November 7, 2009

Wire It Up

Guitar Circuit Wiring Electronics, Epiphone Riviera P93, Video 88

At last, after what seems like an eternity of video editing, I’m ready to roll out this new series of videos about wiring up guitar electronics. In these videos, I demonstrate how to lay out the components, select wire, strip and tin shielded wire, solder the backs of the pots, arrange the bundles of wires inside tubing, wire up the pots, the switch, the tone capacitor and the jack.

Here’s the first part of the video, covering initial preparations, component layout and wire selection and prep.

88 Comments

John
December 9, 2009 @ 9:59 pm

Often the wire inside the PVC jacket is made up of several thing strands.
Is that what you mean? If so, yes it’s ok to solder the strands together.
If however you mean that there’s an outer jacket, and inside that there are
two separate wires inside their own plastic jackets (or a separate shield
around a center wire like I show in this vid at 2:50), then those are
likely signal and ground/return. Not ok to solder those together.

Reply
Corey Dobell
March 15, 2010 @ 3:44 am

thanks man but i think i fried the pots so im gonna ask family friend to
help mw

Reply
RATCHETEATER
May 10, 2010 @ 11:49 am

Man, you are good. I really dig your videos. Very helpful, well explained
and nice sound and video quality. Thanks for the service that you provide
to all of us guitar do-it-your-selfers out here. Keep Cool.

Reply
erick castro
July 29, 2010 @ 9:55 pm

Hey, I’m wiring a strat, too, but I’m changing the pickup selector switch
for three individual sliding switches, one for each pickup, but the wiring
diagram that comes with tex-mex strat pickups does’t help with how the
circuit goes. How should I wire them?

Reply
John
August 18, 2010 @ 5:17 pm

@Nicolauru – the outer diameter of my shielded wire is 3/32″

Reply
Jacques Doucette
September 19, 2010 @ 7:17 am

Wow. I feel like moron. I never though of using cardboard to lay out the
pots. I was drilling home in wood and putting the tips in. Using cardboard
and putting the nut on the other side makes so much sense. Thanks!

Reply
John
December 3, 2010 @ 1:54 pm

@dannyjonesband – in the US, against all reason- it’s pronounced “sodder”
without the L. My family is Australian, so I was raised pronouncing it with
the L (“sole-der”), and I have to really make an effort to say it the
American way. The English language is such a mess!

Reply
Bauss
January 13, 2011 @ 12:20 am

hi!!!!!!!! very good job!! can you teach me how to wire a humbucker and a
single coil in the same guitar!!!! thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reply
etguitar18
February 13, 2011 @ 3:12 pm

What gauge is the wire?

Reply
John
February 15, 2011 @ 1:12 pm

@etguitar18 – for short runs of unshielded wire, 22 gauge is fine – doesn’t
need to be heavier. for this shielded wire, the inner conductor is 26 gauge
which is wrapped in polyethelene, then wrapped in the braided metal shield,
and then surrounded in the outer pvc jacket- so the overall size of the
wire is much thicker, but the center conducting wire is thinner.

Reply
journeyquest1
March 7, 2011 @ 11:32 pm

I put new Dimarzio humbucker PUPs in my Jagmaster and want to shiels it. Im
not sure if the cavity is shielded or not? My friend who once worked for
Fender said that using shielded wires would eliminate most of any noise.
What do you think? How to go about grounding it?

Reply
John
March 8, 2011 @ 10:57 am

@journeyquest1 – for information on shielding the cavity, see the
guitarnuts website. shielded wire is good for longer runs, but unshielded
should be ok for short runs.

Reply
John Jarema
March 13, 2011 @ 7:16 am

hey man, i have an i banez that needs to be redone, originally it was 2
humbuckers, 1 switch and two pots volume and tone, i took out the tone,
switch, and neck pickup and my soldering skills suck. i know if i have a
good connection but i can never get sound, i probablly need a new pot or
somethin. i just need some advice on solderin, thanks john

Reply
Jctheclink
April 3, 2011 @ 10:53 pm

Where do you buy your wiring?

Reply
LoneRiderz
April 8, 2011 @ 6:49 pm

You should teach. You have a good voice and can explain things clearly.

