I just had the greatest idea about guitar wiring

[Nate]

It has to do with common grounds.

Fueled by a weird-ass dream I just had where I was talking about MacPhearson struts with a buddy, I somehow came up with a cool idea that I want to try out.

I remember going through my whole pickup swap project with my Washburn just weeks ago. I remember having to decide on a common ground. Then, I chose to ground everything to what I designated as the neck pickup volume control. I used the prong on it, not the case. I had about four or five wires that I had to somehow fit on there. I got the job done, but it wasn't all that easy.

Putting all of the ground wires on the case would have been a much better solution, but you still run the risk of possibly unsoldering other wires if/when changing out pickups. And also, if you ever needed/wanted to change out that pot for any reason, you would have to unsolder every single ground wire as well. That's something I'm not too fond of.

Okay, finally, my idea: put a small metal plate in the wire cavity. It shall be mounted to the sidewall via two screws. With this, you can have all of your grounds in one place like you should. But this isn't everything! This plate would be large enough to have the ground wires soldered on their own (no crowding). With this in mind, if something was to be replaced, you could just unsolder that wire and leave the rest be without risk of messing something up (or god forbid making something look like crap).

It probably isn't the world's greatest idea, and I'm sure someone else in some distant land has already thought of this. What I'm amazed by is that every guitar company (that I have personally witnessed anyway) isn't already doing this. I'm sure they could've figured this out before me. I just feel proud that I even thought about this, whether it's old news or not.

Do I need to patent this idea right now? Did I just screw myself out of some bucks?

 

[Artie]

Re: I just had the greatest idea about guitar wiring

Its actually a good idea, but its already been done in different variations.
I, myself, use a stereo output jack. That gives me an "extra" grounding lug, which pretty much covers all my grounding needs, and has the side benefit of giving me a "mute" position by pulling the guitar cable out one "click."

I never solder to the back of pots. Its unnecessary,and serves to potentially damage pots that weren't designed for that type of heating/connection.

Mind you, pretty much all guitars have been done the solder-to-a-pot way since the beginning of time, so, its just me. :laugh2:

 

[Nate]

Re: I just had the greatest idea about guitar wiring

I never liked the idea of soldering to the pots themselves. I guess it was a subconcious thing for me. Of course, before today, I was a numbnut and did it anyway.

I'm now beginning to think that I should start my own guitar company just so I can put this idea to good use. Do you think it would go over well?

 

[TheProphet]

Re: I just had the greatest idea about guitar wiring

I've seen this done on Japanese Jacksons .... pure fricking genious if you ask me

 

[Mojoe01]

Re: I just had the greatest idea about guitar wiring

If you don't ground to the back of a pot, where do you go? Grounding to the back of a pot never goes smoothly for me (parts coming unsoldered when a new part is being attatched, etc) and is always the time when soldering gets on my nerves and I want to break things...which...when holding a hot piece of metal and an expensive guitar, thats a bad feeling to get.

 

[Artie]

Re: I just had the greatest idea about guitar wiring

If you don't ground to the back of a pot, where do you go?

There's a couple things you can do. First of all, the lug on the output jack of a standard mono guitar jack should be large enough to accomodate all the grounding needs within a guitar.

If they aren't, what I do is use a stereo jack, and solder a thick copper "bridge" between the ground sleeve lug and the "ring" lug. That creates a nice large, and easy to solder to, grounding "bar". Works great.

 

[bryvincent]

Re: I just had the greatest idea about guitar wiring

It has to do with common grounds.

Fueled by a weird-ass dream I just had where I was talking about MacPhearson struts with a buddy, I somehow came up with a cool idea that I want to try out.

I remember going through my whole pickup swap project with my Washburn just weeks ago. I remember having to decide on a common ground. Then, I chose to ground everything to what I designated as the neck pickup volume control. I used the prong on it, not the case. I had about four or five wires that I had to somehow fit on there. I got the job done, but it wasn't all that easy.

Putting all of the ground wires on the case would have been a much better solution, but you still run the risk of possibly unsoldering other wires if/when changing out pickups. And also, if you ever needed/wanted to change out that pot for any reason, you would have to unsolder every single ground wire as well. That's something I'm not too fond of.

