FrankensteinsLobster
New member
Hey gang!
I've been building my first DIY guitar. After many hours of learning through trial and error I finally ALMOST have it nailed down. I decided if it was worth making my own guitar - I might as well make one that I can't buy. So I've got with a H-S-H strat with individual switches and stacked pots for each pickup. It's nearly finished but there are a couple of gremlins in the system.
Currently, I'm confident that that stacked pots are wired properly within themselves. Beyond that, I have the pickups going to the pots, then the pots to the switches, then the three output wires from the switches are spliced to a single wire to the jackhole. Everything is grounded to the middle pot (they are mini-pots btw), and then a wire runs from that to the jackhole, and also the spring claw. The switches are the only thing that aren't grounded, but I don't see that they necessarily would need to be.
The gremlins are that the neck pot seems to inexplicably act as a master volume when all pickups are switched on (kind of a happy accident, i don't mind that). The middle pickup cuts out when set to 10, but only when the neck pickup is also switched on, and it's fine if I dial it back to 9.
The Bridge pickup is very tinny and not as loud as the neck pickup. The neck pickup is a medium output (DiMarzio I think?), and the Bridge pickup is a Schaller "Hot Stuff", which is supposed to be SUPER loud. It's been a lot louder with other schematics I've tried.
One thing to mention is that the jackhole is stereo, should I try connecting the tip and sleeve together? Also a lot of these problems seem to shift about when I mess with the grounding, like a game of whack-a-mole.
Do the ground wires need to be soldered to a pot for any particular reason, or is it just a neat place to put them? Could I just ground everything together onto the copper tape on the pickguard (and then the jackhole)? On that note - If the pots are screwed firmly against said copper tape - can I just send a wire from the pickguard to the jackhole?
I haven't given any thought to the gauge wire I'm using. Should I? Is it possible I'm overloading it a bit, or even the amp (the amp's a Line 6, and sometimes it likes to say "F*** you, I'm doing my own thing" with all sorts of compensation that I didn't ask for. Some day I'm gonna sell it and get a Peavey. Peaveys do as they're told - even if it means dying for you)? With all three pickups switched on - it's quieter than with any single one on.
Sorry for the essay. It's a bit of a convoluted design and it's my first go. I swear I'm 95% the way there, and I did it all by my special self! I'm just asking for help to get over the finish line. And also I'll be damned if I'm gonna remove the strings and pickguard for the 40th time without actually knowing what I'm doing. I'm supposing that there may be some unwanted interaction with the wires grounded to the pots?
And just for your effort - here's something (hopefully) nice to look at!
I've been building my first DIY guitar. After many hours of learning through trial and error I finally ALMOST have it nailed down. I decided if it was worth making my own guitar - I might as well make one that I can't buy. So I've got with a H-S-H strat with individual switches and stacked pots for each pickup. It's nearly finished but there are a couple of gremlins in the system.
Currently, I'm confident that that stacked pots are wired properly within themselves. Beyond that, I have the pickups going to the pots, then the pots to the switches, then the three output wires from the switches are spliced to a single wire to the jackhole. Everything is grounded to the middle pot (they are mini-pots btw), and then a wire runs from that to the jackhole, and also the spring claw. The switches are the only thing that aren't grounded, but I don't see that they necessarily would need to be.
The gremlins are that the neck pot seems to inexplicably act as a master volume when all pickups are switched on (kind of a happy accident, i don't mind that). The middle pickup cuts out when set to 10, but only when the neck pickup is also switched on, and it's fine if I dial it back to 9.
The Bridge pickup is very tinny and not as loud as the neck pickup. The neck pickup is a medium output (DiMarzio I think?), and the Bridge pickup is a Schaller "Hot Stuff", which is supposed to be SUPER loud. It's been a lot louder with other schematics I've tried.
One thing to mention is that the jackhole is stereo, should I try connecting the tip and sleeve together? Also a lot of these problems seem to shift about when I mess with the grounding, like a game of whack-a-mole.
Do the ground wires need to be soldered to a pot for any particular reason, or is it just a neat place to put them? Could I just ground everything together onto the copper tape on the pickguard (and then the jackhole)? On that note - If the pots are screwed firmly against said copper tape - can I just send a wire from the pickguard to the jackhole?
I haven't given any thought to the gauge wire I'm using. Should I? Is it possible I'm overloading it a bit, or even the amp (the amp's a Line 6, and sometimes it likes to say "F*** you, I'm doing my own thing" with all sorts of compensation that I didn't ask for. Some day I'm gonna sell it and get a Peavey. Peaveys do as they're told - even if it means dying for you)? With all three pickups switched on - it's quieter than with any single one on.
Sorry for the essay. It's a bit of a convoluted design and it's my first go. I swear I'm 95% the way there, and I did it all by my special self! I'm just asking for help to get over the finish line. And also I'll be damned if I'm gonna remove the strings and pickguard for the 40th time without actually knowing what I'm doing. I'm supposing that there may be some unwanted interaction with the wires grounded to the pots?
And just for your effort - here's something (hopefully) nice to look at!
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nobody likes tone knobs. Maybe if I use an actual stereo lead I could have at least 2 separate volumes? There are also dual-ring jackholes on the market, but I'm not sure that would make a difference as both hot wires would still end up connected through the jack. Come to think of it the stereo lead idea wouldn't work for the same reason. Unless I re-wire my amp to support it.
