Re: A few wiring questons
Hi I'm a newbie, could somebody please help with these questions?
How can you tell what’s start and finish on a coil?
How do you decide whether you should use Tone and Vol pots of 250/500? What would make you choose one or the other?
Why not always send input signal from the pickup to the center lug?
Why not always use audio taper pots? Why would linear taper pots be used anymore?What does a bass with Series/parallel options sound like?
What does a bass with Phase shifting options sound like?
What does a bass with Coil cut options sound like?
The start of a coil is literally the point from which the copper begins to be wrapped around the bobbin. On an uncovered single coil pickup, this is easy to see. The start of the coil disappears from sight beneath thousands of subsequent turns. The end of the coil obviously leaves the outer edge of the wrappings to run to the second soldering eyelet.
250kOhm pots are typically associated with single coil pickups. 500k pots are associated with humbuckers. In truth, there are no hard and fast rules about this. Try some of each. Use whichever sounds better to your ears.
The signal to a volume pot usually goes to lug #1. The most notable exception to this is the Fender Jazz Bass. The FJB has to be wired via the centre lug for the twin volume pots to act independently.
I use Audio taper pots for most applications. Some forum members object to audio taper but this may be because they have only encountered low quality pots. Again, there are no hard and fast rules. Try each. Use whichever you prefer.
The outcome of series/parallel wiring on a bass guitar depends upon which pickups are in the instrument. Twin Jazz Bass pickups can be interesting in series. Louder, beefier but, IMO, not quite in the Stingray league.
Phase shifting usually comes in an effect pedal. If you meant phase reversal, on a bass guitar, this usually sounds bleedin' awful. Thin, scratchy and gutless. No bottom end. No fun.
Coil cutting, switches off one or other of the coils within humbucker. With only one coil engaged, the sound is quieter, brighter and prone to RF interference. For high volume applications, partial coil tap might be a better idea.
After all of this typing, I think that I deserve a rest.
