Wiring ! when is an upgrade an upgrade?

RevDrucifer said:
Right on, all makes sense to me!

It’s amazing; I can solder jacks and make them look professionally done all day long. Put me in a control cavity with a solder iron and I’ll melt every damn wire in it. I don’t know if it’s my nerves due to screwing it all up so many times in the past or what, but I’m just terrible with it. Even when I put everything on a cardboard layout, outside of the guitar.

I’m hoping to start going to school for electrical engineering and once that starts I’m really going to hamper down on soldering skills. I HATE not being able to do something I want to do, especially when thousands of people on the planet can do it with ease. That’s half my motivation to get anything done in life. :tearsofjoy:
Click to expand...
You will nail it . Half the skill is some decent solder. Find some old loctite multicore lead and it solders it's self .
 
I’ve been using Dimarzio push pulls on my guitars. Seems I’m replacing them once a year to every other year. Do you know who manufactures those for Dimarzio? I’ll have to try the CTS. Also, I use the Dimarzio EP1111 3 way switch. Only had one go bad the last 10 years. It was actually the mechanical part that broke. It wouldn’t go to the bridge position. Only middle and neck. Don’t know what caused it.
 
darkknight91 said:
I’ve been using Dimarzio push pulls on my guitars. Seems I’m replacing them once a year to every other year. Do you know who manufactures those for Dimarzio? I’ll have to try the CTS. Also, I use the Dimarzio EP1111 3 way switch. Only had one go bad the last 10 years. It was actually the mechanical part that broke. It wouldn’t go to the bridge position. Only middle and neck. Don’t know what caused it.
Click to expand...
The push pull is a Bourns ( pretty bad in this case ) and the three way is an Oak Grigsby which is normally pretty good. But even the good stuff fails sometimes . The CTS push pull is the ONLY one I would even consider .
 
MisterE said:
And here I thought that Bourns was synonym for quality
Click to expand...
Not the whole range unfortunately. I would avoid mini pots in general but you can't always. Those push pulls were the best available until the CTS one came out. I know that's not saying much but it 'was' the only option other than Alpha or worse.
The full size CTS , Bournes and Alpha are all good but the others are pretty variable .
As a general rule I would go with CTS if they make what you want. The Bourns came in to fashion because of the low friction EVH pot ,lots of people love the feel but they don't last as well. Now CTS make a low friction pot for PRS, Suhr and Dimarzio so you have options.
 
On my two Warmoth's I wired up both with screened wire and one has an EVH Pot and the other the new CTS push pull pot no shielding as I dont want to be bothered with either copper or paint. Guess what not a single bit of noise.
 
RevDrucifer said:
Right on, all makes sense to me!

It’s amazing; I can solder jacks and make them look professionally done all day long. Put me in a control cavity with a solder iron and I’ll melt every damn wire in it. I don’t know if it’s my nerves due to screwing it all up so many times in the past or what, but I’m just terrible with it. Even when I put everything on a cardboard layout, outside of the guitar.

I’m hoping to start going to school for electrical engineering and once that starts I’m really going to hamper down on soldering skills. I HATE not being able to do something I want to do, especially when thousands of people on the planet can do it with ease. That’s half my motivation to get anything done in life. :tearsofjoy:
Click to expand...

Same.

I also moved on to making a template out of cardboard that matches the control cavity, and then
I assemble/solder everything outside the guitar, and then install it when I am done. So far (knock on
wood) no Oooopppsssies. :)
 
Andy Eagle said:
You will nail it . Half the skill is some decent solder. Find some old loctite multicore lead and it solders it's self .
Click to expand...

This ↑. The solder makes a huge difference. Lead free is all the rage these days, but lead based stuff flows much better for me. Having clean parts and surfaces is also paramount so wipe things down well with alcohol. Pre-tin your wire ends and lugs with a bit of solder before assembly. Flux helps too.
 
Andy Eagle said:
Another hated mod made by Gibson is the PCB loom.
View attachment 111323
I don't know why people didn't like these. They are fitted out with the highest quality components and work perfectly with no downsides at all.
Yes not traditional but in no way a downgrade and if anything the opposite.
Click to expand...

