Strat Wiring - Capicitor? Input Jack Ground?

[showard44]

Sorry, no takers on the strat page, thought I might have better luck here.


So, I bought all American Made Pots and Switch and new chrome dome pickups and am redoing my squier with it all. I have got most of the soldering done except for the two tone pots. Am curious what the deal is with the capacitor? Looks like you just solder it directly to the neck tone pot (-) and to the neck p/u tone pot's lead (+). Why is it needed and only on the neck p/u tone?

Also, I have seen multiple diagrams of the wiring and I have one wiring diagram that shows the negative for the input jack connecting to the middle p/u tone pot instead of the volume pot. Does it matter? I am paying a little more attention to this because this was the wiring diagram I got with the pickups. But this particular connection doesn't have anything to do with the pickup connections.

Any help?


Thanks,
Steve

[JCollins]

The wiring schematic you have is for a vintage Strat. To save money, Fender used a single capacitor with both tone controls. Because there is only one capacitor, the two tone controls are wired in series. This works, but it doesn't really work as well as it could. If they had used two capacitors, one for each tone control, it would have cost a few more pennies, but the tone controls would have been more useful.

One end of the tone cap is connected to the neck tone pot casing (-), and the other end of the tone cap is actually connected to BOTH the #3 lug on the neck tone pot AND the middle lug of the middle pickup's tone pot.

Connecting the negative of the jack to the tone pot casing is the same as connecting it to the volume casing. It is just more convenient. The pickguard, on which all of these controls are mounted, is backed by conductive foil. This means that all pot casings are connected to each other, since each pot casing comes in contact with the foil. Grounding one pot casing grounds them all.

If you are interested in a slightly different wiring, using a second tone cap, I've included it. In this wiring, you'll also be able to control the tone of the bridge pickup. (Vintage Strat wiring does not give you this ability.) In this diagram, the middle control is a tone control for both the neck and middle pickups, and the outside control is a tone control for the bridge. If you use a five-way switch, the middle+bridge position will be affected by both tone controls. (This doesn't both me, because my Strat has a three-way switch -- I never use the inbetween positions.) Also, this diagram shows two different cap values -- the .1uF is the vintage value, and the .047uF is the value commonly found on older Teles. These values are not etched in stone. You can use whatever values you want, and the two values can be different. Currently, I am using .022uF caps in each position.

[showard44]

Thanks very much for the useful info. Unfortunately, I read it to late. I completed all the wiring as I explained. Now, I am a first timer, so I wasn't going to be too discouraged if I plugged her up and it didn't go so well and I am glad I had this attitude. I plugged it up and I am having some serious ground issues. It is so bad I'm not sure were to start. I was hoping it would be the ground to the input jack running to the mid tone control, but by your explination, that is no big deal. I was also hoping the off value capacitor may have had something to do with it (don't know why) as I am using .033, but sounds like that isn't that big of a deal either. Since I am getting that horrible buzz, can I assume it is a ground problem and not a hot lead problem? I hope I could at least narrow it down to half of the wires. And as it seems I have my wiring correct, I assume it is a solder joint problem? I had a tough time with the 6 ground wires going on the volume pot from the pickups, that was a little ugly. I could try redoing that one.

One other thing though, if the pot casing isn't touching the shielding, would this give me these issues?

Thanks for any help in advance, maybe not any idiot with a soldering gun can do this stuff.

Steve

[showard44]

also, the lugs on the input jack seem to be the same. I can hook the ground or hot up to either right?

And I also have a pickup wire that I think I cut too short and it isn't going to make it to the switch in the body cavity and has to run up were it soundn't. Can I simply cut it and solder on more wire, or should I handle it differently as it is coming from the pickup?

[JCollins]

The ring of the input jack must be connected to ground. The tip is hot.

Yes, you can splice on a bit of wire. Just make sure you tape the splice, or use some heat shrink insulation on the joint, so that it doesn't accidentally short anything.

[JCollins]

The pot casing should come in contact with the shielding. Why do you say it isn't? Just by mounting the pot, it will come in contact with the shielding, unless the shielding has been pealed away, around the mounting holes. If this is the case, you can connect all the pots with an extra wire. It wouldn't hurt to ground the switch, as well, as long as you don't connect the ground to any of the lugs. Once again, the switch should come in contact with the shielding foil, by virtue of being mounted onto it. (By the way, if you use an extra wire to connect all the pot casings -- it could be bare -- this does not constitute a ground loop.)

If you have the ring and tip of the output jack mixed up, you'll get horrible ground noise.

[showard44]

I really appreciate the help.

I will look at it tomorrow when I get home.