If ever there was a candidate for individual pickup switches...

[thop]

Got a {censored} ton of work done today with my new soldering iron. Finally getting things to work the way they should.

Simple mod, but I'm proud, being a noob. These little 3-way toggles are tough to solder! I ruined the first set and had to buy 3 more. They're wired so middle is off, up is on, and down is out of phase. The tones that I can get now are fantastic, I love this little axe. Only $100 but it's one of my favorite to play. Three really distinct sounds for me to mix and match, and I shaved down the neck to a really thin, flat Wilshire-like profile (not the prettiest job, might've hurt the resale value, but I don't think I wanna sell something this cool). Besides, I'm just cutting my teeth on some cheapies to learn modding.

 

I may need to upgrade the pickups eventually, maybe put a lipstick in the middle or lipstick hum in the bridge. They sound surprisingly good for something so cheap, but the low E-string sounds kind of dead. Could that be a mechanical issue though? Something with the bridge or the nut? It's all 3 pickups, not just one that make it sound flat, so I wonder if they're not the problem.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]337735[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]337736[/ATTACH]

[katillac]

Congrats on your success and learning experience! Even if you weren't new to it, you'd still have reason to be proud.

 

Looking at the pictures, it looks to me like either the bridge is off to the right, or the mid and bridge pickups are off to the left. It may be just how I'm seeing the picture. Look at your guitar and look straight down on it like you did when taking the second picture. If things are off, hopefully you'll be able to easily nudge the pups over a few millimeters.

 

I'd think that it wouldn't sound right for the high E either, though, so it probably is just how I'm seeing the picture. So, that aside, the other thing that comes to mind is tone control. You have a P-90, a traditional single coil, and a humbucker, and it looks like you have one volume and one tone pot. What is the rating of each of those? If I was using a single volume and single tone (if that's what they are) with that combination of pickups, I'd use 500k pots because of the humbucker. Or, split the difference and use a 500k pot and use a resistor to knock it down to 300-350k ohms.

 

Also, what value of capacitor do you have on the tone pot? It's possible that whatever combination you're using is cutting out the lows too much.

 

For increasing your soldering iron-wielding skills, practice on some scrap stuff. When people throw out electronics, I like to check them for hard-to-find pieces and remove them, but if I'm out of practice, I may grab a scrap board and just throw some used bits on it. Once I'm through with taking what I want off a board, I put it in a box with other stuff and once I get a certain amount, I take them to the recycler. There are a few places in town that recycle old electronics, one of which recycles the plastics, too. So, practice on the cheap stuff. Remember, tin the wires first, heat up your connections, and do the connections quickly so as not to overheat things. If you find yourself getting frustrated or shaky, take a break. You can do it, dude =)

[WRGKMC]

Get some screws to stick in those holes and either use a nut to hold them in or glue them in to make it look better.

Thet what I do on strats with three way switches like that. The other option is to cut a littel plate of brass steel or plastic

to act as a control plate to hide the previous 5 way switch route. You have to have something thin enough so you can still

get the nuts on the switches.

[Belva]

I like 3 switches myself. This one has 3 series/off/parallel switches and I can get more sounds than politicians have lies. This is the only guitar I've built to date that I'll never change or sell.

[thop]

 

Congrats on your success and learning experience! Even if you weren't new to it, you'd still have reason to be proud. Looking at the pictures, it looks to me like either the bridge is off to the right, or the mid and bridge pickups are off to the left. It may be just how I'm seeing the picture. Look at your guitar and look straight down on it like you did when taking the second picture. If things are off, hopefully you'll be able to easily nudge the pups over a few millimeters. I'd think that it wouldn't sound right for the high E either, though, so it probably is just how I'm seeing the picture. So, that aside, the other thing that comes to mind is tone control. You have a P-90, a traditional single coil, and a humbucker, and it looks like you have one volume and one tone pot. What is the rating of each of those? If I was using a single volume and single tone (if that's what they are) with that combination of pickups, I'd use 500k pots because of the humbucker. Or, split the difference and use a 500k pot and use a resistor to knock it down to 300-350k ohms. Also, what value of capacitor do you have on the tone pot? It's possible that whatever combination you're using is cutting out the lows too much. For increasing your soldering iron-wielding skills, practice on some scrap stuff. When people throw out electronics, I like to check them for hard-to-find pieces and remove them, but if I'm out of practice, I may grab a scrap board and just throw some used bits on it. Once I'm through with taking what I want off a board, I put it in a box with other stuff and once I get a certain amount, I take them to the recycler. There are a few places in town that recycle old electronics, one of which recycles the plastics, too. So, practice on the cheap stuff. Remember, tin the wires first, heat up your connections, and do the connections quickly so as not to overheat things. If you find yourself getting frustrated or shaky, take a break. You can do it, dude =)

 

 

Oh man, good call! You're absolutely right, the bridge is off, I don't know why I didn't notice that. Sounds like I got another project coming up...

I did try it unplugged and compared the low E to a few other electrics, and it does sound a little flatter anyway. I'll check the bridge and nut more closely see how it sounds next time I change the strings, I'm ok with it for now.

 

 

I'm much more confident in my soldering now. I think the problem all along was the solder I was using. I spent hours trying to get it to melt. The good thing about that is that it was hours of practice. By learning on the most difficult of materials, now that I found stuff that actually works, it's a breeze to get things done.

[WRGKMC]

Good Call Kat.

Sometimes the neck tilt for a bolt on neck can be off a little, but it does look like the bridge and tail were misplaced.

With a replacement bridge you might be able to create new notches, eek the pickups over and that kind of stuff to get things in.

You could also use rail pickups so the poles arent an issue for sound. I've also seen neck pickups in the bridge position that have incorrect pole spacing

but it does look like the bridge isnt right, Having the strings off that much can really suck for high string sound.

 

When doing builds I found bridge position is absolutely critical. I use either a straight edge or tight string from the center of the nut and align the center dots all the way to the tail.

Then I'll draw my center line down the body with the neck mounted. Then I'll align the straight edge with the two sides of the neck and draw those lines down the body

I then have three pencil lines on the raw wood body I can use for side to side bridge alignment. I then just have to measure my scale to get the length position correct.

The high E saddel matches the scale length and should be extended towards the neck with a little extra to make the not a little sharp if needed. A Tom bridge will have about 3/8 to 1/4" tilt towards the tail depending on the scale length. As the bridge is tilted, it also has to be recentered. Then you also have to accomodate for string height. The higher the bridge, the longer the string so You can make a mistake on not having the bridge close enough to the neck on the High E side if you are measuring your mounting position with the bridge sitting flat on the body and later raise it with the studs.