Need Picture of Wires

Editor

Editor

New member
Wasn't sure if I had the right department but when I saw the 'Cheap Guitars are Better' thread, I knew dis must be da place :)

I'm in the process of rewiring/scraping the rust off of an old Strat wannabe. Its no beauty but neither am I. I tried the 'Quieting the Beast' procedure from Guitarnuts.com. It didn't work but I mean no disrespect to the Guitarnuts -- I used tinfoil instead of the recommended conductive paint & probably spilled a rum or 2 in the innards while working on it.

Could someone point me towards a site with a picture (preferably) of what the wiring should look like for:

a) single coil neck
b) splitable DiMarzzio Humbucker middle
c) splitable DiMarzzio Humbucker bridge (I would like to split both)

I have a rough idea of what to do & can read a schematic if I have to but a pic or wiring diagram works better with my brain (funny, I have the same trouble with reading music ... too many dots I think)

Tanks, tanks a lot.

So anyway, Donald Rumsfeld (stop me if you've already heard this one) enters the Oval Office for his morning report ...

"Mr. President, yesterday three Brazilian soldiers were wounded in Iraq."

G.W. went pale & rested his head on his desk for a long while. After a few minutes, he looked up and asked ...

"Donald, exactly how many is a 'brazillion'?"
 
jpw23 said:
Go to http://stewmac.com the have several schematics to look at.
Click to expand...
P.S. I should have mentioned a couple of other things ...

... been there already JP (thanks anyway :) & a bunch of other sites. Stewmac was pretty good but I am looking for something that matches my exact setup if possible.

Also, I don't plan on using tone pots (just 1 volume) ... is this a bad thing? Its ok with me but does that cause/solve any wiring problems?

Also, I am using a wood veneer pickguard with the aforementioned tinfoil coating ... is this ok?
 
You didn't say what you wanted switching wise.



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
You didn't say what you wanted switching wise.
Click to expand...
Standard wiring on the 5-way switch plus the ability to split the 2 Humbuckers (single/double). I have 2 DPDT mini switches already mounted for that.
 
Editor said:
Standard wiring on the 5-way switch plus the ability to split the 2 Humbuckers (single/double). I have 2 DPDT mini switches already mounted for that.
Click to expand...




This will give you the 5-way switch wiring. You can just leave out anything going to the tone control.


5-way switching


Each of the humbuckers get the split switch on the left of this:


Split wiring


Whatever you need, leave out.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Editor said:
I tried the 'Quieting the Beast' procedure from Guitarnuts.com. It didn't work but I mean no disrespect to the Guitarnuts -- I used tinfoil instead of the recommended conductive paint & probably spilled a rum or 2 in the innards while working on it.
Click to expand...

Aluminum foil is a relatively poor conductor, particularly given how thin the stuff usually is. You'd probably be better off with copper tape. You should be able to find it in the garden section of any major garden or hardware store.
 
dgatwood said:
Aluminum foil is a relatively poor conductor, particularly given how thin the stuff usually is. You'd probably be better off with copper tape. You should be able to find it in the garden section of any major garden or hardware store.
Click to expand...


Aluminum works just fine, as it is in fact a perfectly fine conductor. Shielding only makes a difference if you are having RF interference problems, and even then it doesn't help with the RF the pickups are catching.

If it doesn't work with the aluminum foil, it won't work with copper tape.



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
Aluminum works just fine, as it is in fact a perfectly fine conductor. Shielding only makes a difference if you are having RF interference problems, and even then it doesn't help with the RF the pickups are catching.

If it doesn't work with the aluminum foil, it won't work with copper tape.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying that aluminum is a terrible conductor, but it isn't anywhere near optimal for the task. The conductivity of aluminum is less than two-thirds that of copper, and the thickness of aluminum foil is only about 0.013mm, while the copper tape I'm talking about is typically 5+ times as thick.

Since resistance is inversely proportional to the cross-sectional area of the conductor, the resistance of the copper tape should be about a factor of 8-10 lower than the resistance of aluminum foil. An order of magnitude improvement in conductivity makes a much bigger difference than you think....

Remember: better conductivity = better shielding.
 
dgatwood said:
I'm not saying that aluminum is a terrible conductor, but it isn't anywhere near optimal for the task. The conductivity of aluminum is less than two-thirds that of copper, and the thickness of aluminum foil is only about 0.013mm, while the copper tape I'm talking about is typically 5+ times as thick.

