Guitar Wiring

[will.record.for.food]

Hi All

I cant really find a place for this post, so I figured here would be the best shot at getting my problem fixed. Earlier today I was given an older Kent guitar (not a plug....a real guitar ). The pickups were all loose so I figured the electronics probably werent in the best of shape...Low and Behold, most of the wiring is disconnected.

I am no engineer, and I cant seem to even find a basic photo on the internet of what a wired up guitar should look like. Ive found a few schematics, but im just a schumck, I have no clue what it means.

It has 2 single coil pickups...One of the knobs is missing, but I believe it has 1 vol and 2 tone (the middle one is missing, so It may be 2 vol and 1 tone). There is no switch.

If anybody could at least point me in the right direction, I would be greatly appreciative!!!

Jeff

[Soniccat]

do a google for guitar electronis and you should find all sorts of websites. It is not that hard but practise soldering

http://guitarelectronics.zoovy.com/cate ... resources/

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/tutorial10.htm

http://www.activeguitar.com/resources/s ... p?i=64&t=5

There are tonsa of them online. Hope this helps.

[Lunch Money]

A good place to ask if you still can't find your answer is at the project guitar forum--

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/

A great site with a great bunch of guys. I'm GregP over there if you happen to become a regular.

Even though they're not Dimarzio or Seymour Duncan pickups, the wiring should be the same, so check out those two manufacturer's websites and you're likely to find wiring diagrams.

Finally, a few diagrams can be found at the Stewart MacDonald website. Here's a list of their free information sheets: Click Me! Note that brand name is irrelevant, but you'll want to know what the pickups and components are. For example, if it uses 3 single-coil pickups and a 5-way switch, look at the Strat Kit wiring diagram.

Cheers,
Greg

[IIRs]

Low and Behold, most of the wiring is disconnected.

Does it actually work though? A common mod (especially for Les Pauls) is to disconnect the tone controls: most players leave them full up all the time, and some people believe the tone is improved without them.. if that's all that's been done, maybe you can leave well alone?

[will.record.for.food]

No...Unfortunantley it does not work...thats the first thing I did when I got it home. The springs were not in the screws where they are supposed to be...so I kind of figured beforehand that it would not work.

One of the pickups has NO wires whatsoever even connected to it, no wires are connected to the input jack, and some of the wires from pot to pot are disconnected.

LIke I said earlier, it has:
2 single coil pickups
3 knobs (possibly 1 vol 2 tone; or 2 vol 1 tone)
NO switch. Its a Kent (which i know is irrelevant)

Is there a way to tell if the mystery knob is a vol or tone without just wiring it up?

Thanks for all your help so far guys!
-Jeff

[Lawnmower Of The Damned]

The difference with a Les Paul is that humbuckers are generally very mid heavy, whereas single coils tend to be very bright. By not connecting a tone control you are adding more high-end to the pickup, which is fine on a humbucker, but quickly turns into overkill on single coils.

Soldering the guitar shouldn't be too hard, so long as you don't plan on doing anything complicated. Electric guitars really are pretty basic in terms of electronics.

One suggestion; unless you really want to keep the guitar stock (Which it's a little late to do it it's missing knobs and whatnot), you might consider replacing the pickups with some new ones while you're soldering anyway. As a general rule, the stock pickups on most any guitar aren't that great.

[ugo]

Is there a way to tell if the mystery knob is a vol or tone without just wiring it up?

check to see if its got a capacitor soldered to it. they often look either like a litte cylinder, or a square-ish chicklet. if it does, its probably a tone pot.

if it doesnt have that, and one of the 3 lugs is soldered to the body of the pot, then its a volume pot.

-ugo

[IIRs]

It has 2 single coil pickups...One of the knobs is missing, but I believe it has 1 vol and 2 tone (the middle one is missing, so It may be 2 vol and 1 tone). There is no switch.

2 pickups but no switch is interesting.. perhaps the third knob was intended to mix the output of the pickups? I've seen that arrangement in bass guitars anyway..

[pHz]

(moved from instruments to everything else)

[IIRs]

One of the pickups has NO wires whatsoever even connected to it,

This is bad news AFAIK.. I have a feeling it means a dead pickup..?

Unless it has solder points on a casing, but I only ever saw that on stock Les Paul humbuckers..

This is all from dim memory though, its years since I fiddled with my guitar pickups..

[Hink]

I've built many guitars and am a luthier (spelling ask away....what kind of guitar? What's the pick-up configuration? Active or passive (ie, does it need a battery?) How many volume and tones controls? (pots) I can make a diagram for you...

[Lunch Money]

To find out which are volume and which are tone is pretty simple-- tone knobs will have a capacitor wired to it and a volume won't. So, check the pots and find out out of the 3, how many have capacitors soldered to them.

My suspicion on how it's SUPPOSED to be wired:

-2X volume knobs; one for each pickup
-1X master tone control

Even if it's not, that'd be a good way to go about re-wiring it, which means you might have to take a trip down to Radio Shack and grab a capacitor. (or you might not, if it's already there!)

If you have a digital camera, take a snapshot of it.

Greg

[will.record.for.food]

OK...

It IS 2 Volume pots and 1 Tone Pot!!!

I do need to get a new pickup (at least for the one without wires), but one pickup is perfectly fine. I do work for a wedding photographer and we shoot digital, but unfortunantley I usually dont get to take the camera home...but I bet I can get my hands on a cheapo of a friends or something...Hopefully pics will be coming soon!

Thanks again!
-Jeff

[Lunch Money]

Are they standard-sized pickups, from what you can tell? Strat-sized single-coils are easily found, but Jag/Mustang and even P90-sized single coils are a little less available.

Greg

[Sleek Month]

Hah!

I just bought a Kent guitar in December that I had to re-wire. It was a hollowbody...talk about a nightmare!

One of the pickups on mine had no wires coming from it, and since the original pickups are part of the whole aesthetic, I decided to wire it up.

Here's the deal. (Should you decide to attempt this).

A pickup is just a big thread of continuous wire coiled around a magnet. The two wires coming off of the pickup are the two ends of that single wire.

The trick is to find the two ends and then solder bigger wires on them that go to the controls and, ultimately, the output jack.

When (and if) you find them, they will be covered with a thin layer of (usually) wax which will need to be scraped or burned off so you have something to make electrical contact with.

It's a very delicate operation, but also a very simple one. I did it, and ended up with a damn fine guitar, for which I only paid $75+shipping.



A picture of yours would be helpful...try finding the same model on ebay and posting it here (which is what I did...)

-S.