Reply
786marauder
April 23, 2011 @ 1:36 pm

Hi John!! Thank you soooooooooo much for your reply? appreciate n valued
it, Thanks again 🙂

Reply
thefrenchman555
May 28, 2011 @ 4:40 pm

im building myself an explorer and im looking at buying the 500k cts pots
but the site im on doesn’t say if there for tone or volume, does it depend
on the way that you wire them to make them for tone or volume. PLEASE HELP

Reply
CHarlieM1726
May 30, 2011 @ 10:43 am

@johnplanetz hi i’m only looking to wire up just a bridge and a neck pick
up using a 3 way toggle switch, i would be using 1 tone pot and 1 volume
pot… how would i “modify” the circuit diagram if i’m doing this? 🙂
Thanks Charlie 🙂

Reply
John
June 7, 2011 @ 4:44 pm

@xXSup399Xx – see my channel for my video on ground problems. in short yes,
all metal parts of the guitar need to be electrically connected, and
ultimately connect to the ground lug of the jack. also be careful to avoid
ground loops when wiring it up. search for star grounding, etc for more
info. good luck!

Reply
b5b9
July 23, 2011 @ 10:36 am

Nice set of videos. Very well done. But please answer me this: Why not use crimped connection and stak-ons instead of soldering? You suggested using alligator clips to test the tone capacitor, so I’m guessing a mechanical connection will not degrade the signal.

Reply
John
July 25, 2011 @ 6:23 pm

@b5b9 – i prefer soldering. but there should be nothing wrong with crimped mechanical connections as far as sound quality- as long as they’re solid and won’t come apart with vibration and abuse and rock and roll! 🙂

Reply
jayjaded
August 29, 2011 @ 1:07 am

I think your videos are amazing! I am working on adding a les paul classic humbucker to a shecter ultra 3 that usually has mini humbuckers with coil splitting. Any advice?

Reply
ht448
September 4, 2011 @ 9:15 pm

Iv got a Huge Problem iv got two active humbuckers with a battiey pack 1 vol 1 tone and a 3-way but the prole is a little Computer Chip could you help me? Thanks iv been sherching for a year and a half now 😛

Reply
clanbigger4
September 5, 2011 @ 7:51 pm

I really don’t know much about the wiring of my guitar. But a wire has become frayed twice now by my guitar cable twisting around so that I get really ugly feedback or no sound at all. I’ve gotten it repaired but do you have any advice as to how to prevent this from happening in the first place??

Reply
- John
  November 26, 2011 @ 10:42 am
  
  @clanbigger4 – a lock washer under the nut of a pot or jack can prevent it from twisting.
  
  Reply
John
November 26, 2011 @ 10:42 am

@carricod000 -Yes, a single pickup guitar is a nice project to start with. I recommend you experiment with your circuit using alligator leads before trying to solder anytjing, to make sure you understand the circuit. It sounds like you need to do a little homework on the basics. See the FAQ at my blog at planez for some links to resources on books, wiring diagrams, etc.

Reply
- carricod000
  November 26, 2011 @ 1:19 pm
  
  @johnplanetz Yeah I finished your videos and saw that. Thank you.
  
  Reply
97warlock
November 28, 2011 @ 6:38 am

Can some1 answer this question plz:Im installing a 1 meg vol pot,4 wire Bucker …I bought 26awg single shielded wire.A single shielded wire has the Inner wire,AND the shielding which will be GROUND.thats 2 wires.I want to instal them to my Output jack one Hot,One ground …yet each has a center & a ground thats 4 wires total for just to lugs on output jack …HOW do I do this correctly? Anyone?

Reply
- John
  December 6, 2011 @ 6:13 pm
  
  @97warlock – use one shielded wire- the center wire for signal and the shield for ground. You can see an example of wiring the jack like this in part 5 of this video series
  
  Reply
SuperVanhalen1984
January 23, 2012 @ 2:40 pm

what id its a 1 volume guitar how do u wire it??

Reply
- John
  January 23, 2012 @ 3:50 pm
  
  @SuperVanhalen1984 – go to Guitar Wiring Diagrams Archive at guitarelectronics (link at my blog), and you’ll find all the wiring diagrams you need.
  
