60's wiring offers superior shielding, really?

Hank-

New member
https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/29161-mod-garage-three-ways-to-wire-a-tone-pot

Came across this article about the standard volume & tone pot wiring schemes, the "60's" thing was the point of interest in even checking it out. Its basically modern wiring where the tone cap is providing the connection between the volume & tone pot with the middle lug of the tone pot grounded to the back.

Apparently that config helps reduce electromagnetic interference because the middle lug of the tone pot is grounded. It got my head scratching. Tonally it doesn't matter how the tone pot + cap is setup I know but does the above really help in shielding if setup like mentioned above?

I'm doubtful, it's enough to try but blah i'm not interested in soldering thing up at the moment.:blindfold
 
Re: 60's wiring offers superior shielding, really?

There is no practical difference between modern wiring and what he calls "60s wiring". There is however a difference between those two and 50s wiring.

If the only difference between 60s and modern is that modern loses some shielding, why would guitar companies make the switch to it?

Dirk Wacker is pretty knowledgable about guitars, but he does tend to believe some interesting ideas. A while back I read one of his articles where he said a key component to a guitar's tone is the specific type of wire used to wire the guitar.
 
Re: 60's wiring offers superior shielding, really?

Dirk Wacker is routinely full of **** IME, even on simple technical points that are easily disproven or clearly wrong. I remember one time I was looking at one of his wiring diagrams for a Strat with series pickups in the notch positions, and the diagram was dead wrong. I don't read that rag at all any more. I have come across too many wives' tales stated as truth and hands-down incorrect technical information.
 
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Re: 60's wiring offers superior shielding, really?

If the only difference between 60s and modern is that modern loses some shielding, why would guitar companies make the switch to it?

This was my thought as well. If this "60s" wiring was the same parts+labor cost AND offered better shielding, then guitar makers would be using it.
 
Re: 60's wiring offers superior shielding, really?

Wiring is wiring and shielding is shielding. Wiring is not shielding. He can call a shovel a canoe but he's going nowhere in a shovel.
 
Re: 60's wiring offers superior shielding, really?

I read that article too. The pot case is the shielding for anything that goes on inside the pot (whether the input is the wiper or the #3 lug). I don't see how changing where the cap is soldered changes that. It's like saying...in a completely shielded control cavity, if you wire 50s instead of modern you'll get better shielding.

Maybe I just don't know enough about electronics to understand.
 
Re: 60's wiring offers superior shielding, really?

So he’s asserting the lugs on a pot provide significant enough surface area to act as an antenna for Interference and reduce the signal to noise ratio to a notable degree? Man, just imagine what all the rest of the wiring does. Better not plug the guitar in. The cable will turn the beautiful sound into an EMF disaster.
 
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