Vintage V950 re-wire

[GarethFlatlands]

The original active circuitry in this bass was pretty dire so I replaced the pickups with a Kent Armstrong P and J (bridge). These need adjusting as they're waaay too low (pics when I get that sorted). I also ripped out the electronics and intended to re-wire it but the large pots I bought were too big and ages ago I got round to buying 3 * 250k mini pots and a Russion PIO .47uf capacitor off Nick on here, and today I actually sat down and sorted it out.

I went with a Jazz wiring layout using 22 awg cloth covered wire bought off e-bay and this is what it ended up looking like.



I shielded the cavity with aluminium tape years ago with gaffa over the holes to avoid shorting. Not the neatest job ever (cloth covered wire is annoying to strip back without a decent precision blade) and trying to solder 4 separate wires and one leg of the massive capacitor to the case of the tone knob was a mission, but I plugged it in and it worked. Annoyingly the volume pots crackle when turned for some reason but it sounds really good when you've settled on a sound. Once the pickup height issue is sorted and a new set of strings bunged on and it should sound a lot better.

[icastle]

The pots probably crackle because of the fibres floating about from the cloth covered cable.
A squirt of switch cleaner should wash that away for now.

Cloth covered wire is best cut with a hot knife (it 'welds' the fibres and stops them from fraying).

[thepurpleblob]

I know I'm opening a can of worms but why did you use wire and a capacitor that wouldn't look out of place in a museum? Nobody sees it and you're just creating hassle for yourself (as you found).

[GarethFlatlands]

Thanks, I'll tidy up the wire with some precision scissors and give the pots a clean as I've got some switch cleaner handy.

In all honesty, I just searched ebay for guitar wire and bought the stuff that was most common at the best price. It wasn't an aesthetic or a misguided 'mojo' thing, I just didn't really consider anything else. What would you recommend for future use?

As for the cap, Nick on here was selling them around the time I was considering the rewire, it was the right value so I bought a couple. And to be fair, you've seen it!

[thepurpleblob]

Just the stuff you buy out of Maplin (for both the wire and the cap) or look up "equipment wire" on evilBay. None of it is critical. As you say, the important thing about the cap is that it is more or less the right value. The modern 'metal film' or polycarbonate (iirc) ones are probably the most stable but there's a load of nonsense talked about caps in guitars - and pots too for that matter.

Edited May 8, 2012 by thepurpleblob

[GarethFlatlands]

Yeah, it would have been tons easier to work with plastic covered wire as I've got some wire strippers that make the job a breeze but obviously don't work on cloth covered stuff. I'll consider re-doing it it a cleanup doesn't sort the crackling problem out as it sounds pretty good otherwise.