Wiring Diagrams

[joshj]

I had noticed this also, I have a spare three way but am unsure on if i can actually make a cavity for it

[keloooe]

you can drill a hole if you have the correctly sized bit

[joshj]

Yea I would need to buy one the right diameter

[keloooe]

i think the kit switches are 9mm... You will need to do more work though to get a cavity made to fit the large switch... a Switchcraft switch is better, as they are thinner...

[joshj]

Hmmm other option is put a third hole in the control cavity

[WeirdBits]

/<\\/p>[/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/]<\\/p>/Quote from joshj on September 6, 2013, 12:47
Hmmm other option is put a third hole in the control cavity

Either put another hole in the control cavity for the switch, or you could:
a) use a concentric pot as your combined volume & tone and use the other hole for a 3-way switch.
b) use push/pull pots for both your volume and tone so you can switch each pickup on or off.
c) rout out a small cavity for a side mounted switch and use a LP style jack plate to mount it (although, this will also require a path drilled for the wiring to the cavity, which could be difficult).

[WeirdBits]

Quote from Jimbob_Stone on September 6, 2013, 03:25
Thanks for the diagram, however as all the oomponents are covered by a wafer circuit board my only options are 2 squares on IN1 and 3 on IN2 or vice versa, assuming the neck pickup goes to vol2 (IN2) and the bridge pick up goes to Vol1 (IN1) is the 3rd square on Vol2 (IN2) earth if so does it go to the input jack.

Also is this what the spare Orange wire is for.

Jimbob,

I don't have one of these kits, but going by the circuit diagram it should be as follows:
1) Bridge pickup 'hot'.
2) Bridge pickup 'ground'.
3) Neck pickup 'ground'.
4) Neck pickup 'hot'.
5) Bridge/Tailpiece ground wire (orange?).



And the shielded cable is your hot and ground to the output jack.

It looks like there's a few variations of the basic circuit (cap placement, rhythm/solo vs tone switch etc), but I think the above is correct. Hope that helps.

[Jimbob_Stone]

Thanks Scott,

I had solder the first 4 points already in nearly the same order you suggested as guess (I have 3 and 4 swapped around, by Tailpiece do you mean somewhere on the input jack I think I had to do this on the Rickenbacher I put together back in April?

One of the switch permutations does result in a feedback hum which I think will go away once I use the orange wire.

Thanks again

[WeirdBits]

If you have connections 3 & 4 reversed then you should change them to match what I posted, otherwise the neck pickup will be out of phase in relation to the bridge pickup.

The Bridge/Tailpiece ground wire I mentioned does not relate to the output jack (not directly, anyway).
This is important: electric guitars and basses should have a ground connection to the bridge or tailpiece which then, through metal to metal contact, makes a ground connection for the strings. This does two things, 1) It helps to reduce hum. 2) In the event of a catastrophic short-circuit somewhere it should help to prevent the player from getting electrocuted (if connected correctly). It's unlikely that would ever happen, but it could, so you need the ground wire just to be safe. End of warning.

In most guitars and basses a ground wire is connected to the bridge (or a bridge post), but as the Beatle Basses have a floating bridge the ground wire would normally be connected to the tailpiece. This typically means that there is a hole drilled under where the tailpiece plate mounts to the edge of the body so that the ground wire makes contact with the plate, thus grounding the tailpiece and hence the strings. However, like I said in my other post, I don't have a HB style kit so I'm not sure if they have a hole drilled for the tailpiece ground wire or not.

If there is no hole pre-drilled for the ground wire at the tail on these kits you may need to consult the oracle, DB, and he can advise you what to do.

[dingobass]

The Oracle says drill a small hole in the butt end, you will need an extra long drill bit to get through the block.
Feed the wire through and solder to the ground connection on the control panel.
Strip the wire at the tailpiece end, have it protruding enough to make contact with the tail piece when you screw it down.