  Reply
rugbynut
January 23, 2012 @ 4:21 pm

Hey, I just wanted to say a massive thank you for all of your videos! I’ve recently just finished upgrading the circuitry in my guitar and as this was my first time doing anything like this, your videos have helped answer a lot of queries along the way, they’ve been so useful! If you want to follow my upgrade, I’ve blogged it on my blog: andrewhosker. wordpress. com

Thanks again!

Reply
- John
  January 26, 2012 @ 8:34 am
  
  @rugbynut – great to hear Andrew! Your blog looks great. I also enjoyed listening through some of your electroacoustic compositions.
  
  Reply
remymullet007
January 25, 2012 @ 3:39 am

Hi,
Great Videos by the way!
Couple of questions please…

What’s the best Soldering Iron to use please? (I have a Weller 25W and it’s a pain)

What Solder is best? (Mine doesn’t stick to the iron but falls off in little balls… 🙁 )

Thanks in advance!

Remy, London UK

Reply
- John
  January 25, 2012 @ 10:33 am
  
  @remymullet007 – I really like my Weller WES51 soldering station, with ETA, ETO and ETC tips I usually use 60/40 rosin core solder, .032″ (1/32″) diameter.
  
  Reply
Sylbi
January 30, 2012 @ 11:52 pm

hi john.. can i do this mod to my emg 81/85?.. and how do i go about it since it’s an active humbuckers and they are sharing one capacitor of .001uf, i meant the tone and volume.. if i’m not mistaken..please correct me if i’m wrong.. totally a nub in guitar modifications.. appreaciate your help very much.

Reply
- John
  February 2, 2012 @ 8:35 pm
  
  @Sylbi – what mod are you trying to do? If you want to replace pots/caps, start by understanding your current circuit, component values, etc. Keep in mind that active guitar circuits use different (lower resistance) pot values than passive guitar circuits. As for the single cap, I couldn’t say what that’s doing without seeing the rest of the circuit. You might look at the wiring diagram archive at the guitarelectronics. com for examples.
  
  Reply
  - klebfg9537
    February 18, 2012 @ 7:43 pm
    
    @johnplanetz Have you heard of res-o-glass guitars? Jack white is known for playing one. Well anyway, do you know if and how i would send the ground wire to the bridge if the bridge is a tailpiece and a bridge that is an archtop style bridge. Sorry I’m Decently New To This All
    
    Reply
    - John
      February 21, 2012 @ 8:41 pm
      
      @klebfg9537 – I’ve never had a chance to play a Res-o-Glas guitar, but I’ve seen Jack White playing his red Airline. Typically the ground wire is soldered to the bottom of the screw/stud of the tailpiece or bridge. If you were to remove the bridge and tailpiece, and pull up the stud/screw, you’d find a wire dangling down into the body, and soldered to a ground point.
      
      Reply
NESthebest83
February 11, 2012 @ 9:43 pm

I have a question , pls reply .i m a beginner i found ground wires from bridge,and from single coil pick up, now diagrams show only the ground wires from where i t comes ,But i dont know where to solder or where to connect ,pls reply not only for me but for beginners like me

Reply
- John
  February 12, 2012 @ 8:50 pm
  
  @NESthebest83 – all the grounds must be electrically connected to the sleeve of the guitar jack. Sometimes this means that some grounds are soldered to a back of a pot, which is also soldered to the jack sleeve/ground lug. For more detailed explanation- see my video about guitar ground problems at: watch?v=YSxXra9UN-0
  
  Reply
  - NESthebest83
    February 15, 2012 @ 3:45 am
    
    @johnplanetz Thanks ,God bless you,
    
    Reply
NESthebest83
February 21, 2012 @ 6:48 pm

Hi john,I have another doubt pls solve it,i found another ground wire from bridge,where i need to solder,is it solder to sleeve either to any of the pots or to knobs or to something pls reply.Bye the way nice videos John.