My 2018 SG Special had that sort of setup, but the output jack was also on the board. That is why I nuked it in favor of good CTS pots (and new pickups). The pots and sound quality were tops, but the jack being on the board, and the guitar hanging around GC for most of 2018 were a bad combination. Had they just left the jack off the board like the switch was, I'd still be using that board, and would have spliced the solderless connectors from the pickups onto their replacements....

Sixstring said:
Getting ready to install a treble bleed on my Gretsch (didn't realize it didn't have one until I started riding the volume). Seeing how you are talking electronics here maybe this is relevant to installation in general. Considering I have a master volume on this guitar does one put it their or on both the master and the individual pots? I ma also aware of the three different ways to wire them up Duncan, Kinnaman and simple. I have read that the Kinnaman sounds the best with respect to how the treble bleed reacts to volume changes.

I was trying to see if I could source the parts from Gretsch as to keep it looking like it came that way to no avail. Apparently they are not selling the parts (squeeze box cap) to the public.
Click to expand...

I used the PRS 180pF value for the treble bleeds on all 3 volumes on my Pro Jet, since they are all 500k. I also swapped in reverse-taper pots for the individual pickup volume controls to get better blending capabilities....
 
Joe Bfstplk said:
I used the PRS 180pF value for the treble bleeds on all 3 volumes on my Pro Jet, since they are all 500k. I also swapped in reverse-taper pots for the individual pickup volume controls to get better blending capabilities....
Click to expand...

I’ve been thinking about that Gretsch wiring with the master volume. If it’s all 500k pots, then with both full up your pickup has a 250k load on it. Less with both pickups on. Does anyone do this with 1M pots? Sounds like this setup will bleed off some highs. Am I wrong?
 
Last edited:
@Andy Eagle I have thoroughly enjoyed your class on electronic parts and wiring here!!
I appreciate so much you sharing your experience with us. It will help us make better informed choices.

Some tips I can give, after making over 1000 solder connections...
The tip of a soldering iron has a life expectancy. When in doubt change or replace it.
Never sand the tip of a soldering iron.
Tin the tip before you put the iron away.
 
Those S1 switches are real neat, I forgot about them. CTS pot and 4pdt push/push switch. I had one on my 2006 American deluxe strat, very nice. I ended up just pulling the whole pickguard though since I didn’t need all the wacky switching options that guitar had and also was not a big fan of the SCN pickups. Now the guitar has SSL1’s.
 
I put a super 4p5t and the S1 into my Sterling Cutlass, along with the Wilde/Lawrence L45S pickups displaced from my main Strat recently. It swaps the middle pickup for neck+bridge in position 3 on the switch. This guitar does the "bright vintage hotrod Strat" thing very well.

20221108_211832_0.jpg
 
skolacki said:
I’ve been thinking about that Gretsch wiring with the master volume. If it’s all 500k pots, then with both full up your pickup has a 250k load on it. Less with both pickups on. Does anyone do this with 1M pots? Sounds like this setup will bleed off some highs. Am I wrong?
Click to expand...
Yes I think your right but I don't get many Gretsch players wanting the wiring change from stock so I've never tried alternative.
 
scottp said:
@Andy Eagle I have thoroughly enjoyed your class on electronic parts and wiring here!!
I appreciate so much you sharing your experience with us. It will help us make better informed choices.

Some tips I can give, after making over 1000 solder connections...
The tip of a soldering iron has a life expectancy. When in doubt change or replace it.
Never sand the tip of a soldering iron.
Tin the tip before you put the iron away.
Click to expand...
This is all good, we should look at soldering technique. A few simple things make everything neat and easy.
Starting with good tools and fluxed multi core solder.
 
This is my Charvel picked up last year, ripped all of the stock electronics out, lost the tone knob for a kill switch dropped in a EVH Vol Pot and a new 3 way selector as i felt the original was a bit tall. Its all nitpicky and it would have sufficed just fine stock but its better when its comfortable i think

IMG-1891.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom