Les Paul build -Hugh

[Hugh]

Wokkaboy / Weirdbits, am I hearing it right that pot lugs aren,t supposed to touch the copper shielding ?

[wokkaboy]

yes Hugh, if any pot lugs touch the copper shielding they will be earthed and short any signal.

put a screwdriver underneath the lugs and carefully bend them away from the copper

[WeirdBits]

You can also put some electrical tape under the lugs to insulate them from the copper shielding.

Which lugs are the pickup white core wires connected to on each volume pot, the middle or the left? It's a little hard to see in the image.

[Hugh]

The left Weirdbits
I got the guitar together and it is now playing.. With a couple of issues..
The neck pickup doesn't seem to want to play and there seems to be a lot of feed back or buzzing through the amp (from both pickups)
I did have to break some of the copper shielding tape to make sure it was right into the corners around the pots so it wasn't contacting any lugs. I don't know if that's enough to create feedback one noise??
I might try to reseal the copper lining tomorrow and then insulate the lugs with electrical tape as Weirdbits suggested..

[Hugh]

Ok.. So it's not going to win Guitar of the month, it hasn't quite got the finish or depth of colour I thought it would have in the end ...but it's finally altogether in one piece and it PLAYS!
There is still a problem with feedback or interference of some sort and the neck pickup doesn't seem to have much oomf, but it's up and running! Hallelujah!!

Sorry the pics are so bad but I Had trouble getting them small enough to upload.. Will endeavour to get clearer shots up soon.
Still need to set the intonation and adjust the truss rod, yet.

[wokkaboy]

well done Hugh I think it's a great looking build don't be so hard on yourself

few tweaks and it will be a cool axe

I'd enter it into GOTM you have a couple of days

not sure what's causing the feedback issues, try a different location from the amp and point the guitar in another direction. Should have nothing to do with shielding

[Hugh]

Cheers Wokkaboy, I'll keep tweeking it and I'll try to get some clearer pics up soon, having computer issues atm

[DrNomis_44]

Ok.. So it's not going to win Guitar of the month, it hasn't quite got the finish or depth of colour I thought it would have in the end ...but it's finally altogether in one piece and it PLAYS!
There is still a problem with feedback or interference of some sort and the neck pickup doesn't seem to have much oomf, but it's up and running! Hallelujah!!

Sorry the pics are so bad but I Had trouble getting them small enough to upload.. Will endeavour to get clearer shots up soon.
Still need to set the intonation and adjust the truss rod, yet.

If you are having problems getting pics small enough to upload, then try downloading/installing an app called Irfanview to your computer (assuming you can download pics to it from whatever you're using to take the pics), once you have Irfanview, use it to open the image file, then go to the Image menu and click on Resize/Resample, you want to have the image resized to at least 1500 X 1250 to be able to upload it to your posts as an attachment, hope that helps.


The feedback issue may be caused by the pickup being a bit microphonic.

[Hugh]

Cheers Dr. Nomis
I downloaded Infraview but the laptop died recently so I'm using the iPad
The 'feedback' issue is more of a buzz or hum when the guitar is plugged in, could it be an earthing problem I wonder??

[DrNomis_44]

Cheers Dr. Nomis
I downloaded Infraview but the laptop died recently so I'm using the iPad
The 'feedback' issue is more of a buzz or hum when the guitar is plugged in, could it be an earthing problem I wonder??

It does sound like an earthing problem to me, does the hum go away if you touch the strings, if it does, try using a multimeter to check if there's a ground connection between the bridge and a convenient ground point, such as the back of one of the volume controls or the sleeve connection of the output jack.