GregP

Just a quick bumpity-do-- I haven't had a chance to solder a different pot yet, but I'm at a loss to explain how the knob could be acting in reverse. Is it possible that I have the other lead (the one going to the volume knob) in the wrong lug? Is that what would cause such behaviour? Any ideas about the other tone-knob related stuff I mentioned? I'm not at home right now in order to look at the guitar, but I was hoping to fix it up as soon as I arrive. I hope someone out there is as addicted to forums as I am and will have a suggestion by the time I get home (around 5:00 EST). Greg

No, the instructions seem pretty explicit. You can check it out at guitarnuts.com. It's the 'main' "Quieting the Beast" tutorial / instructions. The thinking seems to be that the braided wire is really just an extension of the 'copper foil' / chassis ground, the same way that the pot shells are. Well heck, here's the text: This pickup has 2 wires plus the braid. In your diagram, the negative lead goes to the switch, rather than the signal return ring, but otherwise I'm trying to follow John's instructions. Greg

Yeah, the microphonics are pretty much gone now. It's the wacky tone pot. Regarding the braid-- they say specifically in the instructions that it has to go to chassis, not star. Not sure why, but there you have it. It was actually easier to go to chassis anyhow. Gotta replace that tone cap, though, I think. Sounds like one of the easiest things ever, but with all the wires I now have going on, it's going to be a hassle. Greg

I lied, it's not microphonic after all! Either that, or grounding the braid made more of a difference than I thought it would. <laff> New problem, though: I almost never use the tone control in the 'muddiest' region, so I figured I'd try the 'shift your tone range' mod by placing a .012 uf cap in place of the 0.22. When I tried it out, I noticed something weird: 1. My tone got muddier the more I turned it "up"! Right now it's wired with the capacitor on the middle (wiper, no?) lug and then to the star ground. Isn't that the way to do it? Why's it reversed? 2. My entire tone is wacky now! Should it make a difference when the pot is fully 'on'? Ie. not attentuating any frequencies at all? 3. I could be imagining things, but there doesn't seem to be much of a taper to the tone. at "10" and "9" it's kind of muddy, at "8" it clears up, and then anything below "8" seems pretty similar to 8. Should I just switch the 0.22 cap back in? My stupid control cavity's tough to do these sort of mods in. <grumbles> Still--- the good news is: Your wiring seems to be right! You didn't give me the run-down, but based on the tones I'm hearing (keeping in mind I only have one string on right now!!), we have: 1. neck 2. neck and 1 bridge coil, series 3. neck and 1 bridge coil, parallel (I might have got it backwards, but this seems quieter and bucks more hum) 4. single bridge coil 5. bridge humbucker The neck pickup is still pretty noisy, even after "quieting the beast", but the bridge pickup (even in single-coil mode) is HUGELY more silent. Also working is the treble bleed on the volume knob. I used a 330pF cap instead of a 0.001uf, but it's working! I like this mod... gotta throw it on all my guitars! Once I get the tone knob sorted, we can call this exercise successful! First time ever wiring a 'superswitch', and though I needed the diagram itself, I have to say that I'm well-impressed with myself for the patience I had and for the improvements I've made with soldering! It was also great to know (once I put a string on there) that I don't have to pull it all apart now to trouble-shoot. Except for the tone knob, it seems to be working fine! Get that niggle sorted and we can call this one "done"! Pics to come, though I'm not sure how helpful they'll be to anyone. Greg

Yeah, Well, I wired it all up, it's almost done.. and... It's hella microphonic. Incidentally, I didn't expect you'd post back so soon, so I already reached the right conclusion about the wires. BUT since I hadn't checked into this thread, I hadn't bothered with that braid yet. Is it hugely important? My cavity is so small I hate poking around in it, but if it's important I'll do just that. I just assumed that since it's not carrying a signal, it was acting as a "closer to the wire" shielding, which would more or less take the chassis ground and 'extend' it along the length of the wire. Then again... I think I'll just do it and have done with it. Any ideas about the microphonics? I could be wrong, since it's been so long, but I don't remember that 'tapping' on the pickup with my fingernail should make a noticeable noise. I wrapped around the humbucker's tape with copper foil (which is grounded)... this then contacts the bridge plate (not by choice, but just 'cause it's a snug fit). Does that have anything to do with it, or is it an unrelated issue? Greg

