Re-building guitar help

run_into_the_rain

Hey I have an old no name guitar that I'm planning to fix up soon. Anyway, what I'm wondering curently is what to do about pots and a three way toggle. I don't really know anything about the numbers and resistances they are sold with. At every turn and flip I get all sorts of noise. It has 2 humbuckers and two tone and one volume knob. The tone pots work on the extreme which means the tone dosn't really change in the middle and dramatically on the low end. The volume pot is skrewy too. The middle gets quieter and then it gets loud again at 1. Also I would like some of your preferences on which pickups work well together.

exhausted

http://guitarelectronics.com/product/WDUHH3T1201

there's the wiring diagram and typical parts with values.

i've not bought from them though. i have bought from here:
http://guitarpartsresource.com/guitar_index.htm

can't help much with humbucker suggestions. the range of choices is enormous.

lucylespian

Choice of pick-ups is huge, as exhausted said. It depends on what music you want to play. A humbucker bridge and P90 in the neck is a great combinaiton. EMG active pups are super, they let you crunch like crazy , but you can clean them up with a little roll off on the volume knob, but they might cost more than the guitar is worth. If you hunt around on ebay, you will find plenty of options, lots of Seympoour Duncan and Dimarzio sets out there at reasonable prices.
With the pots, you might just need to roll them on and off a bunch of times, often that will clean them up. Pots get scratchy when left in one position for a while.

run_into_the_rain

lucylespian wrote:

Choice of pick-ups is huge, as exhausted said. It depends on what music you want to play. A humbucker bridge and P90 in the neck is a great combinaiton. EMG active pups are super, they let you crunch like crazy , but you can clean them up with a little roll off on the volume knob, but they might cost more than the guitar is worth. If you hunt around on ebay, you will find plenty of options, lots of Seympoour Duncan and Dimarzio sets out there at reasonable prices.
With the pots, you might just need to roll them on and off a bunch of times, often that will clean them up. Pots get scratchy when left in one position for a while.

A humbucker bridge and P90 neck is what I was thinking. Anyway If I do decide to just replace the pots should I use 250k or 500k pots and what exactly is the difference. thanks.

exhausted

generally 500K with darker pickups like humbuckers, 250K with brighter single coils.

http://www.guitarelectronics.com/category/wiringresources.1basicwiringfaqs/

run_into_the_rain

Sweet thanks. I guess that should get me started for a while

run_into_the_rain

lucylespian wrote:

Choice of pick-ups is huge, as exhausted said. It depends on what music you want to play. A humbucker bridge and P90 in the neck is a great combinaiton. EMG active pups are super, they let you crunch like crazy , but you can clean them up with a little roll off on the volume knob, but they might cost more than the guitar is worth. If you hunt around on ebay, you will find plenty of options, lots of Seympoour Duncan and Dimarzio sets out there at reasonable prices.
With the pots, you might just need to roll them on and off a bunch of times, often that will clean them up. Pots get scratchy when left in one position for a while.

I'm expecting to pay more than its worth. I think I about did that when I bought some picks to play

who's_pearljam?

I think before doing anything, try to clean the volume and tone controls. Start with the basics first.

Get some tuner cleaner from Radio Shack or an electronic supply and look for the holes in the bodies of the tuners and spray that stuff in there and twist the controls, spray them again and twist them again.
Dirt and gunk and corrosion from the years can cause those problems. Check all the wiring connections on what you have, too.
If the pots (Potentiometers, which are the volume and tone controls) are still bad then put some new ones in. Like Exhausted said, 500k for humbuckers.
Sometimes just raising or lowering the pickups closer or farther from the strings helps, and also adjusting the screws on the polepieces on the pickup. You can tweak each pole for each string.

If the pickups are not what you want,,,,, THEN go for new ones.

Great project and I love bringing guitars back to life! So may problems can be fixed by just cleaning and adjusting!

who's_pearljam?

