Greg's First Build - LP-1MQ #151

Wokka - Yea! I did the cardboard thing and wired up nicely. In the end it all worked first go except for the knobs. But I thought I had been clever using the turned over diagram to follow the bouncing ball. Didn't realize I was looking at a diagram of the front of the guitar with turned over pots and bits.

Weirdy - Can I still just reverse two volume pots now you know I have wired the whole thing in reverse. The problem is a lug on each volume pot has been bent and earthed. I think I need some new ones. Should I get a couple of pots from Jaycar or should I get four new ones from PB? I can use the guitar with the reversing knobs in the meantime and change the pots when I get energetic.

Hi Greg if you are using the stock pots I would upgrade and get some CTS or Bourns mini pots from the PBG store and re-wire it when you get the energy. If you have used upgraded pots I would de-solder all the joins and re-wire it.

I will upgrade to the Bournes and have another go. After I have a play for a while first though. Should I upgrade the capacitors to the Orange drops as well. Then I would be ready to upgrade the pups later I guess. If so what mfd?

Hi Greg, good call, main thing is the guitar makes sound so play it in and enjoy your build.
Get the 500k Bourns pots and capacitors I would experiment as everyone likes different tones. I would experiment with a 0.047, 0.033 and 0.022 and see which you prefer. The lower the value the less highs that roll off so if you usally leave your tone setting on 10 all the time try a lower value cap will give you more tone control without getting too muddy.
Another option is Realparts sell a treble bleed capacitor costs about $10-12 from memory and when you back the volume off the tone still remains the same.

I think its .47Mfd on 500k pots? I think that's the figure I've seen bandied around? Or I could be talking out my you know what, not really au fait with the electrickery just yet.

EDIT: YEP! I was talking out my you know what! Thanks for the correction Wokka!

The wiring makes more sense with the new diagram. Thanks everyone for all the help. Made some noise tonight but heaps more setup to do yet.

0.022uF is standard on 500k pots for humbuckers. 0.047uF for 250k pots on single coils. The larger the capacitance value, the lower the tone control cut-off frequency.

All pickups have inductance, resistance and capacitance values associated with them which forms a low-pass filter with a resonant peak at the cut-off point. On humbuckers, this cut-off point is at a lot lower frequency than on single coils (which is one reason they don't sound as bright), so the tone control capacitor for humbuckers is normally selected to give a slightly brighter sound overall. But it is all down to personal preference and only really affects the sound with the tone control set near its minimum value. If you leave the tone pot set at 10, it hardly matters, as the full 500k ohm resistance of the tone pot means that very little of the high frequency signal is bled off (yes it does still have some effect, as the pickup will seem even brighter with the tone circuit disconnected - which you can buy 'no-load' pots for tone circuits, which when set to 10, don't connect the guitar signal to the pot's resistor track for a slightly brighter sound).

Done at last. Never thought the time would come. She plays and I am very happy with the finish and the quality of the sound. She it a straight out of the box PitBull guitar. She has assembled and intonated perfectly - for a rank amateur anyway but I could not have done any better.

Thanks for all your help on the forum. Makes the project so enjoyable and helps to quickly develop the GAS. I will be back soon. The electronics is a whole new ball game so I will need more advice that for sure.

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excellent looking build Greg well done, did you make the timber switch/control covers/truss rod cover ? they look great I never noticed them before.

Make sure you enter February GOTM, this is a definite contender !

Damn it I love quilted maple so will have to add one to my to do list ! haha

if the only problem with the electrics are the knobs are in reverse you can live with that for a while !