Help a noobie

[drewski]

:help:

Hi all new to the forum as I will be attempting my first Strat build shortly (body and associated hardware should be here Tuesday ordering pickups on Black Friday I hope and the neck after that)

I bought normal strat wiring kit from stewmac im comfortable with the layout and the general concepts of what im going to be doing to wire this thing up but....

im still a little lost onl how things are grounded.....mostly because there seems to be a lot of conflicting info on the net regarding this.

Do I need to ground the backs of all the pots together? I am using this diagram as my guide as my first crack at this is going to be some Duncan Vintage rails.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=duckbuckers_vintager

The diagram above seems like they have the back of all 3 pots interconnected. Then I see diagrams that don't have it. Im also not 100% sure where I connect the ground wire from the trem claw. I'm running under the assumption that I connect the trem claw to the back of the volume pot also but if that's not correct im open to advice.  :toothy10: Havent had the chance to crack open one of my stock strats to see how things are so I figured I would ask.

 

[stratamania]

Welcome to the forum.

The pots do need to all have a ground connection, some may rely on grounding under the pots where there is a conductive surface. So even if they appear to not be grounded together they in all probability are.

The wire from the claw could go to the volume pot or wherever is convenient.

But check out these videos too.  http://youtu.be/mqLfllURlo8

 

[line6man]

It really doesn't matter what you do, as long as every part of the guitar that should be grounded is interconnected in some way.
However, there are practical concerns for some things. Some people choose to ground pots via shielding. (Or control plates.) While this works in the short run, mechanical connections may erode over time, and there is always the worry of a pot coming loose and breaking its connection with the shielding. That's why dedicated soldered connections are desirable.

As a side note, I would advise against bending the pot terminals back and soldering them to the chassis, the way the diagrams show. If you ever need to dissasemble your pots, it's rather difficult to desolder those connections. Instead, use a short piece of wire.

 

[drewski]

Thanks for the tips guys. The pickguard I had laying around does have shielding in the control area but sounds like it would be better to just ground everything with wiring. I appreciate the point about bending the pot terminals back I was concerned about that.

Ive watched the strat build series on youtube but will definitely go over all of that again when it comes time to build. I guess that series is a few years old now so I must search for other alternatives when I have questions  ccasion14:

 

[stratamania]

Just ask or search on here. I am getting close to the end of my first build although I have been changing things here and there on guitars for some time.

Here's my build thread which you might like. http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=22445.0 it's more of a diary and observations but it may help.

I had planned on finishing it today but it's going to be another couple of days.

Look forward to seeing your guitar also.  :icon_smile:

 

[mds35]

Also a newb...I have a guitar I am working on and I cannot find the wiring diagram for what I want. I have a full size humbucker on the bridge position and a mini humbucker on the neck position with only 1 volume (push/pull) and a three way switch. How do I get the full size to see a 500 k volume and the mini to see a 250 k?

 

[stratamania]

Also a newb...I have a guitar I am working on and I cannot find the wiring diagram for what I want. I have a full size humbucker on the bridge position and a mini humbucker on the neck position with only 1 volume (push/pull) and a three way switch. How do I get the full size to see a 500 k volume and the mini to see a 250 k?

I have not tried this personally but if you use a 250 k pot and also a 250k resistor inline with the full size one only that should do it. That way the full size sees 500 and the other 250. Or you could try both values 250 or 500 first as you may find one value that works tone wise for you.


Edit: Inline striked out as it read as in series,  which electronically would be resulting in the volume drops etc described by Cagey below. Also as mentioned by Jumble Jumble, it would be parallel for such a circuit as I was getting at.  Apologies for any confusion as it was not intended.

 

[Cagey]

Also a newb...I have a guitar I am working on and I cannot find the wiring diagram for what I want. I have a full size humbucker on the bridge position and a mini humbucker on the neck position with only 1 volume (push/pull) and a three way switch. How do I get the full size to see a 500 k volume and the mini to see a 250 k?

Those are both humbucker pickups, so a 500K will work well with both. Actually, I use 500K pots for everything. Less load on the pickups, so they sound better.

As for how to wire it, you could just use this Tele diagram. Pretend the single coil they're showing is a humbucker, and don't wire in the tone control.

 

[Cagey]

I have not tried this personally but if you use a 250 k pot and also a 250k resistor inline with the full size one only that should do it. That way the full size sees 500 and the other 250. Or you could try both values 250 or 500 first as you may find one value that works tone wise for you.

