Tips for neat strat wiring

[ezas]

I'm redoing the wiring on the 1st parts guitar I put together this summer. I've been reading about using the lugs on the pots to avoid soldering to the back of the pot, etc. I also came across a picture of a 5 way switch with the hot leads of from the pickups going through the grommets of the 5 way switch to attach to the lugs on the other side of the switch. This avoids having to wrap around or over the switch.

So Im interested in what others do to get neat/clean wiring. Showing off pictures of your work is a plus, since a picture is worth a thousand words.

 

[Updown]

Heaps of pic's of my wiring in a rear rout strat with a GK-3 thou.
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=17451.msg259954#msg259954
I use those ground lugs now, as it just makes things neater. Just me thou !!

Plus this one (3rd pic) http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=17679.0

 

[pabloman]

I don't have any pics but on the occasion I've used solid wire for some super sexy results.  :guitaristgif:

 

[Cagey]

I don't have a Strat open at the moment, nor any good shots of one that's done (that I can find), but here are some of the techniques I use.  These pics will all enlarge if you click on them...

	Avoiding the use of unnecessarily large capacitors is always a good start. Contrary to popular belief, there's no sonic advantage to them. This shows the volume pot with a treble bleed (.001µf) on the left, and the tone control (.022µf) on the right. You can also see where I've used ground lugs, rather than trying to solder to pots that aren't interested in being soldered to.
	Here, we're wiring up an Electrosocket output jack, but the same technique is used on any jack. First, you run a couple pieces of heat-shrinkable tubing back up the wire out of harm's way. Then, you strip back a bit of the shield, then a bit of the internal hot wire, and solder it to the hot tab of the jack.
	Slide down the second piece of shrink tube and insulate the solder tab as well as cover up the hairs on the shield, and shrink it into place.
	Attach a bit of bus wire to the ground tab. Note that a good solder joint starts with a good mechanical joint.
	Solder the bus wire to the jack's sleeve (ground) tab, as well as the cable's shielding.
	Slide the remaining piece of shrink tube over that, and shrink it into place. Voilà! An output jack you don't have to worry about and won't pick up noise.
	This is an old Strat pickguard I mounted to a body and used a pattern-follower routing bit to cut the thing to match the cavities and pathways in a standard Strat.
	Once that's done, you can just lay it over a pickguard you're wiring and it's easy to see where you have clearance to run wires, mount pots and switches, etc.
	This is just a three-way toggle switch like you'd find in a Les Paul or many other 2-pickup guitars. The wires are soldered to it much the same way as described for the output jack.
	Once everything's in place, you bend the wires back and run some bus wire around the ground/sheild lug of the switch, then wrap the bus wire aroiund the shields of the cables and solder it all in place. Kills a lotta birds at once, and adds some mechanical integrity to the whole thing.

 

[ezas]

Heaps of pic's of my wiring in a rear rout strat with a GK-3 thou.
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=17451.msg259954#msg259954
I use those ground lugs now, as it just makes things neater. Just me thou !!

Plus this one (3rd pic) http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=17679.0

Screw the wiring, Wild Zerbra is freaking Guitar PORN!

But thanks for the pics. I like the way you soldered your grounds low on the side of the pot instead of the back. Those are the little wiring tips I was looking for. I have already picked up some lugs to use on my pots.

 

[ezas]

Cagey, thanks for the pics. I like the way you tied in the lug on the pot (on the post) with the ground lug from the pot.

 

[bagman67]

Hey, Cagey - have you done that treble bleed mod to your own axe?  I love it on Quty Pie.

 

[Tonar8352]

Here are some pictures. for you.

 

[ezas]

Tonar,

I'm assuming you use a ground to the trem or bridge. Where do you like to attach that?

Nice looking solder joints on the backs of the pots.

I'm not brave enough to cut my pickup leads short, yet. I'm trying new pickups and once I know I like them I'll cut my leads short.

 

[ORCRiST]

This is from my build thread covering electronics installation. I did use solder lugs for the pots.

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=12723.75

Teaser:

:rock-on:

 

[Updown]

Screw the wiring, Wild Zerbra is freaking Guitar PORN!

Thanks  :icon_biggrin: 

 

[Cagey]

Hey, Cagey - have you done that treble bleed mod to your own axe?  I love it on Quty Pie.

Yeah, the last few. It works so well and costs so little and is so easy to do, I can't believe the OEMs don't do it as a matter of course.

 

[ezas]

ok I finished my wiring redo from my original (and 1st build). I didn't use lugs but I used the idea to minimize soldering to the back of  pots. Besides a much neater job, I also replaced the parallel treble bleed with a series connection treble bleed. I replaced the .022 tone cap with a 0.10. I didn't take a picture of this but I also drilled a small hole in my trem claw and wired the ground wire from behind.

I did the rewire for a couple of reasons. I got a different set of pickups. I went from the Vintage Wound GFS 63 Pro to the Texas Wound with normal wound middle coil. I also changed the volume pot to a RS Works 280K pot and replaced the CTS no-load tone pot with a fender No-load tone pot (I wanted the detent position). I also wanted to try a series connected treble bleed over a parallel connected bleed kit.

Here are a few pics. The two main things I did was run all the wires through one side of the CLR switch. Though it's fiddly to get the wire through and up through the lug, I'm really happy with how it came out especially with the push back wire. I know my solder skills still need work, but these are a big improvement over my first effort. I also chose to run my PU ground wires to the Tone pot. It seemed easier to get a neat job without trying to connect all the grounds to the volume pot. I also chose to solder all the PU grounds to one ring connector and solder that to the back of the pot.

All in all I'm happy with the results. I find my tone pot useful now with the .010 cap and I like the series connected treble bleed a little better than the Parallel connected one. The values are .0012uF and 130K. (the 'Kinman' values).

Thanks to you who posted pics. I got some good ideas from them.

 

[TroubledTreble]

Nothing beats practice and practice soldering especially. Get in, get out, try not to re solder, keep a clean tip and have the correct temp setting. Plan ahead,  do a dry layout if necessary. Keep the clutter down and try to keep some rules of thumb on hand.

http://roadhousepickups.com/Back_Guard.jpg

 

[Jet-Jaguar]

Those of you who are using solder lugs: are they normally a part of the pot you get? Or do buy them separately?

Also, how exactly do you attach to ground? What I mean is, do you attach all "to ground" points in a wiring diagram to a screw, and then go from the jack? What's the best methodology there.

Part of the reason my wiring is messy is I don't trim my wires from the pickups.  I'm afraid I'll run out (plus I'd like to be able to sell them later, if need be.)

 

[Cagey]

Ground lugs are sold separately - they're not something most pot installations need.

As for how to hook into ground/common, it's available at the output jack. You can pick targets of opportunity from there. Don't worry about ground loops - that's a silly myth that's been circulating in the guitar world for some time now. Not that there's no such thing as a ground loop - they certainly exist - just not in guitars.

If you need a couple lugs, send me a PM with your address. I've got a bunch of them. They're cheap. If you try to buy them online yourself you'll pay a lot more for shipping than the little buggers cost. Or, if you prefer, you can get them here. $2.50 will get you 8 of them.