Reply
- John
  February 21, 2012 @ 8:24 pm
  
  @NESthebest83 – the grounds all need to be electrically connected together, and to the jack sleeve lug. An electrical connection is made when two conductors (wires or metal parts) are soldered together. So you can connect bridge to pot-back, and jack sleeve lug to the same pot-back, and you have effectively connected the bridge to the jack sleeve. Or you can connect the bridge wire directly to the jack sleeve lug. Just be careful to avoid ground loops- you can search for more info on that.
  
  Reply
wipers86
March 30, 2012 @ 8:48 am

how much difference can rewiring the guitar make ? what are the benefits of it ?

Reply
- John
  March 30, 2012 @ 9:57 am
  
  @wipers86 – some things are very subtle, other things are dramatic. see my video “Epiphone Electronics Overhaul, Before and After Comparisons”.
  
  Reply
NESthebest83
April 23, 2012 @ 10:06 pm

Hi john,can you make a video ,how to make a simple guitar electronic,which is not too complicated for the beginners like me ,A video with simple things like one humbucker,one tone,1 volume only, pls reply

Reply
westbohan
April 29, 2012 @ 6:29 am

im really mess up with my wirings… i have 2 humbucker and one single coil. the sound is so lame and the upper single coill is not working, how i can wire it? i have 5 way switch, 1 tone and 1 volume… please answer!

Reply
- John
  May 3, 2012 @ 10:50 pm
  
  look at the guitar wiring diagram archive at the guitarelectronics website. Find the diagram that matches your setup and study it carefully- make sure you’ve got it all wired up correctly. See the FAQ at my blog at planetz for other tips/resources.
  
  Reply
kaicho8888
June 12, 2012 @ 12:07 pm

I’ve enjoyed your capacitor videos…great job on it, BTW.

Just a little tip instead of laterally cutting the shielding of braided wire. After striping the outer plastic cover to expose the braid, you can bend the the hot conductor with the shield, and just pull the center hot wire through an opening through the shield braiding. That way you maintain the mechnical strenght of all the braiding.

Reply
EternalAwait
June 19, 2012 @ 10:15 pm

sorry for asking, but Im in a hurry and dont have the time to watch the whole vid now… but what type of wire do you recommend? what gauge or what specifications?

Reply
- John
  June 24, 2012 @ 9:13 pm
  
  22 gauge unshielded wire for short lengths. 26 gauge braided shielded wire for longer lengths. See stewmac for examples.
  
  Reply
Guitatgodpro
June 23, 2012 @ 2:12 am

@johnplanetz great vid but I have a question. I bought a guitar recently that had zero hardware on it. So I bought these cheap pickups from ebay for $15. I know what and where to wire, its just the pickups only have one single wire coming out of them. What do I do?!? They are humbuckers. I am also putting in 1 vol, 1 tone, and three way selector.

Reply
- John
  June 24, 2012 @ 9:23 pm
  
  In order for it to work at all, there must be both a signal wire and a ground wire. Is the wire coming from the pickup wrapped in a braided shield, like I show at 2:40? If so, the braided shield is being used as the return/ground, while the center wire is the signal.
  
  Reply
Guitatgodpro
June 23, 2012 @ 2:18 am

@johnplanetz also if I buy 2 b500k pots, could I use one as a vol and the other as a tone? Thank

Reply
- John
  June 24, 2012 @ 9:25 pm
  
  b500k is linear. I’d recommend audio taper “a500k” for both tone and volume, but this is a personal preference. See my other videos demonstrating volume and tone taper:
  watch?v=RdfIZEB2rdM and watch?v=7ANG3OrL5HI
  
  Reply
RTGuitar1
August 12, 2012 @ 6:51 pm

3:04 “take a pair of good strippers…” better call up tammy and amber i guess.. sorry couldn’t help myself. But good video series, My seymour duncans didn’t come with a wiring diagram so this series helped a lot.

Reply
liamzuid
August 15, 2012 @ 7:31 am

Hey, as a project I completely desoldered a guitar (very first one, so idc), Then I soldered it back up (I made a diagram that litterally said what wires go to which pot). I even retraced it 3 times, still the pickups aren’t even givind a noise when I tap them, and there is a hum going on, even though I grounded it.
Can you please help me?

