The electronic portion of the guitar is
really very simple (see the schematic in
Figure 1). It consists of a three-position
selector 2P3T switch which selects the
neck pickup (for a more bassy sound) in
the forward position, the bridge pickup (for
more treble) in the rear position, and both
pickups together in the middle position.
The middle volume control governs the
overall volume of the guitar, and the tone
control rolls off the highs (via a first order
R-C low pass filter) as it is rotated counterclockwise.
■ FIGURE 1. Guitar schematic.
You can see the finished
wiring of the controls in Photo 10.
The two black wires are
connections to the pickups. The
middle heavy wire is the ground
for the bridge which is necessary
or the guitar will hum when you
touch the strings. The wire on the
left is the shielded wire going to
the output jack.
The orange item between the
pots is a 0.047 µF capacitor for
the tone control. NOTE: It is very
important to have a single ground
point for all of the wiring. This
helps to eliminate ground loops
and hum. Here, all ground
connections are soldered to the
back of the volume pot.
■ PHOTO 10. Control cavity wiring completed. Note all
ground connections to the back of the volume pot.
Sustain —- Length of time a string
vibrates.
Nut — The bit that is between the
fingerboard and the headstock that the
strings pass over and touch.
Intonation — Refers to the instrument
being in tune along the fretboard.
Bridge Pickup — In electric guitars, this
is the pickup that is placed closest to
the bridge
Neck Pickup — Refers to the pickup
closest to the neck.
Humbucker — A noise canceling twin
coil pickup normally associated with
Fender.
June 2013 37