turbo411

I have a strat style pickguard with two humbuckers, 2 tone pots and a volume pot. Sometimes I have to jiggle the volume pot otherwise it cuts in an out. 1.) Can I test the pot with a multi meter to see if its the pot or the wiring? 2.) Generally speaking, after you install and wire the pickups on a pickguard, is there a way to test it (either to plug it into the amp or otherwise) without having to string up the guitar? 3.) When you remove a pickguard do you remove the strings entirely or completelt loosen them and slide it out? Thank you!

Just what I was looking for thank you quote name='fryovanni' date='Dec 25 2006, 06:22 PM' post='306386'] We started a topic a while back that took a look at this. I built a test model to get some real world modeling going while the theory flowed. I think you will find it is harder than you think to find 100% agreement on even small points when it comes to this subject. However I think we finally did agree on a couple points.FWIW-Topic Peace,Rich

Wow, thank you very much. That certainly was informative and helpful! Hmmm...they are way out of alignment. There is a thread here about the angle over the nut and stiffness of action and the concensus seems to be that it makes no difference to the actual "tension" anywhere along the string (just the amount of thension down on the nut. You may be interested to do what I did to my sustainer strat. When fitting new closed machines to this cheap copy, I got half a dozen copper washers from the hardware store used by plumbers for copper pipes. These washes are fairly thin but the hole is quite wide for the size of them, enough to fit a machine head through...if not they could be filled a littel wider as copper is soft. So...the E and A string have no washer, the D and G one washer each and the B and E string two washers each. This creates a stagger on a six in a line headstock. I then use one string tree on the B and E which is loosely fitted so that it moves with the string and is really there to add just enough downward pressure to stop sympathetic vibrations. Because it moves with the strings it will not cause friction problems that may effect tuning stability, especially with trem use. Trem height is a matter of preference and style. By adjusting the neck angle, you could have it set in many ways in relation to the body. As I like Jeff Becks style of both up and down bends, my trems float with significant up bend...on the sustainer strat, the bridge is on a fairly steep angle and quite close to the body in front but with a lot of swing in back. Others like to have only down bends (eg Van Halen) while others block it off completely so there is no trem (eg Eric Clapton). Having a floating system does mean that normal bending will pull the trem and you will have to bend further as the more you bend, all the strings will be detuning down. With careful techniche, you can rest your hand against the bridge to resist it to make bending easier...but you do risk putting it out of tune (sharp) if your touch is too strong. To hear the extent of detuning, pluck the low e while bending the high e...notice how as you bend the low e drops in pitch...the amount that this happens depends a lot on the number of springs and tension of the trem set up...if there is a significant detuning, you will find you have to bend a lot further to counteract this to get to a correct pitch...something non-trem guitars do not suffer from. If you are not familiar with the fender scale or 10 gauge strings, there is a significant difference in the feel of these guitars...they do feel tight compared to a gibson for instance. But the reward is in the tone that the extra length provides. Tremolo's too effect the way bending can feel as described above. A very loose two spring trem can feel very different to something with three springs, even if adjusted for the same amount of travel. I would suggest with ten guage strings, 3 springs are advisable. So...there is a bit of getting used to, and a lot of variations in setup and this will take a little time, and evolve as your technique progresses or your musical interests change. Guitar Player Magazine ran a whole series of articles where, on interviewing people (santana, Beck SRV, EVH, etc) they would take their guitars and measure everything involved in their set up. I don't think string trees or any of those things will change the feel and I would definitely try to make the trees so the strings are guided straight from the nut slots to the tuner. My guitar has the original cheap plastic nut and the tuners are non-locking and cheap, but I have no real tuning problems with the set up I described. I do string the guitar with minimal turns and in such a way that the ends are overlaped so the strings are effectively tied in place once tuned. So...I hope that helps and gives you and others some ideas for set up... pete

This is a continuation of a previous thread but I thought it would be a good idea to have all in one spot the factors that influence string tension or the feeling of tightness in a string on a strat assuming a 25.5" scale For example, is it the placement of the string trees, the height of the trees, the angle the string breaks over the nut, spring tension on tremolo, whether its fixed.... so on and so on.

Thanks all for taking the time to respond. I have tinkered with the placement of the string tree moving it closer and farther away from the third tuning post. I also used the spacer and removed the spacer (currently removed). The picture below shows the E string in black so you can see the angle better. The first circle is the string tree for the D and G string it has the spacer. The b and E string has no spacer. Any thoughts welcome! On a related matter the temolo is raised from the body by 1/8th inch.