Oh, and get this book. You won't regret it. :
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Books,_plans/Building_and_repair:_Guitar,_electric/Guitar_Player_Repair_Guide.html


And don't look at this site!
http://www.stewmac.com

run_into_the_rain

who's_pearljam? wrote:

Oh, and get this book. You won't regret it. :
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Books,_plans/Building_and_repair:_Guitar,_electric/Guitar_Player_Repair_Guide.html


And don't look at this site!
http://www.stewmac.com

Ah damn it The temptaition got to me. Anyway even if I am getting ahead of myself what kind of solder would you recommend using on the wiring. I live quite aways away from any Radio Shack or electronic store (this place is incredibly small) so it may take a while to get ahold of any cleaner. Who knows
Oh and I'm definetly grabing a copy of that book two

lucylespian

run_into_the_rain wrote:

Ah damn it The temptaition got to me. Anyway even if I am getting ahead of myself what kind of solder would you recommend using on the wiring. I live quite aways away from any Radio Shack or electronic store (this place is incredibly small) so it may take a while to get ahold of any cleaner. Who knows
Oh and I'm definetly grabing a copy of that book two

Plain silicone lubricant spray is a pretty good bet for cleaning and lubricating anything, and easiyl available. There is also a really good lubricant that locksmiths use, that I can't remember the name of which is worth owning.
ONe of the vomume pots in my new LP is stuffed as well. I bought a new one at lunch, so I'm looking to do some DIY as well. We'll see how that goes.

run_into_the_rain

Alright. I aught to be able to find some of that locally tomarrow

lucylespian

Locksmith lubricant is called INOX, they like it cos it does not gunk up locks. It is great stuff !!
Found the loose wire in me LP tonight. Dumb guys in the shop did not even know whether to use a long or short shaft pot in an LP. Turns out they sold me the wrong one, but luckily I don't need to replace it, just a solder broke in transit. I swear I like to think well of people, but that just plain shits me !! I'm completely over supporting local shops now, they can freaking starve for all I care.
BTW, I think we need pictures !!!!!
It's a rule !!

run_into_the_rain

lucylespian wrote:

Locksmith lubricant is called INOX, they like it cos it does not gunk up locks. It is great stuff !!
Found the loose wire in me LP tonight. Dumb guys in the shop did not even know whether to use a long or short shaft pot in an LP. Turns out they sold me the wrong one, but luckily I don't need to replace it, just a solder broke in transit. I swear I like to think well of people, but that just plain shits me !! I'm completely over supporting local shops now, they can freaking starve for all I care.
BTW, I think we need pictures !!!!!
It's a rule !!

Thanks I'm headin out to find some INOX and there will be some pictures along the way I'm sure. Even big name shops like to screw things up for me. I had Guitar Center order me in an amp when the one they sold me was completely shot. And of course I got home with it before I found out which is a 2 hr drive. Then they ordered the wrong amp the first time. It ended up taking over a month to get one that worked. Thanks

run_into_the_rain

So will this switch work for two humbuckers? It is an on-on-on.
http://guitarpartsresource.com/GPEL-AP027.jpg

ianvomsaal

run_into_the_rain wrote:

So will this switch work for two humbuckers? It is an on-on-on.
http://guitarpartsresource.com/GPEL-AP027.jpg

yes, should work fine (but it's kind of small).
Like I can talk, I'm actually using the same switch for a guitar that I'm building from scratch.
Lets put it this way, it's not the norm (probably why I'm using it).
You typically use a double-pole 3-way switch similar to this: Click Here: 3-way switch
I'll post PICS of my guitar when I'm finally done.
Cheers . . .

- Ian C.T. vom Saal

who's_pearljam?

Don't squirt graphite lock lube into your guitar controls! That stuff works well on the nut and the bridge where the strings pass by,though, but it's not for electronics. It'll ruin the pots.

If you have iffy tone and volume pots, use tuner cleaner and lube. There is corrosion and dust, and metal shavings inside those things from turning the pots in the casing, and the principle is to dissolve that stuff and clean it out. Graphite will just add to the gunk and it's an insulator and will ruin them.


You're probably going to replace the pots anyway eventually, but start with just spraying them first. Many a noisy guitar is fixed with a couple of squirts!

Also, for polishing, you can protect your guitar finish with Turtle Wax Express Shine. It works great and you can use it on acoustic and electric bodies.
No silicone should touch your guitar finish or moving parts. It's a great lubricant for other things in life, but it attracts dust and gunk and will dull your guitar finish.

You can clean a lot of gunk off your moving parts with regular lighter fluid for cigarette lighters. (Naptha) it's great stuff. Rossignol, or something like that.


Try cleaning the pots first and see what you get, and then we can go from there to fix your guitar up!