Reply
- John
  August 15, 2012 @ 10:05 am
  
  Don’t be discouraged. Little mistakes happen, even when you’re more experienced.
  Could be any number of things. E.g. you may have drawn the diagram incorrectly, and so put it back together wrong (check the diagrams at the guitarelectronics wiring diagram archive). A signal wire may be accidentally making contact with ground (short circuit) – use a multimeter to check that everything is connected properly. Or you may have a cold/bad solder joint, use your iron to re-flow each joint. Good luck!
  
  Reply
  - liamzuid
    August 15, 2012 @ 12:10 pm
    
    My dad is going to help me measure it. My dad made a picture of how everything was connected and it was exactly the same.
    My dad did look at the wires, and they were pretty much melted, so he expects that somewhere a signal is making contact with the ground (like you said). As for the wiring part, I rewired it like 5 times the exact same way.
    Thanks for helping on such short notice!
    
    Reply
  - liamzuid
    August 15, 2012 @ 12:11 pm
    
    Sorry, it didn’t fit into one comment, so I made another one.
    Do you actually know how the current travels through all the wires? Are they like parallel to each other (pot for volume and pot for tone)?
    
    Reply
xxdrew333xxx
December 28, 2012 @ 8:31 am

AAAAAHHH!!! YOUR VOICE IS TRAVELING FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT!!!!!

Reply
Gbatman
January 24, 2013 @ 7:36 pm

What Brand Of Wire Do You Recommend And Where Do You Acquire Said Wire? Thanks 🙂

Reply
- John
  January 28, 2013 @ 10:24 am
  
  I don’t really know about brands of wire. stewmac sells shielded and unshielded, but in fairly long lengths. I’ve also bought 24 gauge stranded at pedalpartsplus. If you have a local electronics store, you can probably find something suitable.
  John
  
  Reply
TotallyNotFunny
January 25, 2013 @ 2:43 pm

Watching these videos is like watching the bob ross of guitar wiring. lovin’ it

Reply
Jack Wade
February 1, 2013 @ 10:29 am

I accidentally cut a 240v cable in the garage next to my Laptop, But the page instantly changed I was older and my daughter as tall as I am!!!! AWESOME!!!!!

I thought this was disabled years ago, but it’s still there!!!! DATA stored in the HALL EFFECT of electric lines jumps time

Energy Equals Life dot com

Reply
maximumpokertools
April 12, 2013 @ 4:00 pm

why can’t Americans pronounce solder 😉 it’s sol as in sole not sad as in sadder 🙂 great vid mate

Reply
- John
  April 16, 2013 @ 11:15 am
  
  Funny- I get asked this all the time, I need to add it to my FAQ. My usual answer: “In the US, against all reason- it’s pronounced “sodder” without the L. My family is Australian, so I was raised pronouncing it with the L (“sole-der”), and I have to really make an effort to say it the American way. The English language is such a mess!”
  
  Reply
  - Atmosferic Lightwood
    August 28, 2013 @ 9:34 am
    
    Mess ?-Only to people who don’t live in England,& who do not know,Solder &Cames have been used in Mfg’ of stained glass windows for appr’x 1000 yrs,(Go look English Abbeys 10th Cent.)Traditionally there have been slight &some wide pronunciation differences from County to County,as French & Flemish Glass artistes found much lucrative,constant work in England at that period,appr’x 900 were built,so of course French words filtered in-but our Roman heritage held; Solder is still used today in Uk.
    
    Reply
- d watson
  April 25, 2013 @ 1:02 pm
  
  Merriam Webster dictionary gives:
  
  Middle English soudure, from Anglo-French, from souder to solder, from Latin solidare to make solid, from solidus solid First Known Use: 14th century as soudure. So apparently the original pronunciation is more like sodder than soldier. Typo intended. 🙂
  
  Reply
  - John
    April 25, 2013 @ 1:37 pm
    
    Thanks Watson. I get this question about solder so frequently I finally added it to the FAQ at my blog, with references to some etymology and OED pronunciation, etc. Nevertheless, I still feel more comfortable saying it “sole-der” 🙂
    
    Reply
    - d watson
      April 29, 2013 @ 4:19 pm
      
      No problem mate. I can’t say it is wrong either way I just thought it was worth noting what the dictionary said. I was not trying to correct you either. I was brought up to say “sodder”. Thanks for the reply and a great video also.
      
