end of the coil from the frame. then run a separate wire from the frame, directly to ground.

i also have some thoughts on an improvement of your pickup switching. but let's address the ground issue first, right?

cheers,

unk