View Poll Results: I could _predictably_ just about install or replace
- Voters
- 83. You may not vote on this poll
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no electronic part at all
24 28.92% -
a pot or a cap
6 7.23% -
a pickup selector switch
2 2.41% -
all innards from individual parts
39 46.99% -
a self-configured superswitch
12 14.46%
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I don't consider an archtop to have any "electronics" any more so than the breaker box in one's home would be considered "electronics." A guitar is pretty simple; one or two resistors, a capacitor, a switch, a magnet and coil.
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02-06-2021 11:37 AM
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I definitely understand your point. But for the sake of fun discussion...
Originally Posted by icr
A 741 (or whatever) op amp is an arguably complex “electronic” circuit. But in practical use, the variables are minor at best.
But the seemingly simple high-impedance passive RLC circuit of a guitar (PU and controls, and cable, and amp input, and Pickup winding details, and pickup cover, and actual vs. marked capacitor value, etc.) can be remarkably complex in terms of notable sound differences caused by small changes in the components involved.
Now certainly run, do not walk, away from ass hat commentary like “Everything matters” in a passive guitar circuit - or the favoring of one capacitor technology over another.
But in practice, the actual parameters involved in a simple passive high-impedance RLC guitar circuit can be remarkably complex and decidedly “electronic”.
I really understand your point. But it may be that the components of a passive guitar circuit are somewhat important. Which is not to say that silly perceived differences in capacitor technology and such are actually a “thing”.
But some simple changes to a tone control, or a “treble bleed” with a cap in parallel with a resistor can yield remarkable results.
Fun poll.
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i bought everything and gave it a shot, but it just didn't take for me. maybe if i had "easier" projects to work on, but with so many semis and hollows that needed to see the tech anyway, i just gave it up and let him do it. it isn't difficult, but you need to put in the time, have some practice parts to get technique down and have a nice dedicated space where you can work freely, along with a set of those extra hands grabber things. i didn't have all of those things at the same time so it was kind of disastrous for me, soldering away on an ironing board in the middle of the living room on my day off. bad idea.
but if i had a bench and enough tools and worked my way up with baby steps, i might have turned out ok. and i just wasn't into it, so i'm fine with how things turned out.
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I'm so bad at it that I carried my guitar away from my amp without realizing that it was still plugged into the amp, and it ripped off the circular gizmo that's on top of the guitar jack.
All that's left is a bolt (or nut?) with a hex shape, inside a circular piece that has a lot of little ridges. The circular gizmo also has a lot of little ridges, and also another circular piece that has some threads on the inside of it.
I thought I could just screw it back on to the guitar jack, but I think I need another little piece that fell off, to screw it back on.
I've been able to plug the cable into the guitar, and still get a signal, but it doesn't hold steady, and breaks up a lot.
Does anyone know what the missing piece would be called? I assume you could buy it at a hardware store.
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In answer to the poll, I had to click on superswitch as I once modified a Godin Flat Five (precursor to the Montreal) with a multiway switch, plus those Seymour Duncan HB rings with the split/series/parallel option built in. I then added a piezo bridge as this was the standard Flat Five without the stock piezo. I worked out it had about 162 different combinations, 158 of which sounded identical ! So I love experimenting with new electronic configurations (just swapped the pickups on my partscaster Tele and added the 4-way switch option whilst I was at it), which figures, as I am an academic researcher and a Fellow of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). But, I hate soldering (I hate it even more when pronounced the American rather than the British way !). One of the reasons I hate it is that guitar circuits, in practice, are so primitive. I mean, soldering the earth wire to the pot casing ? really ? In any other branch of pro-electronics that would be not only laughed at but banned. What surprises me is that the innards of guitars appear to have been left half a century behind whilst the rest of electronics relies on beautifully designed interconnects satisfying stringent electronic and mechanical demands. Why has the guitar industry not adopted a standard (solder-free !) approach which makes servicing or customising an instrument so much easier ? It is certainly not because the crappy point-to-point wiring inside a guitar gives a truer tone, or any other of that bs.
Yes, I know that some companies do offer a neater interconnect system inside, but it is very far from universal and I have personally yet to encounter a guitar on which it came as standard.
Maybe I have just found myself a retirement project.
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The gist of the above post is HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Originally Posted by sgcim
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Is the jack an endpin, or in the lower bout? Your description doesn't give much information about what you're actually talking about. Way too little information. Perhaps a picture would help.
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The Lower bout. Originally Posted by sgosnell
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All I've seen there is just a jack, with a nut and washer holding it in place. Some guitars come with a metal or plastic reinforcement - square, round, or some shape - screwed in place, which holds the jack. I still can't quite picture what your problem is, or what the pieces might be.
