Going hybrid solderless/solderful...what do?

[CTN]

For my red strat that i'm planning overhauling later this summer, i kinda want to experiment with a plug and play sorta wiring scheme.

I want to do a hybrid solderless/soldered wiring scheme. What that means is the pickups (2 humbuckers) themselves will connect to the circuit via solderless screw or clamp terminals, similar to the Liberator's terminal strip, but pretty much the rest of the circuit is going to be conventional soldered connections.

Of the hardwired components, it's gonna be 1 vol, 2 tones (neck and bridge), 2 series/split/parallel switches (1 for each humbucker) and a 3 way toggle.

To accomplish this, i'm thinking of making a little circuit board on which i can route connections and maybe use it to mount the series/split/parallel mini toggles and potentially the tone capacitors as well.

Most likely going to go with some sort of perfboard though I might do a mini run of PCB's if I can figure out a design that's small enough. If I go that route with the board mounted mini toggles and capacitors then that would mean I can do at least half of the circuit on the board itself instead of soldering all those connections from component to component.

Has anyone here tried something like this before? Where'd you source parts and/or PCB production? Any tips, tricks or advice?

Cheers!

 

[dystrust]

Re: Going hybrid solderless/solderful...what do?

I've thought about having multiple swapable pickguards for my Red Strat, but nothing like this. I was planning to wire each guard with some sort of plug connector for the ground wire as well as the output jack. My reasoning is that I'd like to have the current SSL-2/SSL-6T guard, as well as an EMG David Gilmour guard, and possibly a 3rd with Hot / Vintage / Cool Rails. I was also thinking about recessing threaded inserts or some sort of nuts in the guitar body so that I don't strip the pickguard mounting holes with all of the guard swapping.

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Going hybrid solderless/solderful...what do?

Cool idea, My brother suggested doing it with screw in phone terminal thingies.

Mounting this into a pcb board would be pretty cool
http://www.o-digital.com/wholesale-products/2179/2187-1/Terminal-Blocks-Screw-Terminal-Blocks-68991.html

http://www.directindustry.com/prod/ptr-messtechnik/screw-connection-terminal-blocks-14571-923275.html

Or why couldn't you just mount that and solder off the terminals?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/100pcs-4-Poles-2-54mm-0-1-PCB-Universal-Screw-Terminal-Block-/130616821683

I should have done that with my fullMap build.

 

[CTN]

Re: Going hybrid solderless/solderful...what do?

I've thought about having multiple swapable pickguards for my Red Strat, but nothing like this. I was planning to wire each guard with some sort of plug connector for the ground wire as well as the output jack. My reasoning is that I'd like to have the current SSL-2/SSL-6T guard, as well as an EMG David Gilmour guard, and possibly a 3rd with Hot / Vintage / Cool Rails. I was also thinking about recessing threaded inserts or some sort of nuts in the guitar body so that I don't strip the pickguard mounting holes with all of the guard swapping.

good ideas, I might steal the idea of having the jack be plug + play as well.

Cool idea, My brother suggested doing it with screw in phone terminal thingies.

Mounting this into a pcb board would be pretty cool
http://www.o-digital.com/wholesale-products/2179/2187-1/Terminal-Blocks-Screw-Terminal-Blocks-68991.html

http://www.directindustry.com/prod/ptr-messtechnik/screw-connection-terminal-blocks-14571-923275.html

Or why couldn't you just mount that and solder off the terminals?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/100pcs-4-Poles-2-54mm-0-1-PCB-Universal-Screw-Terminal-Block-/130616821683

I should have done that with my fullMap build.

ya man. that's kinda what i was thinking. I'd rather have spring clamps though, sorta like the kinda clamps they sometimes have on hi-fi speaker enclosures at the back with the little black and red clamps for the speaker wire - but smaller obviously. That'd be great.

 

[Oinkus]

Re: Going hybrid solderless/solderful...what do?

