DMS-4 build in Tasmania

[Artherium Hum]

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

[ross.pearson]

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!

[Artherium Hum]

Thanks very much !

[Artherium Hum]

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!

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.

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 ?

[McCreed]

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.

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.

Also when earthing to the bridge plate is it supposed to be soldered as well or just placed with bare wire?

The ground wire for the bridge doesn't need to be soldered, it just needs to make good contact with the bridge plate.
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.

[Simon Barden]

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.

[Artherium Hum]

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.



The ground wire for the bridge doesn't need to be soldered, it just needs to make good contact with the bridge plate.
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.

Thank you ! Got the bridge grounded now. cheers

[Artherium Hum]

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.

Thanks for that detailed response, some of which is a bit over my head.

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.

[McCreed]

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.

[Rabbit]

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!

As it stands you could still slip a piece of heat shrink tubing over the exposed joint.