Hello, I am working on building the DMS-4 bass kit and notice that nothing in the search bar responds to DMS-4, nor do any of the wiring diagrams contain DMS-4.
Any hints on where to track down guidance with this model ?
Thank you
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Hello, I am working on building the DMS-4 bass kit and notice that nothing in the search bar responds to DMS-4, nor do any of the wiring diagrams contain DMS-4.
Any hints on where to track down guidance with this model ?
Thank you
Here's some links that might help out
https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...ead.php?t=9872
https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...ead.php?t=9627
https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...ad.php?t=11103
Hopefuly what you need is in there!
Thanks very much !
There is this bare wired section on the wires going to the switch. The fact it is bare implies it's expected that it will be soldered to something but I'm not sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by ross.pearson
Also when earthing to the bridge plate is it supposed to be soldered as well or just placed with bare wire? There is no obvious place to solder and being a large thick piece of metal, I'm not sure the iron will heat it enough and wouldn't it leave a visual heat damage ?
I can't tell what that wire is coming from or going to, so not sure what's going on there. If it came that way from the factory, I'd say it's just poor workmanship and needs insulating.Quote:
There is this bare wired section on the wires going to the switch. The fact it is bare implies it's expected that it will be soldered to something but I'm not sure.
The ground wire for the bridge doesn't need to be soldered, it just needs to make good contact with the bridge plate.Quote:
Also when earthing to the bridge plate is it supposed to be soldered as well or just placed with bare wire?
This typically achieved by stripping back enough of the insulation so only the bare wire is protruding from the hole in the body. 10-12mm should be plenty.
What I do is splay the individual strands of wire so they can lay flat under the plate. This eliminates having a "lump" under the plate and should allow it to sit flush with the body. The bridge will be tightened down with the mounting screws to apply enough pressure to hold the ground wire in place.
Unfortunately the forum search facility is rubbish, and will rarely find the short kit names. As McCreed has shown they are there, they just need to be found.
You are better off using Google, using the 'site:' feature e.g. 'site:www.buildyourownguitar.com.au DMS-4'
It looks like the main pickup wire from the split pickup is coming from the top pickup section. Better to rotate the pickups and have it coming from the lower section. The standard pickup wire length was obviously not long enough to reach the selector switch in its position on the lower front horn
The pickups are obviously different (single coils not humbuckers, so not 4-wire), but you can just use the FVB-4 diagram. The ‘hots’ from your pickups go to the switch lugs, and you can connect their grounds to the switch’s ground lug which then has a wire running to the back of the volume pot.
Because you have single wire + screen pickup leads, you only have the hot and the screen/ground connections to make. So in the diagram, the green + bare (braid) connection to ground is just the braid/bare wire alone, and there are no extra red and white wires. The ventral white wire is your 'hot'. The braid wire needs to be connected to ground, so take the leads to the switch, then solder the braids to the ground tab of the selector switch (the tab shown on the right of the switch in the diagram), along with a ground wire leading back to the back of a pot on the control plate. As the braid is exposed and you don't want it shorting out a signal connection, keep the length of braid as short as possible and have longer lengths of the central 'hot' wire with its insulation, going to the switch tabs.
Thank you ! Got the bridge grounded now. cheersQuote:
Originally Posted by McCreed
Thanks for that detailed response, some of which is a bit over my head.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
I think I understand that both dual core wires from the bridge and neck picks up go to the switching pot.
I'm guessing the bare wire/braided bit gets joined either with the earth from under the bridge or soldered to the tab on the empty tab on the pot closest to the camera (that has been bent over and soldered to the body of the pot.
All the braided wires will be for ground, the centre core (white insulated) will be your signal.
In the case of that red wire coming off the pickup, they obviously cut it too short to reach the switch so joined it (really badly) to get the extra length. Whilst the exposed bare portion might not cause any problems if it contacts the shielding, it's bloody poor workmanship to leave it like that. They could have at least wrapped some tape on it!
Your ground wire coming from the bridge can be soldered to the back of either pot like the ones already attached there.
The braided wires from each pickup will get soldered to the single lug on the switch where the braided portion from the black wire is already soldered as well.
As it stands you could still slip a piece of heat shrink tubing over the exposed joint.Quote:
Originally Posted by McCreed
Okay, so I put shrink tube over the exposed wire and soldered up. I tested by tapping the pick ups with a screw driver and everything appeared to be working until I tried the toggle and it kind of jammed then kind of worked but I lost the bridge pick up signal. I quess the switch is faulty, I've taken the switch apart 2 times and it looks like nothing could go wrong....but it has.
Thanks for the assistance.
Those box-type toggle switches are prone to sudden failure. I have no idea why.
Looks like we've started the same kit around the same time - would you mind posting a picture of your truss rod nut? I can't get any of my allen keys to grab it, and I can feel what seems like thread if I use a very small key, so I'm worried my truss rod nut is missing... or that I'm doing something silly!
Mine looks like this:
Attachment 41353
They are normally 4mm or 5mm, but probably 4mm. Your nut looks very deeply burried, but there definitely is a nut in there. You may just need a longer key. Try using the long handle end of a hex key just to see if it fits in. You may need to get a hex key with two long ends. You can find them on eBay or Amazon, often labelled for acoustic guitars that have a body-end truss rod adjustment that has the nut inset a long way from the soundhole.
Thanks Simon, that's very helpful to know! Update is that I'm now thinking that I need either 4.5 mm or 3/16 in, because even though I can get to the nut, 4 mm seems too small and 5 mm too large; I don't have either of those to hand, so I'm going to grab one and have a go.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Because they are Chinese kits, they will almost always be metric, so 4.5mm will probably be the one. I have come across one 4.5mm truss rod nut before, but they are rare.
You should have got a suitable truss rod key with the kit. Have you checked the box for it?
Well, I feel sheepish! I’ve located the key from the box and then, confident that it was the right size, applied a bit more force… turns out that it was catching on the wood. Thanks for the advice, and helping me through my first newbie mistake!
No problem at all.
I quite recently thought a US Strat I was setting up was somehow missing its truss rod nut, as I couldn't get any of the normal sized hex keys to fit in. It was one of those with a rosewood plug in the rout with small hole in it so you can't see the truss rod nut properly. Turns out that they need a 3mm key, not 4mm or 5mm, which is why nothing fitted. So it can happen to us all!
The important thing to do is ask, rather than give up or try something that risks damaging the guitar.
Yes, at least your first inclination wasn't to reach for the hammer!!! :pQuote:
The important thing to do is ask, rather than give up or try something that risks damaging the guitar.
Glad you got it sorted btw.