Since resistance is inversely proportional to the cross-sectional area of the conductor, the resistance of the copper tape should be about a factor of 8-10 lower than the resistance of aluminum foil. An order of magnitude improvement in conductivity makes a much bigger difference than you think....

Remember: better conductivity = better shielding.
Click to expand...

you're not building a conductor but a faraday cage. they don't carry signals but block them. the elecro magnetic shielding they use on spacecraft is just a couple of microns thick - granted they use gold :cool:

as light said : aluminium foil works just fine.
 
dgatwood said:
I'm not saying that aluminum is a terrible conductor, but it isn't anywhere near optimal for the task. The conductivity of aluminum is less than two-thirds that of copper, and the thickness of aluminum foil is only about 0.013mm, while the copper tape I'm talking about is typically 5+ times as thick.

Since resistance is inversely proportional to the cross-sectional area of the conductor, the resistance of the copper tape should be about a factor of 8-10 lower than the resistance of aluminum foil. An order of magnitude improvement in conductivity makes a much bigger difference than you think....

Remember: better conductivity = better shielding.
Click to expand...


None of which matters in the case of the shield for a guitar. Trust me, I've done it every way possible. They all work fine, but if one of them doesn't work, none of them will BECAUSE IT DOESN'T ADDRESS THE PROBLEM.

The only reason I don't use aluminum foil (which is the cheapest option) is because it is a giant pain in the ass (also, customers don't seem to care that it works just as well). Actually, I use shielding paint, which is by far the easiest to use (though it takes a little longer because it requires multiple coats).


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Editor said:
P.S. I should have mentioned a couple of other things ...

... been there already JP (thanks anyway :) & a bunch of other sites. Stewmac was pretty good but I am looking for something that matches my exact setup if possible.

Also, I don't plan on using tone pots (just 1 volume) ... is this a bad thing? Its ok with me but does that cause/solve any wiring problems?

Also, I am using a wood veneer pickguard with the aforementioned tinfoil coating ... is this ok?
Click to expand...

I'm a fan of this set up. I almost never want for a tone knob. My Wolfies came that way and I've since modded/rebuilt several Ibanez' and Fenders with that configuration. To me you hear a little more what the guitar sounds like rather than the tone circuit and it's effect on the coils but, seriously, this is a matter of taste.
 
faderbug said:
you're not building a conductor but a faraday cage. they don't carry signals but block them. the elecro magnetic shielding they use on spacecraft is just a couple of microns thick - granted they use gold :cool:

as light said : aluminium foil works just fine.
Click to expand...

The way faraday cages work depends highly on the conductivity of the metal. Shielding, whether reflective or absorptive is highly dependent on the conductivity. Metal paint turns out to be a fraction of the conductivity of deposited metal of the same thickness, and at least one guitar building site puts it right on the fringes of not being useful at all, with some varieties acting more like an antenna because of such poor conductivity. I can't find the link right now, though.

Other references:
http://www.parker.com/chomerics/tech/shielding_methods.htm
 
You guys are too much. Rarely do I run across discussions of conductivity, cross sectional area, rf rejection and micron thick gold shielding. Hey why not slap a couple of ferrite beads on your cable. Haha. Just poking fun. Oops let me take all that back. All of your contributions are what makes this forum great. Well wishes to all and a not so politically correct, MERRY CHRISTMAS.
 
Gotta go with Light on this one.

Aluminum foil has ample conductivity for this job. If you shield with aluminum foil, and you don't correct the problem. you will not fix it by upgrading to copper. I've tried it several times over the years. Copper never solves the problem if aluminum doesn't.

Your wood pickguard has the same properties as plastic for this situation.
 
dgatwood said:
The way faraday cages work depends highly on the conductivity of the metal. Shielding, whether reflective or absorptive is highly dependent on the conductivity. Metal paint turns out to be a fraction of the conductivity of deposited metal of the same thickness, and at least one guitar building site puts it right on the fringes of not being useful at all, with some varieties acting more like an antenna because of such poor conductivity. I can't find the link right now, though.

Other references:
http://www.parker.com/chomerics/tech/shielding_methods.htm
Click to expand...


yes but it does not matter since the strength of the signals you're blocking does not require much of the conductivity of the material you use.
 
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