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This poll made me laugh. Not only do I recognize electronics is not in my skill set, I caused one of the big blackouts along the east coast in the 60’s. I put a screwdriver into a plug socket in our basement and it threw me across the room. An hour later the entire east coast grid was down. Not one of my finer moments...
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If that was the one in '65 I had to walk home from City Hall Manhattan to the middle of Brooklyn on mostly pitch-dark streets. Got off a stalled subway car just a minute before the emergency lights died, last train to get into a station on that route. Caught a lift in a car that got stuck in traffic1/4 mile farther (traffic lights dead too) and then ran out of gas. The pedestrian walkway on the Brooklyn Bridge back then was full of broken boards too--not fun at night in the dark. Strangely a section of downtown Brooklyn was fully lit for a few blocks. Originally Posted by Bushwackbob
I have interesting and somewhat mixed memories of that night--glad to know what really caused it!
A few photos from the bridge in the daytime, also mid-'60's:
Danny W.
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Great story; fantastic pictures. Sorry for the inconvenience!
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I can do electronics and have quite good understanding of the theory.
I've built valve amps and done valve amp mods that I "designed" myself (nothing crazy complex though).
But I'm a bit short on general craftmanship skills. I don't know much more than the basics when it comes to washers, nuts, glueing, drilling etc.
I would not feel crazy comfortable working on electroincs on a guitar like a 335 where you need to feed everything through the F-holes. I could probably pull it off if in a scenario where it would be okay to mess up, but I suspect it would involve some trial and error and redoing a few times.
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Yeah, the piece is a round metal reinforcement that is screwed in place, which holds the jack, but it won't screw in. I mentioned it on another forum, and a guy said I needed some little piece that will enable me to screw it into the jack-hole that holds the cable end (jack). Originally Posted by sgosnell
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Is it like this? This is the common one, or one like it. The plate is held in place by 4 screws. The jack is held in the plate by a nut. It's common, and should be the same size from any source. Is the nut what you're describing? The outer edges are hexagonal, and the internal surface is threaded. These are available from many sources. If the nut isn't what you need, please try to describe it better, or post a photo of what is left.
If the nut is what you need, there should be a washer under it. You can get them here, in chrome, gold, or black. It's the same nut and washer which hold pots in place, in most cases, although some pots have different threads.
Guitar Parts Factory :: Washers
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39 years as a industrial electronics/instrument technician. Guitar electronics is day one.
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No, it's round with a hole in the middle that the plug end of the cable passes through so you can plug it into the guitar. It doesn't have enough area for any screws. My Barney Kessel had a square plate like that. This guitar is a solid body. Originally Posted by sgosnell
Is it like this? This is the common one, or one like it. The plate is held in place by 4 screws. The jack is held in the plate by a nut. It's common, and should be the same size from any source. Is the nut what you're describing? The outer edges are hexagonal, and the internal surface is threaded. These are available from many sources. If the nut isn't what you need, please try to describe it better, or post a photo of what is left.
If the nut is what you need, there should be a washer under it. You can get them here, in chrome, gold, or black. It's the same nut and washer which hold pots in place, in most cases, although some pots have different threads.
Guitar Parts Factory :: Washers
It's like a combination of the one on the bottom left; a dress washer with a nut attached to it. I don't have a camera now, but someone will be coming over with one.
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Well, then help me out! See above. Originally Posted by BBGuitar
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Zero electronic modification knowledge. I pay a professional for any electronic modification. And I’m not ashamed of that fact in the least.
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Oh, a solid-body. That part escaped me. Probably a Tele-style jack.
Like this? Electrosocket Jack Mount | stewmac.com
Or this? Jack Cup for Tele | stewmac.com
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Pictures? Originally Posted by sgcim
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I built my avatar guitar from a MIM strat body, Warmoth neck and pickguard, all electronics. Pretty easy on such a modular instrument.
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Yeah, but it's not as tall when you place the washer side down. I broke down and called the luthier that made it, and he said there's no other piece, and that I should be able to screw it in as is. When I told him it didn't screw in, he suggested rotating the guitar jack a little, but that didn't help. Originally Posted by sgosnell
He then said the threads were probably worn out, and suggested putting some sawdust and wood glue on them.
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This is ridiculous. Send a VERY clear pic of the problem. Nobody has any idea what on earth (or even in low orbit) you are talking about. Originally Posted by sgcim
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The only thing I can not do is wind pickups. On a car I can wire the whole thing except the motor windings and the coil. I can also wire a house.
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