Jon K

So wait, I need to remove this carbon paint from everything? Sorry for being naive - I just want to know what exactly to remove it from before I go pyscho.

EDIT:

Fixed! Thanks guys for your help!

It seems to have been that damned paint.

Ok so now, can anyone recommend a site or guide that will walk me through setting the guitar up properly? The action is alittle off and doesn't feel perfectly right.

Thanks again

the pots are tightened down to the metal plate, then pushed through.

they prolly weren't aligned right, and then just jammed into the holes.

before you take the assembly out, you'll hafta unsolder all the wires from the pickups, switch, and string ground.

do you really need to take the pots out, or can you just clean up the mess with everything in place?

I am not sure I can clean it up because the pots are so close to the wood body cavity. Is this paint really doing anything bad?

Hey guys - Ive got the back cavity cover off, the nuts and knobs are off the front, but I can't get the whole 4 pots to come out the back - is there a trick?

Just realized - there is a small black wire going to what looks like the bridge thru a small hole... hrm.

Thanks for the input guys - does it appear as though the knobs are wired correctly? I am used to circuit boards and my soldering looks much cleaner than this... not sure if this is a factory job or not. Ok so - I am half considering redoing the wiring but I don't want to ruin the guitar - it does sound good right now, but the buzz isn't right (from other guitars i've played at least...) and the knob thing is killing me.

Hey guys, first I'd like to introduce myself - my name is Jon K and although I am new here, I am an experienced soldered. I have just started picking up my guitar again and am glad I haven't lost any talent! Anyway, I noticed that I've got a ground buzz of sorts. If I do not make contact with any metal on the guitar with my hand, it buzzes audibly thru the amplifier (solid state Fender amp, but does it on every amp i've tried). If I touch the metal on the guitar, the buzz goes away. This is really frustrating and I'd like some help.

The guitar is a Gibson Smartwood Exotic I purchased used years back and it looks like someone tried shielding the cavity with paint and I have no idea what other work they attempted.

Problems:

1) Buzz noise when not touching metal - goes away (mostly?) when I touch strings/bridge/etc.

2) Neck pickup tone knob goes to "no tone" (dull, not bright) when turned fully clockwise, if I turn tone knob 3/4, that is the "brightest" tone, then even a slight turn from there it drops to lowest brightness right away, no gradual fade. So, it does seem to go "full bright" but it happens at 3/4 position, at anything about 3/4, it is full tone off.

Thanks in advance guys.

I build engine control modules for cars, so soldering is not my fear - it's that I do not know much about inductance and such.