LK, In your diagram, I'm not sure about the single-coil pickup. My neck pickup has a red and white conductor, plus a braided shield. Since I don't feel like it, I probably won't ground the shield to the cavity; however, that still leaves the red and white wires. Instinctively, I want to put the white where you have your white, and the red where you have your black. I was going to try to figure it out on my own, but my head's getting fuzzy and I don't quite get it. Each manufacturer does it differently and some are opposite. For example, Fender (upon whom you probably based the diagram since my guitar is tele-like!) has black as ground and white as (+)ve. In the original wiring with the normal switch, the red was (+) I guess, since the white and braid were soldered together and then grounded. On your diagram, is the black (+)ve or ground? Ie. with my pickup that has white as ground and red as (+)ve, how does that correspond to your diagram? Thanks! Greg PS, I'm almost done. My soldering technique has increased 100-fold just from this one simple project! I'd be done if I was more certain about the diagram.

I think it looks hella fun.

So you're saying that you're actually gonna do it Greg, to your guitar, and report back here with the results? You're going to show me that your OPINIONS were actually worth something solid and valid in the end? ← ME? Hell no. I think it's mostly a load of hooey. That's good enough for me. The facts with which my opinion is informed are also good enough for me. There are some things in life in which the data and the opinions meet in a way that leaves little to be questioned. In this case, I share the earlier stated opinion-- just do whichever one looks better for the project in question. That's a much better reason to choose between the two alternatives. I definitely think there's something to be said for reading people's opinions, though. If I went through this entire life only caring about my own opinion and/or only thinking something's important if I've done it in a hands-on way myself, I think I'd be missing out on a lot. As you say, the conversation can be fun anyhow. But if all you hear is "woof woof", there's not much room for conversation. Greg

On the other hand, I've also always found "real" Hot Rails to be sterile-sounding. I like my SD Little '59, though. Greg

Glad to see that nobody's opinion matters to you, Drak.

cool beans.

Since a string 'moving' over a pickup is the equation for producing a sound, in THEORY, the pickup moving rapidly over the string (while the string is stationary) should produce an identical effect. Therefore I'm willing to believe that in theory, direct mounting can effect the tone, I have never ever for a moment believed that anybody can actually notice the difference. I maintaint that those who claim to hear a difference are operating under a 'placebo' effect. After all, the typical way of mounting (screws and springs) still couples the pickup somewhat to the body. It's not like it's floating around in a vacuum, it's still pretty solidly connected to the guitar. So the difference in vibration of the pickup has to be infantessimal. It wouldn't even be enough to produce a tone, I wouldn't think, though that would be hard to test because you'd be hard-pressed to isolate 6 strings from vibration and ONLY vibrate the pickup the same amount it would vibrate when the body is resonating. I mean, come on now. VooDoo! Greg

Cool beans! If you know of any in Canuckia, let me know. Otherwise, I may still look you up. Greg

Yeah, I've considered it. They're not instantly available around here, or at least not that I'm aware of. I tend to avoid mail-order from the States as much as possible. HOWEVER.... I just discovered (or re-discovered as the case may be... I once tested all the outlets but I thought this one was OK) that the outlet my gear is plugged into has NO GROUND!! So I'm going to run an extension cable from one of the properly-wired outlets. Hopefully that will help. Also, I'm in the middle of shielding and rewiring my guitar, though I'm hopelessly inept with all this wiring stuff so I'm going to have to bug Lovekraft (or whoever else) some more when I have the time to draw a diagram and take some shots... Greg

*shameful bump*

Yes, that finally makes sense now that I'm thinking about it. The whole POINT is to have the resistor in-line so that if hot and ground are reversed (at the outlet or at your amp), there's a buffer between you and some lethal voltage. It really only works if it IS the only path to ground, I would think. Cheers! I know it's not much of an undertaking, but I'll take pics and post a mini-grounding tutorial here and also send it along to John. Greg

