Electronics upgrades

[sgriffiths]

Just about to pull the trigger on a purchase and have a couple of basic questions about the kits and setting up electronics.

- Shielding: I know I want to do it, but does is it best achieved with the copper shielding, shielded wires, both, something else altogether?
- Pots and capacitors: what sort of change is there to tone etc? Is it just a general improvement and smoothing, a good spend of a few dollars? Is there any sort of rule about which capacitors shift sounds towards different ends of the spectrum or styles?

[tonyw]

Which guitar are you thinking of buying? much easier to recommend values etc

[dingobass]

First, yes to copper shielding in the control cavity. I also like to use braided shield wire for he longer runs, such as from the switch on LP, SG and EX type Guitars..

Second, wot Tony sed

[sgriffiths]

Thanks DB and Tony.
Thinking a LP1 as a first build, aiming for classic blues-rock tones.

[wokkaboy]

@ DB it's really only LP builds that have a long run switch to control cavity. The SG and EX out of the factory have the switch in the control cavity, unless modified of course !
@ SG, yes to copper shielding, pot upgrades are worthwhile and not very expensive, as are caps so get 2 or 3 different value caps and experiment to find the sound you want
EDIT just saw you are looking at a LP-1, worth using braided wire for the switch wires to the control cavity and they are long runs

[tonyw]

Ok being a blues rock player myslef here's what i would do.

Shield the pickup cavities with copper, an easy job

I use Shielded braid wire, with some heat shrink around it so it doesnt short

pots 500k caps .022

[fender3x]

You can't go wrong with the suggestions above. I have also used Alu tape, which is cheap, but hard to solder. One of the most important things to do is ground EVERYTHING. The shielding, bridge, braded wire, pots, etc all need to be grounded to the ring on the jack.

Whether your caps are orange or green doesn't matter much, but the value does. .22 is a good place to start. Use a higher value to get a darker/fatter tone, lower value for a brighter tone.

500K is the standard pot for humbuckers. If that's too dark you can go to 1meg, if it's too bright go down to 250K.

Pots come in "linear" and "audio" flavors. For me both tone and volume have a smoother roll off with audio tapers. That said, with a linear pot the roll can feel like it's all in the first quarter turn--which some people like. You will for sure hear the difference between the two.

One thing I have learned the hard way is that not all pots that say they are 500K spec that way. I always check pots on an ohm meter before putting them in the guitar. If your 500k pot specs at 520K don't worry, but if it specs at 400K you'll hear a difference.

Pots also feel different. CTS pots turn harder because of the way they are constructed. Bourns (and most others) turn easier.

I have also learned to check with the ohm meter to make sure that what I think is an audio pot really is one. A 500K linear pot will show 250K when you turn it to the half way point. An audio pot will hit 250K well past that point. Not every pot stamped with an "A" is really an audio pot...

[sgriffiths]

Thanks all, very useful, I'll keep you posted on how it goes!

[wokkaboy]

well done Fender3x you made some very good points, I will check my pots on a multimeter next time I'm wiring

[dingobass]

I hear that Bourns have dropped the a & b designations due to there not being that much of an advantage in having them.
Perhaps one of our more knowledgable electrical gurus can answer this?

Anyhoo, I only use Bourns these days, unless I am working on a vintage axe in which case I try to match what was there.

Last batch of CTS pots I got were no better than Alphas, which I really dont like at all.. Scratchy and horrible to the touch..