Electricity Is A Fickle Mistress

[Elias Graves]

I've handled a lot of dc circuits in my day but guitar wiring is still relatively new to me. The rules when dealing with an audio circuit are a bit different.

When it's just switches and motors, as long as everything tests out OK, things work. I've found, though, that EVERYTHING in an audio circuit changes the sound.

Currently in the midst of some electrical upgrades to my Alleykat. (I still say that new pots are the cheapest and best upgrade for any Epi) and, wow, what a difference.

The really odd stuff I find, however, is that even the quality of your soldered joint has an impact on the sound. The type of wire used even has an impact.

Just some observations, but a good wiring setup makes a difference and even seemingly insignificant changes alter the sound that comes out the other end.

Electricity is a funny thing.

 

EG

[notjonahbutnoah]

Well my soldering excursions have all ended in "success" but that only means that I did in fact make all my replacement pickups actually sound.

 

Nevre a/b'd ony of my borrowed soldering iron hackjobs with a freshly professionally re done guitar.

 

You think it'd be worth it to have a tech shed a couple tears and then re do my horrendous wiring?

[t1r2u3s4t]

I think every components in an electric guitar has a noticible impact on the output because the unamplified signal is so small, translating to a very low signal/noise ratio. That's why active pickup are around...

[guitarcapo]

 

I've handled a lot of dc circuits in my day but guitar wiring is still relatively new to me. The rules when dealing with an audio circuit are a bit different. When it's just switches and motors, as long as everything tests out OK, things work. I've found, though, that EVERYTHING in an audio circuit changes the sound. Currently in the midst of some electrical upgrades to my Alleykat. (I still say that new pots are the cheapest and best upgrade for any Epi) and, wow, what a difference. The really odd stuff I find, however, is that even the quality of your soldered joint has an impact on the sound. The type of wire used even has an impact. Just some observations, but a good wiring setup makes a difference and even seemingly insignificant changes alter the sound that comes out the other end. Electricity is a funny thing. EG

 

 

The sheer amount of electricity a guitar produces is so small that little subtle changes in the electronics do a lot. I had an Alleykat and I found the sound to be really muddy. It wasn't just the cheap pickups and off-spec pots... That "master volume" setup made the signal go through two volumes along with the tone control being there before the signal got to the amp. You know how a guitar sounds muddy when you roll off the volume? DOUBLE that problem with an Alleykat.

 

My solution was to just rewire the guitar to the standard "two volume/two tone" wiring of a Les Paul (not exactly a twangy sounding guitar itself).

 

But if you absolutely HAVE to have a master volume, I'd suggest "treble bleed" caps on all the volume pots and maybe upgrade them to 1Meg instead of 500K pots (that usualy ACTUALLY read 450K when you test them maxed out).

 

I love the idea of the Alleykat. Basically a chambered guitar with f-holes with quality woods and build and build. But yea, I wasn't happy with the stock sound either. The nice thing about electric guitars over most instruments is that you can fix the sound on them pretty easily.

[Elias Graves]

The sheer amount of electricity a guitar produces is so small that little subtle changes in the electronics do a lot. I had an Alleykat and I found the sound to be really muddy. It wasn't just the cheap pickups and off-spec pots... That "master volume" setup made the signal go through two volumes along with the tone control being there before the signal got to the amp. You know how a guitar sounds muddy when you roll off the volume? DOUBLE that problem with an Alleykat. My solution was to just rewire the guitar to the standard "two volume/two tone" wiring of a Les Paul (not exactly a twangy sounding guitar itself). But if you absolutely HAVE to have a master volume, I'd suggest "treble bleed" caps on all the volume pots and maybe upgrade them to 1Meg instead of 500K pots (that usualy ACTUALLY read 450K when you test them maxed out). I love the idea of the Alleykat. Basically a chambered guitar with f-holes with quality woods and build and build. But yea, I wasn't happy with the stock sound either. The nice thing about electric guitars over most instruments is that you can fix the sound on them pretty easily.

 

Good observation on the wiring scheme. I've kind of adapted to it. I replaced the master with a good 500K. I had two Gibson 300s around that I put in the other two spots. The 300 on the P90 works...gets rid of the harshness and smooths it out a lot. The 300 on the minibucker is OK, but it darkens it a bit much. I ordered a fresh 500k to go in there. I ran out of pots, so I quit before I got to the tone. I ordered another pot for that and a funky cap. We'll see what that does.

 

Even the changes I made so far improved the stock Epi minibucker. It's coming out pretty quickly though. I have a guy who's gonna rebuild it for me.

 

But, using the Alleykat through the Vox amp and switching the standard humbucker to the P90 really livens it up. I'm very happy with the sound now. And the Gretsch style wiring can be cool if you learn to use it the way it was intended. It's NOT a Gibson style wiring scheme and if that's what you like, then you won't get along with it.

 

There is a volume cut when you switch to the middle position on the three way switch. I adapted a technique to take advantage of that. I play in the center position most of the time so I set everything up for sound in that position. When I flip to either the bridge or neck pickup alone, I get a boost. I look at it as having a free boost switch for lead work.

 

Regarding the pot values: The 500s I pulled out measured 425, 470 and 510. The Gibson pots I put in measured 500 even, 301 and 299.9. Pretty big difference in tolerances.

 

 

EG

[ugameus]

I will have new pots this evening. I have been messing with different switching setups and I have finally settled on one. I will be using concentric 500k CTS pots to have separate volume and tone controls for the bridge and neck pickups. I have never used concentric pots before but I have noticed that CTS pots are much nicer than some of the cheaper pots I have used in the past. I will be using PIO caps as well. Hopefully I will be satisfied with this setup because I am tired of screwing with my guitar. I just want to play it.