"Blue Heeler" Bondi Blue GR-SF1: Pt1 Aspirations, Procrastinations, and Consequences

[Honkenstein]

"Blue Heeler" Bondi Blue GR-SF1: Pt11 Soldering of the Electronics

Well, soldering finally began today. I'll be onto the fret crowning shortly too, but here's what happened with the circuitry; The photo hopefully matches the instructional alternative 4-pot wiring for the GR-1SF kit ... and if it doesn't then please let me know. I did the requisite hooking up to an amp and plucking another guitar with its strings close to the new pickups. It produced adequate sound, but I'm uncertain about the effectiveness of the volume and tone controls, despite having wired it up "correctly". That remains to be seen ... or heard ... and I'm willing to hear constructive criticism.

Bad lighting of circuit and 3-way switch to pots done via spade bits (to be rectified/"permanenticised")


Some of my soldered joints were rather "flaky". Also, testing the circuit with spade bit connections to some components isn't a flash way to ensure good output. Therefore ...

I will rewire the whole danged thing in: Pt12 Re-doing the Whole Circuit

[Honkenstein]

"Blue Heeler" Bondi Blue GR-SF1: Pt11 Soldering of the Electronics

Well, soldering finally began today ...

Not happy with my wiring. Supplied wires a bit short for hollow-body and felt I had to improvise, adding wire.

My soldered joints were pretty decent. However, the classic tooth-based wire stripping isn't the best way to go, and I think I weakened some wires. That meant two of them broke off with a little stress.

The contact points on the 3-way switch are small and didn't take to soldering nicely so I jimmied around with some too-large spade bits to make the circuit workable for the test. Next time, I'll be giving the contacts a good "what-for!" with a file to get a better key.

My GR-1SF Gotchas
(1) pots - mine came with 2 log/volume and 2 linear/tone pots where it would've been better to have 3 log/volume and 1 linear/tone pot ... though some folk say all log pots is adequate. I've ordered another log/volume pot from PBG
(2) the "resistor fidelity upgrade" (treble bleed components?) - I didn't realise I needed 1 per pickup ... so I ordered another one of those from PBG
(3) grubby fingers - when applying the stain etc I managed to get smudges on the set neck glueing surfaces ... so use masking tape to keep those parts pristine ... or be prepared to use some acetone to clean it off

Many other things I would've benefitted from knowing/doing beforehand, thus avoiding other "gotchas". However, if you don't read up, then you have the fun of learning a harder way! 8)

I've also purchased some 10 ft of shield braided wire. Yes, I'm re-doing all my circuit work. I want it as good as I can get it without spending too much more on parts excess to what the original kit provided. Already bought some rubber tubing to assist with the pot/jack/switch installation.

I felt disinclined to buy a high quality set of electronics because they'd only benefit from correspondingly high quality PUPs ... and I don't even know if I've done a good job of fret levelling yet. But at the cheaper price point of being a kit, I can part with it more readily, hopefully benefitting an extended family member at the same time.

[Honkenstein]

"Blue Heeler" Bondi Blue GR-SF1: Pt12 Re-doing the Whole Circuit

Not happy with my wiring ... I've also purchased some 10 ft of ("vintage") shield braided wire. Yes, I'm re-doing all my circuit work.

Yikes! Needed to spend AUD ~$35 on a set of snips that would handle the s/s shield braid. Nice, clean cuts ... but most of the time you want to only go through the outer (s/s) braid, not the two cloth braided layers, so chomping half-way through sometimes didn't work. A classic hobby knife facilitated cutting the cloth braid away fairly cleanly most times.

After completing the circuit I tested it in an amp and positioned the pickups in proximity of another guitar's strings. IT DIDN'T WORK!!! No sound at all, for pity's sake. No-oooooo! Looked at the circuit diagram and my soldering ... all looked good! ... except it seemed like one or both of the treble bleed components got pushed back and shorted against the pot body. Bent it/them back into the clear. Tried the amp trick again and got a small modicum of sound.

There's no way I was going to go through a third complete re-wire, so if it didn't work when I installed it, then so be it! (sigh of resignation) So I installed it into the body, then set the neck with glue.

I'd used all of my 10 feet of the wire of the GR-1SF kit. None left. Small amount of waste. Enough "slack" in the circuit to not stress joints when installed in the body. Used rubber exercise tubing to get the components through their holes.

I think my soldering is pretty decent for an amateur!


Time to put it all together: Pt13 Neck Setting and General Assembly