Hey guys! Good news! I finished my first gitty with the exception of the electronics. My question is when I look at the pics of the wiring it appears that the black (gnd) is soldered directly to the outside case of the pot as well as the third lug. Am I seeing this correctly? And that in turn goes to the outside phone jack lug? Also on tuningsI really feeling dumb right here but when I see a listed tuning as DAd, what does that mean exactly when you have a uppercase (presumably major keys) and then a lowercase d? Is that a d minor or a d flat or an octave lower or what? What I did on mine was I used strings 4-3 and 1 and tuned the little E to a lower G and the others as D and G and the 1st as I guess is a B since it is the same note as the middle string fretted on the 4th fret. It doesn't sound all that bluesy to me any suggestions for an earthier, bluesier, tuning? I can't wait to get the electronics nstalled and hooked up to an amp! Will post pictures soon showing the inside and everything and a description of everything. thanks for you guys help with all my questions!!!
Ken
Replies
Well thanks guys. I believe I got the connections all in the right place and everything but I am having a severe problem. Every time I touch the strings or especially the tailpiece (which my jack/strap pin goes through) It deadens the volume on the amplifier and I am getting a lot of static through the volume knob apparently because I have to open it all the way and put something under the knob to sort of wedge it up to make contact and get volume. When I first hooked it up to the am I was getting quite a bit of volume with it turned all the way down and just using the amp volume but I could open the git volume up and really blast then all of a sudden it just took a dirt road and hasn't worked right since. I hooked another guitar up with the same cable and it worked fine so the problem is definitely in the cigar box somewhere . Any ideas other than replacing the pot? Is there any chance I might have burned up something in the pot when I soldered the wires? Also I am very disappointed in the fact that I purchased a couple of those tailpin/strap pin/jacks and the first one broke loose from the foundations inside so it is useless for anything other than a strap pin Who do I need to talk to about that and maybe getting a replacement? Thanks for your help. I will post some pics soon. I took some more of the insides while I had it apart.
Ken
Hi Ken,
It sounds like a defective pot, or perhaps a cold solder joint. Start by re-heating the solder joints to the pot with a bit more solder (flux) to verify that it's not a cold joint problem. Test the guitar again. If problem still requires the knob to be wedged in a certain position to work, then it must be a defective pot. I generally don't bother with a volume control on a simple piezo-based electric CBG. The amplifier usually is nearby and has its own volume control that should suffice. However, I usually have to turn the volume up quite high, and so I often hear some amplifier hum. I'm thinking I have a problem that would be fixed by a pre-amp, but I haven't gotten around to building another pre-amp (it's hard for me to buy electronic parts in China due to my poor language skills). The output impedance of a piezo pickup is quite high (a few Mega-ohms), while the input impedance of a guitar amp is quite low. The purpose of most pre-amps is to help match impedances, and some even provide some gain. I'm wondering if this might be part of your problem as well.
I have not tried the type of jack that incorporates a tailpin/strap pin so I don't know if they are a fragile component. I usually use the regular Radio Shack 1/4" phono jack which are designed to be mounted to a control panel (as opposed to being wave soldered to a PCB). If yours broke, you might try returning is to the vendor who sold it to you. Good luck with that.
-Rand.
Well I went back and reheated the joint on the pot and it seems to be working a lot better now but It still loses volume as soon as I touch the tailpiece or jack or the strings but the static seems to have disappeared pretty much. I won't be using that type of jack again unfortunately since they are rather pretty but hard to work with and very hard to hold still while you are soldering to say nothing of the frailty of the contacts. I'm posting a bunch of photos on the photos section now and see what everyone thinks. Thanks again for your help folks!!! Couldn't have done it without you!.
Ken
Hi Ken,
The ground wires are all soldered to a common point -- usually the case of the "pot" (aka "potentiometer" or "variable resister") so as to avoid ground loops. When doing this, be sure to use a file or rough grit sand paper to roughen up the pot's case at the point you want to solder the ground wires to it. It will solder a lot easier that way.
When tuning to DAd, the third string (the thickest one) is "D" (two semitones above "middle C"), then the middle string is tuned to "A", which is like 9 semitones above "middle C", and the first string (the thinnest one) is tuned to "d" which is an octave (or 12 semitones) above "D", your third string. I prefer calling this tuning: D-A-D', with D' more clearly marked as being an octave above D. This is probably the most popular tuning of the "1-5-8 tuning family" that also includes:
G-D-G', A-E-A', B-F-B', C-G-C', D-A-D', E-B-E', and F-C-F'
Maybe you can see the pattern. The second string is tuned a 5th above the third, and the first string is tuned an octave above the third, hence the name "1-5-8 tuning family". This turning traces back to mountain dulcimer "Mixolydian" mode tuning, and are used most frequently by people into folk music.
If you are into slide guitar and want that bluesy sound, I'd recommend checking out Keni Lee Burgess videos on Youtube. He also sells lessons on CD which are usually advertised on these pages on CBN. He's an active member here on CBN as well, so check out his personal page and various threads on "delta blues", "slide guitar", and "open tunings".
-Rand.
Thanks a lot Rand I really appreciate that. Yes I see the pattern. Now I can go get my piezo and pot installed adn take some pics of the isnide of the box and post the pics on here. I am quite proud of the results although I did make several mistake but I managed to overcome them. I'm looking forward to making a bunch more and selling them.
thaks again.
Ken