I'm not sure if you can do out-of phase with a 5-way, but that opens up a few options. Without out-of phase, I can only think of 4 possibilities: 1. bridge 2. neck 3. both, in parallel 4. both, in series With out-of phase (if it's possible), that gives: 5. both, parallel, out of phase Sorry I'm not enough of a wiz to know about such things. I'm about to rewire my tele-style guitar and I had to get Lovekraft to hold my hand. The only thing I do know is that such trickery is usually only possible with a 'superswitch'. If it's a regular 5-way, you're probably looking at the option below. If you only have 2 single-coils, I'd be tempted to get a new switch, instead. Even without a new switch, though, it's still possible to use the 5-way without actual 'dead' spots, though hard-wiring a 'kill' spot isn't such a horrible idea for certain sound effects. Anyhow, you could theoretically still go: 1: bridge 2: bridge 3: both 4: neck 5: neck Greg

I finally have everything I need to start re-wiring my guitar (new iron, new solder, new wire, capacitors, heat-shrink tubing, etc....) One final question: It looks like the only ground connection between the cavity shield and the jack is the one that goes through the 400V, .33uf capacitor. Can this be correct? I haven't a clue what a capacitor does. I just put them where they go. I just want to know that I'm still getting ground if the only 'path' to ground goes through the capacitor. Greg

Hey all, As some of you know, I'm trying to restore some sort of quiet to my recording environment, since moving into an electromagnetically-busy little space. If I put my mixer into a shielded box, and then somehow (not sure how this is done) ground the shield to something, would it help isolate the mixer's preamps from any interference they might be picking up? Greg

Nah, I don't get it. Your tab isn't aligned properly in the TrueType font that the forum uses. If you type {code} before the 'tab' and then {/code} after, replacing the curly brackets with square ones, you'll be able to format in monotype. Greg

Rubber tubes should work fine. I like springs, but the tubes work. I don't understand how they could have given you adjustment screws that were the wrong size. Weird. Where did you source these? You shouldn't be forced to buy/source narrower screws. The base should be made of plastic, no? If it's soft enough, the screws will simply make new grooves into them. As long as the hole is the same diameter as the actual shaft of the screw (ie. not including the threads), you should still be safe. That's the part that gets tricky to pass through. The threads will always be a touch larger than the holes. I dunno. If it were me, I'd be tempted just to drill the holes a bit larger if they truly need it, but that's an expensive set of pickups to screw up if you blow the mission. I'm not giving it as advice, just saying that's what I'd do because I'm a bit of a caveman when it comes to such things. The simplest solution for 'too-small holes' seems to be 'make em bigger!' I'd check again very carefully to see that it's not just a 'snug but still acceptable' size. Greg

Not in bed just yet. <laff> But this is my last post, then it's OFF TO BED! In theory, yes. The copper foil insulating the cavity extends out from the cavities themselves, at which point in time they should contact the pickguard. The bridge and neck cavities are connected with a piece of copper foil, too, running under the pickguard. I can take pix tomorrow. The Pacifica isn't exactly like a Strat or a Tele, though-- the pots aren't connected to the pickguard at all, though the switch is. The original (non-shielded, so I don't know why they bother) wiring has a ground wire connecting the switch to the neck pickup via a small terminal ring that goes around one of the switch's screws. Not sure what to make of that. Greg

Hrm, I phrased what I said with too much certainty and authority. What I MEANT to say was: The way he shows it all wired up, he uses a separate wire from the chassis (actually, a pot) to the star. But if it's better to NOT do it that way, I can just screw down the ring terminal and solder it to the cavity. Is it because he's using that .33, 400V cap between a pot and the star? I don't have the concentration to wade through all the diagrams, but in that small version, it doesn't show all but the capacitor that's soldered to the star is then put onto a ring terminal which connects to a pot and hence the shielded chassis. It seems to me there was another one, too, but I really gotta sleep. <bleary eyes> Greg

I'm actually rather sick of figured wood, but I voted for Mattia anyhow. His choice of wood certainly wasn't the deciding factor, and nor were the inlays. Greg

Yes, people use routers to help carve tops, but they don't just use a router bit and give'er. What they do is make more or less a "topographical map" and rout "steps" into the guitar's top. Then they use scrapers, orbital sanders, rasps, or whatever else suits the task to smooth out the 'steps'. Greg