Okay, finally, my idea: put a small metal plate in the wire cavity. It shall be mounted to the sidewall via two screws. With this, you can have all of your grounds in one place like you should. But this isn't everything! This plate would be large enough to have the ground wires soldered on their own (no crowding). With this in mind, if something was to be replaced, you could just unsolder that wire and leave the rest be without risk of messing something up (or god forbid making something look like crap).

It probably isn't the world's greatest idea, and I'm sure someone else in some distant land has already thought of this. What I'm amazed by is that every guitar company (that I have personally witnessed anyway) isn't already doing this. I'm sure they could've figured this out before me. I just feel proud that I even thought about this, whether it's old news or not.

Do I need to patent this idea right now? Did I just screw myself out of some bucks?

its not a new idea, gibson is also using a metal plate as a common ground on their les paul standards for quite some time.i think its called star grounding, correct me if i'm wrong

 

[Trev]

Re: I just had the greatest idea about guitar wiring

May seem stupid, but why do you have to solder? why can't there be a
male and female connection like the wiring on cars for example!!!!!
Surely this would be easier and give a better contact, no dry joints
for instance!!! And also make fitting interchangable parts easier, ( i am
rubbish at soldering!!!!!!!!). Pick-ups would come with male connectors
and volume, tone pots with female connectors for example, therefore interchanging between pick-ups and tone controls switches would be less messy and quicker!!! You could use adapters for extending leads etc.
Any thoughts anyone, maybe Seymour Duncan could have a patented
industry standard!!!!!

 

[Marcel]

Re: I just had the greatest idea about guitar wiring

soldering last longer than a connection. soldering gives much better contact. the connection gets rusty or simply plug off...
btw EMG has something like this if i'm right

 

[Nate]

Re: I just had the greatest idea about guitar wiring

as far as connections go like Trev is mentioning, EMG has their quik-connect cables to their pickups. This allows the changing of one EMG pickup to another without the need for unsoldering/resoldering. All you do is take the pickup out of the bracket, unplug it, put the new pickup in the bracket, hook it up, and screw it back in.

I like the idea of having connections instead of soldering. It would make it easier on most people. However, soldering does give a better, sturdier connection as Marcel has pointed out.

 

[Nate]

Re: I just had the greatest idea about guitar wiring

its not a new idea, gibson is also using a metal plate as a common ground on their les paul standards for quite some time.i think its called star grounding, correct me if i'm wrong

I didn't think it was an actual brand new idea; it's just new to me. If Gibson does this with their standards, I guess that means they didn't do it to their special SL's. :laugh2:

So far, I've heard Gibson les paul standards and some japanese Jacksons using this idea. I think more guitar companies should incorporate this idea.

 

[Artie]

Re: I just had the greatest idea about guitar wiring

May seem stupid, but why do you have to solder? why can't there be a
male and female connection like the wiring on cars for example!!!!!
Surely this would be easier and give a better contact, no dry joints
for instance!!! And also make fitting interchangable parts easier, ( i am
rubbish at soldering!!!!!!!!). Pick-ups would come with male connectors
and volume, tone pots with female connectors for example, therefore interchanging between pick-ups and tone controls switches would be less messy and quicker!!! You could use adapters for extending leads etc.
Any thoughts anyone, maybe Seymour Duncan could have a patented
industry standard!!!!!

This can be a good idea, but it has its own problems. Quick disconnects tend to lend themselves better to high-power applications than low signal ones. Unless, of course, one picks those connectors very carefully. As a matter of fact, I need to fire off a PM to Stratdeluxer about his Molex connector that he used for his Strat wiring. (Sorry John - hate for you to see this here.) :laugh2:

Some of the "connector" problems can be greatly minimized if one "conditions" the connectors first. Some of the products from Caig Labs are specifically designed for this. The problem is, you're bringing a whole new set of engineering considerations into an area where one wouldn't normally need to worry about it.

So, its just one of those things where you have to weigh the pros and cons of doing it. I think it may be a good idea if you consider it as a temporary solution 'til you get the guitar set up like you want. Then make all the connections permanent.