Thanks for the replies. I am using a 25.5 inch scale with .10 guage strings

I built an electric guitar in the fender strat style with a standard strat trem. After I put it all together I noticed that the strings (especially the high E) were extreemly tight and that it was difficult to bend them. Has anyone had this problem and know how to fix? I've been looking for very specific setup standards covering everything from string angle into the string tree to amount of movement the tremolo should have to string height etc etc. Im more than happy to provide more information/pictures if that would be helpful Thanks!

I have an electric guitar that had some damage to the sides. I have filled and sanded the sides smooth but it doesnt look great so I want to finish the sides opage black and fade that into a clear top. Essentially this would be a basic sunburst What is the best product to use? Lacquer and then color the lacquer for the sides black? What would be the application order, the sides first or top/back first? Thanks all!!

I have a couple questions on finishing my guitar. I appreciate all help! 1.) I was thinking about using automotive paint because I like a certain color of green, are there any problems with this? 2.) I have the previous finish removed to the bare wood, do I need to do paint anything before the automotive primer? 3.) what grits should I use to sand the primer? 4.) what grits to sand the color coat? 5.) what grits to sand the top coat? I've done a lot of searching and have found only bits and pieces about the sanding process. Also, since I do not have a spray gun I assume I can use a fine roller brush and just sand the brush marks off, is this true?

Thank you very much to everyone for all the help. I now understand the fundamentals well enough to continue researching and learn about more complex wirings. Its easy to follow a diagram and solder the pieces but it was important for me to understand the whys. P.s. The rope example is a real winner!

Thank you for the fundamentals explanation, its becoming so much more clear! So now here are the questions I have left 1. If the two end options are essentially the ground or the amp, how does the current get back to the pickup, especially in the case of the ground? 2. Back to my post above (2nd picture) as to why the sweepers on the tone pot are wired differently. Thanks!

Ha. thats funny how some things can be pulled out of a paragraph and seem so odd. Thank you very much for the explanation, that helped a lot! One more question to wrap up the basics, why are there two grounds? One ground that goes to the claw by the springs and one that is soldered to one prong on the amp output jack. Taking this knowledge one step futher In the picture below we have two tone knobs, one for neck , one for middle. Why are the wiring schemes different for each tone knob. One hs the input on an outside prong and the cap on the sweeper, the other has the input on the sweeper. Why the inconsistency? Thank you very much

So we have some pipes. The "water" is coming from the pickup and a portion is going to the volume pipe. The volume pipe then diverts some to the amp and some to the ground The other portion of the water goes through the tone pipe where the cap removes certain frequencies. Does this then travel back up through the same tone pipe up to the volume pot? Fundamentally, this altered current has to go up the same pipe that initially delivered it and through the volume because if I turn my volume all the way down I don't hear anything Thanks to all who have taken the time to help me

So lets assume a current has frequencies 1,2,3,4 from the pickup some of the current goes through the volume pot and the resistence can "shrink" the 1,2,3,4 affecting the volume additionally, some current goes through the tone pot and the resistence and capacitor could hypothetically remove frequency 3&4. so now we have some level of current with frequencies 1,2,3,4 that go out to the jack via the output connecntion and we have current with frequencies 1,2 (3&4 were removed by tone pot) that goes where? If it is wired in parallel to the volume, it doesnt go back through the volume as you said. so how does this all flow together? The current modified for the tone has to go somewhere for it to have an audio impact... Im sorry but Im still having conceptual difficulty putting it together.

I'm trying to understand how the basic circuit works for guitar wiring and would appreciate if someone can fill in the blanks on my narrative This is from the stewmac site A pot is essentially a variable resistor. In that sense there are three poles. The middle pole is the sweep and dictates the level of resistence. In this picture the input comes in at zero resistence (max volume) the third pole is connected to the ground so would be zero volume. The output is sweeper and moving the knob will move the sweeper between full volume and zero volume. The current also is sent to the tone pot on the first pole. What I dont understand is how this current gets back to the volume and ultimately the output jack?? Also what is the explanation of the sweeper being connected to a capacitor (which I understand to affect different frequencies) if the capacitor seemingly goes to the ground. I'm assuming there is another wire that Im missing. Please walk me through in a narrative fashion. Thanks!