Silvercrow Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 So yesterday being Father's Day, my wife and I got up, went to church, I played on the Worship Team (new leader, awesome guy, actual experience playing out),we came home to relax the day away and I decided to install the Emerson .022uF caps I got from StewMac, in my L.P. Now, a while ago I posted a pic of the wiring- certainly not the neatest wiring job but I am told it is typical of Gibson at times. Anyway, I made, with the help of my wife, a desoldering braid, got everything together and went to work. The old, green ceramic caps came out with no problems- the solder cleaned up well and I decided to clean up the other wire present on thepots that share a terminal with the cap, as the wire, although soldered, was frayed and looked sloppy. After re-twisting the (I believe it is a ground wire)and reinserting, then inserting the cap wires (and arranging everything- it's tighter in there than it first appeared) I soldered in the new caps. Went pretty well- I must note here that the barrell of the soldering iron gets VERY hot- something to consider as I was concentrating on the tip / soldering area, and at one point brushed up against the heavy duty shielding to/from the input jack, and it melted slightly, but not through. Visually checked connections- solder nice and shiney, no apparent cold joints, then I physically checked my work by gently moving the joints around- everything seems solid! I go to try her out, first the neck pickup...NOTHING! Ok...tried the bridge pup- everything seems fine. Going back to the control cavity- for the life of me I can't see a problem. HOWEVER- the new cap, on the neck pup side, I had moved slightly down and to the side, fearing that when I put the cover back on it might press against the new cap. I moved it up slightly and WHAM- the sound was there! Got out my head-mounted magnifiers and checked closely- the only thing I can figure is that when I had initially moved the cap back and down, I shorted it against the other terminal of the neck tone pot. Everything still as tight, but repositioning brought the sound back. Played it in all positions and everything seems fine now. I always like to critique, or have my work critiqued. I know my descriptions may (ARE) be lacking, but is there a better way I might have done the job? Tone: I believe that the addition of the Emersons was an improvement, at least slightly; the guitar has a lot of chime and harmonics to begin with. Now, on both pups, as I turn the tone progressively down, it seems to have more "clarity" even at the lower settings. When I get brave again, I'd like to install audio taper pots as I like the more even vol / tone settings achievable. Then again, depending on cost, I may just have a pro do it. The wires eminating from the pickups are THIN... Thanks for reading! Comments welcome... Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Hello Brian! Did You put insulation tubes on the capacitor leads? Cheers... Bence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Nothing on the tone side of the cap could do this. I suspect the volume side of the cap wire was shorted to earth, dumping all of the signal to ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Yeah ive been caught out a few times by a single strand of stray wire from the metal braiding.... they can sometimes seem to have a mind of their own :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvercrow Posted June 22, 2015 Author Share Posted June 22, 2015 Thanks you guys- as always good info.; I'm learning-sometimes the hard way! I'm guessing you are right Farnsbarns, and Rabs; yeah! This stuff does seem to have a mind 'all it's own' at times! @Bence- what a good idea! Question though, as the lead / terminal is being heated, what keeps the insulation from melting? Or is the insulation of such material that it's not an issue? I know, in theory, about heat sinks, but admittedly did not do anything like that on this job. I did use an alligator clip with some tape on the jaws to hold wires out of the way (and I STILL managed to melt the insulation as mentioned... ) I guess all is well that ends well- seems to be an otherwise good job and I'm happy with the tone. In the future, I'll be more careful and if I get brave enough to do the pots to audio taper I'll be doing a lot of practice soldering and studying. I have NO idea whether my wiring is vintage, or what configuration. I looked at some pics of wiring done by pros...good gosh! I'd like to have half of that sort of skill. Again, I don't do it for a living... (prolly a good thing!). Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Yeah the plastic tubes shouldn't melt unless direct contact with the iron is made... And as for heat sinks.. when soldering the caps on you should probably stick an alligator clip on the wire before it reaches the cap cos you can overheat them just from the soldering joint... Also yes... theres like 50 different ways (ok maybe not 50 :)) you can wire a guitar and it will still all work.. I myself don't really understand all the differences... like some wiring plans show the cap not going between the vol and tone pot but being wired directly to the back of the tone pot etc etc... Some of it I think depends on exactly how you want the pots to work like independent volume controls and stuff... Theres a good page here that has loads of different types.. I usually go for either 50s style or modern. http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/tonefreaks/558-wiring-library.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvercrow Posted June 23, 2015 Author Share Posted June 23, 2015 Yeah the plastic tubes shouldn't melt unless direct contact with the iron is made... And as for heat sinks.. when soldering the caps on you should probably stick an alligator clip on the wire before it reaches the cap cos you can overheat them just from the soldering joint... Also yes... theres like 50 different ways (ok maybe not 50 :)) you can wire a guitar and it will still all work.. I myself don't really understand all the differences... like some wiring plans show the cap not going between the vol and tone pot but being wired directly to the back of the tone pot etc etc... Some of it I think depends on exactly how you want the pots to work like independent volume controls and stuff... Theres a good page here that has loads of different types.. I usually go for either 50s style or modern. http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/tonefreaks/558-wiring-library.html Thank you Rabs! Really good page- diagrams even I can understand. I bookmarked the page... So I'm thinking that the wiring with 'independent' volume controls is such that in the middle selector position the vol pots work independently rather than interdependently? I'd have to check that out! Being a FNGG (friggin' new Gibson Guy) I was not aware of the interaction between the vol pots with the selector in the middle position. N/A for Teles; likewise Strats- only one Vol pot. Again thanks! Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvercrow Posted June 23, 2015 Author Share Posted June 23, 2015 Nothing on the tone side of the cap could do this. I suspect the volume side of the cap wire was shorted to earth, dumping all of the signal to ground. AND Rabs Quote; Yeah ive been caught out a few times by a single strand of stray wire from the metal braiding.... they can sometimes seem to have a mind of their own :) Being the night owl that I am...and being anal to boot... GOOD CALL, both of you! I had to have one more look-see before I'd be satisfied; not only was the 'tail' on the vol side cap left too long by me; there was also ONE strand of wire coming from the white pup wire that's soldered to the middle terminal, that had escaped soldering and was sticking out toward the cap wire as if on Viagra! Apparently when I 'straightened up the new cap it was enough to take care of both problems. So I snipped the extra cap wire back to the solder joint and unceremoniously snipped the stray pup wire strand! My thanks and utmost respect to both of you L.P. 'Doctors'! Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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