      Reply
  - Atmosferic Lightwood
    August 28, 2013 @ 9:55 am
    
    ermm? Merriam Webster have missed a fact ! We have, I believe inherited Roman solder (solder) from about 54 AD. and much more so thro’ 8,9,10th Cent.The French word like ours,was an adaption of the Roman (Latin) who were prominent in France & Germany at that time also.( 14th-? ) I live about 2-1/2 miles from Portsea Castle built by Romans between 1700/1800 yrs ago-& we know they used solder. And, from an academic point of view,it does not matter a jot what it’s called,-every language has its I’D
    
    Reply
- supernanababa
  May 13, 2013 @ 8:58 pm
  
  i wouldnt know what you were talking about if you said sole-der
  
  Reply
sjeverett75
May 15, 2013 @ 9:01 am

Ha Im not the only one that was reminded of Bob Ross….and now we will solder all these happy little wires

Reply
John Ciacci
May 19, 2013 @ 10:00 pm

I’m Californian and we say (“sole-der”) even the guy at Radio Shack says it that way, a SOLE DAR IRON i never heard SOD DER in North American English?!

Reply
- John
  May 21, 2013 @ 9:38 am
  
  I’m in California too. My experience working in the industry here in Silicon Valley is that everyone says “sodder”. You and the radio-shack guy would appear to be the exception! 🙂 See the FAQ at my blog at planetz for some etymology and further discussion…
  
  Reply
Michael Stead
August 2, 2013 @ 3:41 pm

LOL at Americans trying to teach people how to speak English…. they don’t know what they are tallkin aboot.

Reply
RASP SCRAPE
October 29, 2013 @ 5:56 pm

Tinning is over-rated. It actually increases the potential of tinned tip to break. I am a Solder Master so trust me.

Reply
ghetto fabulous
December 25, 2013 @ 10:02 am

Hey John what is the difference on the tone pot you said something about
true bypass and no load can you tell me what that means, thanks.

Reply
Blendrix
April 10, 2014 @ 3:57 am

John, from one musician to another, I just want to say a very sincere THANK
YOU for making these highly informative, easy-to-follow videos! I’m in the
process of pursuing authorized repair technician certificates from some of
the major guitar manufacturers, and these videos have been extraordinarily
helpful in my learning process. Keep it up! 😀

Reply
Paul L
April 13, 2014 @ 12:24 am

With this kind of wiring do you need the 3 way switch? In this one vid the
guy had 2 pickups and 2 volume pots and he said you can play with the
volumes and find different tones between the pickups by mixing them. That’s
what I was trying to do. It’s for a cbg. Is this possible?

Reply
Bjørn van Rumpt
November 8, 2014 @ 4:21 am

John, i totally screwed up the wiring on my tele cos i wanted to install a
push/pull on the tone pot for the neck HB ( bridge is sc).
I have been trying to find a wiring diagram on the web but cant seem to
find the right one (knowing little of electronics doesnt help either).
Would it be possible if u could draw it up for me if i mail u the
components? Tnx in advance!

Reply
DALE97DSM
January 10, 2015 @ 11:48 am

Why 500k pots on Strat? Mine Are all Cts 250k pots with a in between 0.22k
capacitor ( for humbuckers) on my tone pot.

I recommend the push back braided sheilded from stew mac or ebay. Gives a
cleaner vintage look..

Reply
Gruve Digger
January 28, 2015 @ 4:29 am

Hello John. I was watching your first video when I noticed the guitar
behind you. I have a Peavey ‘Telecaster’ style guitar that has been
modified to use three pickups. It is faulty as I think it has been wired
incorrectly. Have you got the schematic for the guitar in the video? I’m
not very electronically minded but I am prepared to have a go at a rewire!
Thanks.

Reply
luix
February 24, 2015 @ 8:19 am

Hi, are you using caxial cable for wiring pots?. It´s ok to use coaxial
cable in case that i can´t find the “right guitar circuit cable”? Great
videos. Thanks

Reply
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Wire It Up

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