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While finishing off the wiring inside the JB-4 I have been working on I was pondering why guitars still use solder to connect all the bits instead of connectors that clip together (like nearly everything else).
Can anyone enlighten me on why we still use solder? Is this a guitar idiosyncrasy?
Col it may be more to do with stubborn tradition than anything else. Thats just the way it has been done since Les built the log and Leo had his ideas about mass production.
I have found though that when you use connectors as with the EMG's going into my EXA, the standard cavities fill up very fast.
If you were building from scratch then you'd need to allow some more generous cavities for the BUs Boards, wider wire loops etc. I may be forced to employ my palm router strategically to adjust the fit of things and provide more room.
I actually just bought some of these to see how they work:
https://www.jaycar.com.au/fully-insu...-pk-8/p/PT4525
you'll all incur the wrath of the Master Luthiers Guild! For verily it is written "Thoust shall forsake all connectors be they spade or bullet for only soldering is the true way as bequeathed to us by Les and Leo."
Attachment 20115
Congregation: AMENQuote:
Originally Posted by Dedman
Seriously, why dick with fiddly connectors?
Soldering is easy peasy and far quicker than mucking around with crimpers and the like.
Connectors may rust with sweat, tears and moisture unless they are gold plated, which is more expensive. Vibrations and shocking could make the connectors unplug. Solder is your friend against those evils. Can anybody make it sound more biblical with references to plague, havoc, disaster, corrosion, corruption?
All good points in favour of solder, and in fact I solder every damn thing I can, even car wiring!
However... in a Westone Genesis II focus model that I happened upon in Christchurch, NZ some years back, the pickups are wired thus..
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u...pss0glpo2u.jpg
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps9e39a611.jpg
... and in fact, talking to the guitars' designer a few years later, I was told that it was to be able to swap p'ups out quickly. It works and has done for 30 years...
The same guiatr has little transformers atop the tone pots as well...
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u...psc4487b36.jpg
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps2ba9ff86.jpg
What do the transformers achieve? It is a very cool little set up but what does it do?
Only two wire connections on those, so they are inductors, not transformers. They'd form a more complex LCR tone control than the standard guitar RC tone control, and probably have the ability to add a bit of resonant boost round the cut-off frequency point.