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Wiring Help! Please!


Proferser

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I am trying to wire up this guitar, I am using 2 single coil pickups, 1 250k pot, 1 500k pot, 1 0.22 capacitor and a les paul style 3 way toggle. I couldn't find a wiring diagram online so I followed a similar setup as close as I could to no avail! :( I was wondering if anyone could be so kind to create one for me or to let me

​​​​​know where I went wrong.

Also I'm not too sure which lugs are 1,2,3 on the cts pots so any help on that would be appreciated too. :)

 

http://i67.tinypic.com/vg2yq8.jpg

 

Thanks in advance!

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When you're looking at the pot from the back side, with the shaft pointing away from you and the lugs facing down, lug 3 is on your left, lug 2 is in the center, and lug 1 is on your right.

 

 

Typically, the "hot" wire from the pickup selector switch will connect to lug 3 of the volume pot. Lug 2 is the output, and lug 1 is grounded to the back of the pot.

 

Usually 250k pots are used for both the volume and tone controls with single coil pickups. In your situation, you can try using the 250k as the volume pot and the 500k for the tone control, but things may be brighter sounding than you might want - I'd recommend getting a second 250k CTS pot.

 

 

 

Here's a basic wiring diagram:

 

 

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Source

 

 

Ignoring the fact that they're showing humbuckers instead of single coils, this is pretty much what you're shooting for. All of the funky triangles made out of lines (that look kind of like Devo flower pot hats) are ground symbols. The best way to do the grounding is to connect the two ground wires (usually they're black wires) from the two pickups and the ground from the selector switch to the back (shell) of the volume control. Solder that at the same time you solder lug 1 to the back of the volume pot, and at the same time, connect a wire from the back of the volume control to the back of the tone control, and a final wire from the back of the tone control to the ground terminal on the output jack. It's also very common for people to connect another ground wire from the bridge to the back of the volume control, but that's not shown on this diagram.

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Here is another version of the diagram that Phil just posted showing the terminals of the Switchcraft (Les Paul style) three way switch. The tone circuits are slightly different but work the same. Pots are almost always shown from the back, their lugs are rarely numbered. However the center lug is always the wiper, if you are looking at the back the lug cw from center is the top of the resistor (when turned all the way up the wiper will be at the top). So in this diagram the signal from the pickups comes into the top of the pot, the wiper picks of a precentage of that signal and sends it to the output jack.

 

The important thing about this picture is the switch wiring - again, you are look at the back, but this gives you up for neck, down for bridge and center for blend.

 

Like Phil's pic this is shown with humbuckers but it doesn't matter. Most of the tine 250K pots are used with single coils, 500K with 'buckers. I would put the 250K as your volume pot and use the 500 as the tone, or like Phil says, get another 250.

 

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I like Freeman's diagram better since it's more comprehensive and clearer.

 

Again, my main tip would be to wrap all the wires that solder to the back of the volume pot / shell together and do them with one soldering joint - if you try to do them separately, the heat will usually loosen the ones you previously soldered, which can result in cold solder joints and intermittent grounding, which are both things that you want to avoid.

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My diagram does need one more ground wire from the back of the tone pot to the back of the volume pot (which is the ground common point).

 

Wiring that common point can be tricky. I hold my soldering iron in my right hand and use the tip to hold a wire against the pot while I apply solder with my left hand. I then lay the solder down and pick up a small screw driver with my left, and hold the wire(s) against the pot while I remove the iron. I don't try to twist wires together, I do them one at a time using the tip of the iron and the screw driver to hold them down.

 

As you know, a good solder joint is clean and shiny, if its dull and grey heat it up and do it again.

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I usually solder the ground wires to the #1 lug through-hole, rather than trying to get them all onto the back, then just run a jumper to the back of the pot....less heat, much simpler, and I can even add the bridge ground...although sometimes it is better to ground the bridge to the output jack if it isn't on the faceplate [like on a Tele or a LP]. That way, you don't need a long 'service loop' for the bridge, which decreases potential RFI.

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