can't figure it out

[spiffa]

Hello all. My name's Steve. This is my first Warmoth build. It's an olympic white strat with a tortoise shell pg.

I'm having a hell of a time figuring out my wiring diagram. No diagram that I can find shows me exactly what I need to do, so I need your expertise. What I want to do is have a single volume and single tone controlling both pickups. The volume pot is push/push to split the humbucker in the bridge. The neck pickup is a stacked p90. Both pickups have black, green, red, white, and bare wire. It will all be connected to a 3-way switch.

Any help with figuring out how to diagram this would be truly appreciated.

 

[Unwound G]

Hi spiffa.  Welcome to the board.  You sure can get a lot of help here when it comes to building a Warmoth guitar.

The wiring you have in mind is quite simple but firstly you have to tell us what brand are your pickups for the wiring colour coding. Some brands have different colour codes for each coil in a double coil pickup. 

For example :

a) Fralin (Black Red & White Red)
b) Duncan (Green Red & Black White)
c) DiMarzio  (Green White & Red Black)
d) Gibson (Black Green & Red White)

If you are unsure of the brand, do a test with an amp by tapping any two wires on a guitar jack to find out which coil the wires belong to.

I will follow up in your later post. 

 

[spiffa]

Thanks for the reply. They're both Seymour Duncan.

 

[Unwound G]

There you go.  Sorry for the rough scribble as I try to do it as fast as I can with Photoshop.  Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.  Good luck.

 

[spiffa]

This is great. Thank you. The one thing I still don't understand is the grounding on the volume pot. As you can see from the picture, it's not a standard pot. I don't understand how to solder a grounding wire from the grounding "prong" on the pot to the actual pot itself, or how attach any other wires to the body for that matter. See picture:

 

[rockskate4x]

you don't have to fold that tab back. you can put a small amount of wire between that and the other part of the pot. For push pulls, u'll have to put that dab of solder on the side.

 

[spiffa]

you don't have to fold that tab back. you can put a small amount of wire between that and the other part of the pot. For push pulls, u'll have to put that dab of solder on the side.

Awesome. Thanks. Time to get started

 

[Unwound G]

Good to know you have the solder points sorted out.  Also note that the diagram I took and modified from Seymour Duncan uses the volume pot for the coil split.  You can actually use the push-pull pot for the tone control as in your picture,  All you have to do is to follow the same solder connections at the switch portion of the control pot and use the bottom level as the tone pot at the rotary section.

 

[spiffa]

Good to know you have the solder points sorted out.  Also note that the diagram I took and modified from Seymour Duncan uses the volume pot for the coil split.  You can actually use the push-pull pot for the tone control as in your picture,  All you have to do is to follow the same solder connections at the switch portion of the control pot and use the bottom level as the tone pot at the rotary section.

I'm actually using the push/push as the volume.

Also, the resistance when turning the volume pot, (e.g. adjusting volume), seems very low, lower than most pots I've ever used. It's almost too easy to turn. Is there a way to adjust this? And more importantly, is this a sign of a problem with the pot?

 

[BigBeard]

I'm actually using the push/push as the volume.

Also, the resistance when turning the volume pot, (e.g. adjusting volume), seems very low, lower than most pots I've ever used. It's almost too easy to turn. Is there a way to adjust this? And more importantly, is this a sign of a problem with the pot?

Hey buddy.  I know the feeling you are referring to on your pot.  I don't think anything is wrong with the pot per se, some pots are 'looser' than others.  I have found that those little pots you find in japanese knock off guitars are like this.  Those pots are available by themselves, really cheap.  But you get what you pay for.  I will only use CTS pots now, if at all possible.  I had this problem in my WGD with my push pull 25K volume pot I first put in the guitar.  I sourced it on Ebay, and it was junk.  I eventually needed to order from StewMac, and added one to my order and switched it out.  That fixed the problem.  There might be a way to adjust the tension inside a pot, but I'm not the guy to be able to tell you how, every time I have ever taken a pot apart, that was the end of it functioning.  Maybe someone has an idea of how to do this, but I sure don't.  I'm sure it is possible, anything manufactured can be taken apart and put back together.  I'm pretty good with that notion, I just don't know of an easy way to take one apart and put it back together so it functions properly.  I have tried and failed.  My advice to you is to buy another pot from a different supplier.  I'm sure the manufacturer of the pot you have on hand isn't the only gig in town. 

 

[spiffa]

Good advice. It's actually the push/push pot from warmoth. I may benefit from shelling out a couple extra bucks for a higher quality one though.

 

[BigBeard]

You know, I had Warmoth send me a broken concentric pot, they sent me another one right out.  Call them up and let them know you have a pot that isn't what you expected they should make it right for you.

Check out StewMac they might have what you want.

I would let Warmoth know you got a defective pot.  When I called them, they were really good about it, said these things happen from time to time and I really think they are good about little parts and replacing them.

I have bought multiple pots from the same source and had them all feel different.  And add a knob to the shaft and it will really feel like there is nothing there when you turn it up.  It makes them too sensitive to adjustment. 

hope that helps

 

[spiffa]

Well, all done for now. And no I won't show you my wiring job, because I think many of you would find it horrendous =) . Everything seems to work though. There's not too much buzz, much less than my single coil strat. Thanks so much Unwound for the diagram.

Now I just have to wait until I can afford a neck =/

One possible problem I've noticed is that the saddles seem too wide for the humbucker. I know it's hard to tell without it all strung up, but you can kind of see it in the picture. Could this be a problem?

 

[tfarny]

In practice, the strings don't actually need to perfectly line up over the pole pieces. If they did, then when you bent a note the volume would drop off instead of just sounding cooler. If you feel your outside strings are lacking in volume when you do get it all set up, go for an f-spaced (trembucker) bridge pickup or a narrower bridge.

 

[Dan025]

In practice, the strings don't actually need to perfectly line up over the pole pieces. If they did, then when you bent a note the volume would drop off instead of just sounding cooler. If you feel your outside strings are lacking in volume when you do get it all set up, go for an f-spaced (trembucker) bridge pickup or a narrower bridge.

or both. i dont think f-spaced or trembucker pickups are too wide for any fender style bridge, they're barely wide enough for a vintage, acceptable alignment yes but the strings are not centered over the poles.

i think only TOM's and other gibson style bridges are right for gibson spaced pup's.

 

[spiffa]

The problem is that I that I think the bridge is spaced perfectly for the p90 in the neck. I guess a new bridge pup may be in order. This means cutting the pickguard a little I think...

 

[tfarny]

Seriously, don't sweat the string / polepiece alignment. Its one of those things that doesn't really matter once you get down to it, unless you're talking about a radical off-alignment. If your neck is straight and aligned right, and you're using standard parts, you'll be just fine.

 

[BigBeard]

Seriously, don't sweat the string / polepiece alignment. Its one of those things that doesn't really matter once you get down to it, unless you're talking about a radical off-alignment. If your neck is straight and aligned right, and you're using standard parts, you'll be just fine.

Listen to this man, he gives good advice and knows his shit!! 

My two cents:  wait till you have a neck and the beast all strung up before you decide to replace or chop on anything.  String her up and play her.  When you don't notice anything wrong with the way it sounds, buy Mr. T(farney) a beer for telling you not to sweat your setup.

But if you do find that we  steered you wrong, feel free to insist on our heads on platters!!!!