Best wiring for an archtop

[AJBaker]

So, I'm looking for some recommendations for rewiring my old Ibanez AF75 archtop. I got it second hand many years ago, and it was the guitar I got some of my first good gigs with, that I was playing when I met my now deceased booking agent (died age 21 skiing, RIP), and it's the guitar that I meet my partner with (4 years and counting)!

These days out doesn't get out much, having lost its place to a tele and a strat. Still, I'll never sell it, and it is a great playing guitar.
A year or two ago, I decided to rewire it with quality parts, and try 50s wiring, and experiment with cap values. Plus, I decided to try roundwound instead of the flats that had always been on it.

Originally : small Chinese 500k pots, 33nf caps
I replaced these with : Bourns audio 500K pots, a 22nf and 10nf tone cap, and 50s wiring

Sadly, this didn't really improve the guitar, and it actually became trickier to get the sounds I wanted. Before, I spent most of my time in the middle position, and I'd blend the pickups to get the sound I wanted. Now the changes seemed more abrupt, and getting the sound I wanted became fiddlier. In retrospect, I probably should have just left it alone.

Still, this guitar deserves some tlc, even though rewiring a hollow body is a major pain in the rear...
Part of the problem I think is the taper of the volume pots; I'm guessing the cheap pots didn't quite have a true log taper, and were fairly close to a linear taper.

This is how I'm hoping to redo the guitar this time, now that I have a bit more knowledge and experience with guitar electronics.

- A set of leosounds PAFs; these are some very good, low output, non-potted PAF replicas I have in an Explorer. I'm hoping they'll feel more at home in the archtop.

- Volume pots I'm not sure yet, I'm leaning towards 500k linear, but I'm open to suggestions.

-Tone pot will be 250k Audio no-load with a 22nf cap. Still not sure if I want 50s or modern wiring.

- Finally, I'm hesitating between Gibson (2 volumes, 2 tone pots) and Gretsch wiring (1 tone, 1 master volume, individual volume controls for each pickup). Plus there are several ways of wiring a master volume.

- Also, I'm going to put back the flatwounds

I'm not looking forward to the fiddlyness, so I'm hoping to get it right the first time.
Thanks for advice, and thanks for reading all the way to the end of this post!

[charlie chitlin]

If a master vol is an option, I'd always go for that.
For me, the magic of a 2 pickup guitar is being able to blend them to a satisfactory tone, then adjust the volume with 1 knob.
I don't use pedals, so being able to turn it up with one knob is a real plus.

[AJBaker]

Little update: I got out the multimeter and the old pots, and I can confirm that the alpha pots are pretty much linear.

Now I'm thinking :

Individual volume controls with linear taper, tone pot with log taper, and if I put in a master volume, I think I'd use a log pot.

[AJBaker]

Originally Posted by charlie chitlin

If a master vol is an option, I'd always go for that.
For me, the magic of a 2 pickup guitar is being able to blend them to a satisfactory tone, then adjust the volume with 1 knob.
I don't use pedals, so being able to turn it up with one knob is a real plus.

Do you find having a master volume dulls the tone at all? I've been comparing the different wiring schemes, and some say that gretsch style independent wiring dulls the sound.

[Ricky D.]

Originally Posted by AJBaker

Do you find having a master volume dulls the tone at all? I've been comparing the different wiring schemes, and some say that gretsch style independent wiring dulls the sound.

I've never heard a Gretsch with that problem. My old Tennessean was plenty bright with the volume pots wide open. Lower settings did take off some highs, but not necessarily more or less than any other electric I ever had.

If you want to experiment, extend your wires enough to put the pots and caps outside the guitar for some old fashioned trial-and-error. Once you pick out what you want, you can install it all one time.

[charlie chitlin]

Treble bleed caps...

[AJBaker]

Originally Posted by charlie chitlin

Treble bleed caps...

Came across this today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vPgo...endscreen&NR=1

Might be issues with treble caps on several volume controls, but I'm not sure....

[AJBaker]

Originally Posted by Ricky D.

If you want to experiment, extend your wires enough to put the pots and caps outside the guitar for some old fashioned trial-and-error. Once you pick out what you want, you can install it all one time.

Sigh, sounds like a good idea. After I rewired it last time I swore I'd never get another hollow body. Such a PITA to work on...

[Ricky D.]

Originally Posted by AJBaker

Came across this today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vPgo...endscreen&NR=1

Might be issues with treble caps on several volume controls, but I'm not sure....

Put the treble bleed only on the master volume. Always use a 220K ohm resistor in parallel with the bleed cap to mellow out the excessive highs.

[AJBaker]

So I think I'm going to stick with Gibson wiring with the tone pots wired 50s style.
I'm going for linear taper volume pots, and I have the option of using 300k or 500k. The pickups are fairly low output and bright sounding, so both would probably work... Any suggestions?

[AJBaker]

...or 300k on the bridge pickup and 500k on the neck?

[AJBaker]

Update: I decided to not re-engineer the layout and I stuck to Gibson wiring. I wired it up on a cardboard template and hanging out of the guitar. Volume pots are 500k linear, which sound good and the taper is a lot better than audio taper in this setup. On Jefrs' advice I put in 250k tone pots, and I decided to use no-loads. I used separate cables to connect the pickups to the volume pots, this way I can coil up the pickup's own cable under the pickup and have an easier time if ever I decide to change pickups.
So far, I've put in the jack and made a first attempt at putting in the pots. Tomorrow I'll try again, but it's such a pain...!