Always thought that machine screws and inserts for every screw into wood on a guitar was a great idea. No clue besides that cost thing why it isn't industry standards. How many times have we had a stripped screw in a pickguard or backplate ? I would guess somewhere in the 10s of Billions ?

 

[Progbusters]

Re: Going hybrid solderless/solderful...what do?

a little alligator clip harness?

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Going hybrid solderless/solderful...what do?

Yes, my SG, my Tele, my Firebird and two Strats are all this configuration now. I'm just using cheap terminal strips from Radio Shack. They come with 12 terminals and I cut them into 4s or 6s depending on need. I tin the wire ends and clamp them in the terminal with the built-in screws. Works like a champ. Been swapping pickups and trying out different wiring schemes for years this way. I've switched my Tele tone stack to a Broadcaster and back to a Tele in between gigs, swapped Seths in and out of my SG for recording, wholesale swapped pickguard assemblies across my strats.

The only problems with the terminal strips is they take up a little bit of space, so depending on what you are doing (e.g. push-pulls or concentric pots) it can get cramped in the wiring cavity.

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Going hybrid solderless/solderful...what do?

ya man. that's kinda what i was thinking. I'd rather have spring clamps though, sorta like the kinda clamps they sometimes have on hi-fi speaker enclosures at the back with the little black and red clamps for the speaker wire - but smaller obviously. That'd be great.

You could solder those straight to the pot lugs Liberator style.

 

[CTN]

Re: Going hybrid solderless/solderful...what do?

Yes, my SG, my Tele, my Firebird and two Strats are all this configuration now. I'm just using cheap terminal strips from Radio Shack. They come with 12 terminals and I cut them into 4s or 6s depending on need. I tin the wire ends and clamp them in the terminal with the built-in screws. Works like a champ. Been swapping pickups and trying out different wiring schemes for years this way. I've switched my Tele tone stack to a Broadcaster and back to a Tele in between gigs, swapped Seths in and out of my SG for recording, wholesale swapped pickguard assemblies across my strats.

The only problems with the terminal strips is they take up a little bit of space, so depending on what you are doing (e.g. push-pulls or concentric pots) it can get cramped in the wiring cavity.

these kinda dealies?


I considered those but they are freakin' huge! It was precisely because they're so large that I decided to go with the liberator style mini terminals instead. I'll be using two on/on/on mini toggles for the switching though. I really don't like push pulls or concentric pots.

Did you do all the connections hardwired or did you make a lil PCB?

 

[CTN]

Re: Going hybrid solderless/solderful...what do?

You could solder those straight to the pot lugs Liberator style.

nah. messy.

it'll look nicer on a board away from the pots.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Going hybrid solderless/solderful...what do?

these kinda dealies? View attachment 54829


I considered those but they are freakin' huge! It was precisely because they're so large that I decided to go with the liberator style mini terminals instead. I'll be using two on/on/on mini toggles for the switching though. I really don't like push pulls or concentric pots.

Did you do all the connections hardwired or did you make a lil PCB?

No not those. The mini/European ones. http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103986

I did all connections hard wired, no PC boards. I'm really only using the terminals between the pickups and everything else, so I can swap pickups for the price of a string change, or swap an entire tone/volume stack without soldering or doing anything else. The terminals sit reasonably well in between the pots. But you are right, sometimes it can be tight in there, if there are concentrics or push/pulls.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Going hybrid solderless/solderful...what do?

I've thought about having multiple swapable pickguards for my Red Strat, but nothing like this. I was planning to wire each guard with some sort of plug connector for the ground wire as well as the output jack. My reasoning is that I'd like to have the current SSL-2/SSL-6T guard, as well as an EMG David Gilmour guard, and possibly a 3rd with Hot / Vintage / Cool Rails. I was also thinking about recessing threaded inserts or some sort of nuts in the guitar body so that I don't strip the pickguard mounting holes with all of the guard swapping.

This is what I would do. Have the last pot be similar to the Liberator and then you can just switch out pickguards with different circuits. Similar to Fender's new Personality Card System.