Putting a 250K resistor in series between a 250K pot and the pickup to make it think it's seeing a 500K pot will keep you from ever getting to full volume. You'll only get to roughly half.

The better way to go is to just use 500K pots on everything. If you don't like the slightly more articulate sound you get, back off the guitar's tone pot a notch, or go play with the EQ on the amp.

You can always get rid of frequencies you don't want, but you can't amplify what isn't there in the first place.

 

[drewski]

Just ask or search on here. I am getting close to the end of my first build although I have been changing things here and there on guitars for some time.

Here's my build thread which you might like. http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=22445.0 it's more of a diary and observations but it may help.

I had planned on finishing it today but it's going to be another couple of days.

Look forward to seeing your guitar also.  :icon_smile:

That quilt purple looks great! I will definitely get some pics up as mine goes along as well.....

 

[line6man]

Also a newb...I have a guitar I am working on and I cannot find the wiring diagram for what I want. I have a full size humbucker on the bridge position and a mini humbucker on the neck position with only 1 volume (push/pull) and a three way switch. How do I get the full size to see a 500 k volume and the mini to see a 250 k?

Why bother? It doesn't make a big enough difference to be worth the effort.

In any case, use a single pole of switching to place a 470k or 510k resistor across the outer terminals of the pot. This will reduce the resistance to ~250k. Be advised, however, that the taper of the sweep will change.

 

[stratamania]

That quilt purple looks great! I will definitely get some pics up as mine goes along as well.....

Thanks  :icon_smile:

 

[Updown]

im still a little lost onl how things are grounded.....
Do I need to ground the backs of all the pots together?

To save you cooking the pots. ie: to much soldering / heat to the pots.
These are handy 'grounding lugs'
http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/electrical_shield.htm
(2nd row, far right)

I use these all the time and I know others do too.  :icon_thumright:

 

[Jumble Jumble]

I actually think 250K pots sound quite nice with single-sized humbuckers. It's not so much the fact that they're humbucking that reduces the treble, it's more the increased length of string being read by a full size. So actually with the single-sized, 250K still kind of makes sense. 500K does work fine too, though.

On this guitar though, I wouldn't bother, as the only place you'd be using a 250K is in the neck-only position, and that position has the treble tamed by nature already. So, just stick with a 500K pot to keep your wiring simple and it'll never be too harsh.

Cagey, if more treble is always better, how come you don't use 1 meg pots?  Even less load!

 

[Cagey]

Cagey, if more treble is always better, how come you don't use 1 meg pots?  Even less load!

I've tried it, didn't like the results. You don't get any more out of the pickup, and you lose the even response of the control. Starts to behave like a linear vs. log taper, where all the control happens at one end.

 

[stratamania]

I have not tried this personally but if you use a 250 k pot and also a 250k resistor inline with the full size one only that should do it. That way the full size sees 500 and the other 250. Or you could try both values 250 or 500 first as you may find one value that works tone wise for you.

Putting a 250K resistor in series between a 250K pot and the pickup to make it think it's seeing a 500K pot will keep you from ever getting to full volume. You'll only get to roughly half.

The better way to go is to just use 500K pots on everything. If you don't like the slightly more articulate sound you get, back off the guitar's tone pot a notch, or go play with the EQ on the amp.

You can always get rid of frequencies you don't want, but you can't amplify what isn't there in the first place.

Hi Cagey, I don't think I explained myself too well via my iPad. Personally I don't think its worth the bother of different value pots.  I was attempting to say that there are circuits used by folks such as Suhr and Anderson, where resistors are used within the circuit that the OP may want to research. But before that just try to use a 500K or a 250K for both as depending on the user one or the other may suit them.

With 500K as you say you can always roll back the treble. But then again there are guitars that use 250K for Humbuckers and Single coils so it probably depends on the character of the tone the player is going for.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

The circuits you're thinking of use a 500K resistor selectively wired in parallel with the 500K pot to create a 250K load in certain switch positions. They don't connect a 250K resistor in series with a 250K pot as you've described because, as Cagey said, that will have the effect of severely limiting the volume.

 

[stratamania]

The circuits you're thinking of use a 500K resistor selectively wired in parallel with the 500K pot to create a 250K load in certain switch positions. They don't connect a 250K resistor in series with a 250K pot as you've described because, as Cagey said, that will have the effect of severely limiting the volume.

Yes, my mistake was a bit out of it with the flu yesterday. I will correct it above to avoid confusion.  :icon_thumright: