Remind me to never volunteer a rewire again!

[The_Sentry]

Ugh...

Well, here's the story...one day a week I sort of volunteer some time at a local music store. I have a keen interest in keeping the place open. Normally...eh, it's nothing big. Make some suggestions, reccomend some replacement parts...how much is this guitar worth...blah blah blah.

OK, that's good and well.

So, last week I stop at the store...and what do they have? A 1960's MIJ Bruno Conqueror hollowbody by Aria. I picked it up...and wouldn't you know it...electronics are shot. No working neck pickup, flakey input jack....

So...stupid me, I volunteered a rewire...and I had to do it not once, but twice since the guy who owned it (or whoever owned it before him) screwed up the grounding but good.

(What made it worse...normally, I don't work on teles but this sucker had a telecaster style selector switch....it took me a bit of digging to find the right schematic. I have to thank the SD site for including a tele diagram with 2 volume an no tone controls...that was about as close as it got on this sucker.)

So...now my apartment's trashed...and I'll admit I feel a bit blasphemous about doing this. I gutted out all of that vintage wiring (and...kept it for myself...hehehehehe..) and replaced everything with high grade silver/copper 18 gauge speaker wire, CTS pots, and I went with a slightly bigger tone cap (.047) because I wanted it to be responsive.

So...I guess if another one of those ever comes up...I'm gonna have to say NO..NO NO!!! (I think a mouse had a family in that guitar or somethin'...how in the hell does insulation get into one of those?)

It cleaned up nicely though. And for a bolt on, it's a pretty sweet jazz box.

I think the store's gonna sell it for 350 bucks...(PM me if you're interested!)

Other than that?

I was wondering how many of you have had fun wiring up hollow/semi-hollow body guitars? That was my third, and each one is a bit different...)

(Especially this one...)

Or one like it...the one I worked on had a white pearl thing going on vs. the tortoise and the pickguard was MIA...

 

[fatigueofheart]

Re: Remind me to never volunteer a rewire again!

dude. . . you shouldn't have that attitude, you should be hoping you get more of these kind of repairs if you're looking to learn. What you did for this guitar is honestly very easy for many people on this board to do. . . and now because of this guitar, you know how to do it. Also, speaker wires are the wrong kind for wiring a guitar, yes it works, but if you want to be a pro and do a professional job then use the right wires. The insulation was probably put in the guitar on purpose to control feedback. This is a very commonly known thing that hollow bodied owners do. All in all, good job and hope you gain lots from your experience.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Remind me to never volunteer a rewire again!

18 gauge is WAAAAYYYY too big for wiring up a guitar! How did you even connect that to the pots and switch? I can't picture it fitting through the terminals.

I pretty much use 24 gauge exclusively. Anything bigger than 22 is severe overkill.

Speaker wire is for speakers. They need big wire because they're running high current/low impedance. The signal inside your guitar is incredibly weak in comparison, and doesn't need much of a conductor at all. Think about how tiny the wire inside the pickups is.

Cool guitar btw.

 

[The_Sentry]

Re: Remind me to never volunteer a rewire again!

dude. . . you shouldn't have that attitude, you should be hoping you get more of these kind of repairs if you're looking to learn. What you did for this guitar is honestly very easy for many people on this board to do. . . and now because of this guitar, you know how to do it. Also, speaker wires are the wrong kind for wiring a guitar, yes it works, but if you want to be a pro and do a professional job then use the right wires. The insulation was probably put in the guitar on purpose to control feedback. This is a very commonly known thing that hollow bodied owners do. All in all, good job and hope you gain lots from your experience.

Other than parts.....it was a freebie. And no, I don't want to be a pro so much as keep that music shop open so I have a place down the street where I can buy strings and picks. That's it.

I'm aware of feedback with hollowbodies. The reason for this is because of the sympathetic vibrations from the top affecting the pickups which are mounted atop the hollow body. NO matter how well you insulate, the top vibrates, the pickups vibrate with it, and you get feedback at louder levels.

18 gauge is WAAAAYYYY too big for wiring up a guitar! How did you even connect that to the pots and switch? I can't picture it fitting through the terminals.

I pretty much use 24 gauge exclusively. Anything bigger than 22 is severe overkill.

Speaker wire is for speakers. They need big wire because they're running high current/low impedance. The signal inside your guitar is incredibly weak in comparison, and doesn't need much of a conductor at all. Think about how tiny the wire inside the pickups is.

Cool guitar btw.

It fit fine. It just takes some patience. As for the wiring...I had it. And I know if I went out and bought vintage wire the price and wait time would have gone up drastically. The important thing was to get the bloody guitar working.

(As for my gist on it....it's signal and ground no matter how you slice it....)

The guitar is pretty cool, though. I wish I would have taken some pictures of it. It really made an Epiphone Sheraton II I rewired a while back look like a dud. (Same wire...and that one works just fine.... )

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Remind me to never volunteer a rewire again!

If anyone ever brings you a Jackson Jazz'R to rewire, run screaming in the opposite direction.

Seriously, there's no control cavity. Only way in or out is the pickup cavities. Jackson used to show a pic on their site of a guy wiring one up - he had what looked like a wire coat hanger with a loop in the end feeding the pots into the pickup cavity and fishing for the hole

 

[The_Sentry]

Re: Remind me to never volunteer a rewire again!

If anyone ever brings you a Jackson Jazz'R to rewire, run screaming in the opposite direction.

Seriously, there's no control cavity. Only way in or out is the pickup cavities. Jackson used to show a pic on their site of a guy wiring one up - he had what looked like a wire coat hanger with a loop in the end feeding the pots into the pickup cavity and fishing for the hole

:lmao:

Dang...did it have the "F' holes at least? (they call 'em F holes fer a reason, ya know!)

PS: Ever use...dental floss to fish the pots through? Works great....:naughty:

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Remind me to never volunteer a rewire again!

It fit fine. It just takes some patience. As for the wiring...I had it. And I know if I went out and bought vintage wire the price and wait time would have gone up drastically. The important thing was to get the bloody guitar working.

(As for my gist on it....it's signal and ground no matter how you slice it....)

The guitar is pretty cool, though. I wish I would have taken some pictures of it. It really made an Epiphone Sheraton II I rewired a while back look like a dud. (Same wire...and that one works just fine.... )

"Do it right, or don't do it at all," was one of the best lessons my dad ever taught me.

I'm not saying speaker wire won't work. Any wire will conduct a guitar signal. That's kind of like saying any pair of pants will cover your ass though. Whether you should wear pink and green polka-dot sweatpants to work is a different question.

I understand why you'd want to use what you have on hand, but your time is valuable, and so is your reputation. The time it took you to cram speaker wire into tight lugs and terminals cost you something. More importantly, someone opening up one of your guitars and saying "why the f___ did that moron use speaker wire?!?" cost you something too.

If you do intend to do this regularly, do yourself and your customers a big favor and go to Radio Shack or any other electronics supply shop to buy a couple of spools of 24 gauge stranded hook-up wire. You don't need "vintage wire" (I'm not sure I even know what that is). I buy a bag of wire that comes in 10 different colors, 10 feet per color, for $20. That's enough to completely re-wire about 20 or 30 guitars. If you only want one color you can do even better than that. I find it's good to have at least 2 colors so you can keep signal and ground straight.

One last caution: since speaker wire is much bigger, it takes a lot more heat to get the solder flowing into it. This puts you at great risk of damaging the components you are connecting it to. A cooked pot is going to cost you time and money to replace.

 

[fatigueofheart]

Re: Remind me to never volunteer a rewire again!

"do it right, or don't do it at all," was one of the best lessons my dad ever taught me.

I'm not saying speaker wire won't work. Any wire will conduct a guitar signal. That's kind of like saying any pair of pants will cover your ass though. Whether you should wear pink and green polka-dot sweatpants to work is a different question.

I understand why you'd want to use what you have on hand, but your time is valuable, and so is your reputation. The time it took you to cram speaker wire into tight lugs and terminals cost you something. More importantly, someone opening up one of your guitars and saying "why the f___ did that moron use speaker wire?!?" cost you something too.

If you do intend to do this regularly, do yourself and your customers a big favor and go to radio shack or any other electronics supply shop to buy a couple of spools of 24 gauge stranded hook-up wire. You don't need "vintage wire" (i'm not sure i even know what that is). I buy a bag of wire that comes in 10 different colors, 10 feet per color, for $20. That's enough to completely re-wire about 20 or 30 guitars. If you only want one color you can do even better than that. I find it's good to have at least 2 colors so you can keep signal and ground straight.

One last caution: Since speaker wire is much bigger, it takes a lot more heat to get the solder flowing into it. This puts you at great risk of damaging the components you are connecting it to. A cooked pot is going to cost you time and money to replace.

+1

 

[The_Sentry]

Re: Remind me to never volunteer a rewire again!

"Do it right, or don't do it at all," was one of the best lessons my dad ever taught me.

I'm not saying speaker wire won't work. Any wire will conduct a guitar signal. That's kind of like saying any pair of pants will cover your ass though. Whether you should wear pink and green polka-dot sweatpants to work is a different question.

I understand why you'd want to use what you have on hand, but your time is valuable, and so is your reputation. The time it took you to cram speaker wire into tight lugs and terminals cost you something. More importantly, someone opening up one of your guitars and saying "why the f___ did that moron use speaker wire?!?" cost you something too.

If you do intend to do this regularly, do yourself and your customers a big favor and go to Radio Shack or any other electronics supply shop to buy a couple of spools of 24 gauge stranded hook-up wire. You don't need "vintage wire" (I'm not sure I even know what that is). I buy a bag of wire that comes in 10 different colors, 10 feet per color, for $20. That's enough to completely re-wire about 20 or 30 guitars. If you only want one color you can do even better than that. I find it's good to have at least 2 colors so you can keep signal and ground straight.

One last caution: since speaker wire is much bigger, it takes a lot more heat to get the solder flowing into it. This puts you at great risk of damaging the components you are connecting it to. A cooked pot is going to cost you time and money to replace.

*shrugs*

The 18 gauge stranded speaker wire was easy to work with. It really was. copper side to ground, silver side to signal, and with .022 gauge resin core solder it was a peice of cake. (The solder doesn't take anything to heat up at all since it's so thin, and I don't waste any solder going with that size.)

I gave up on the big solder that comes with a lot of cheap guns. It's crap.

Anyways....I didn't get paid for this. I got recouped for my materials. The guitar works well, and the solder joints are better than what was in there.

If anything, the speaker wire is also insulated to take a lot more abuse than 24- or 22 gauge wiring. Shielded wire costs a fortune.

PS: If someone laughs at the wire, they sure as hell won't be able to say a d#mned thing about the solder joints which are as clean as anything I've seen out of a factory.

EDIT:

Looking around the office....oooh....T1 cable!! There's also some RS-232 TTY terminal cable...I might have to steal some of that for my next job....hahahahahah