The Phoenix... the restoration of a rare custom-made "Thunderbird"

[drbassman]

Wow, Kenny, she's a beauty!  Nice work on this one.  Wish I could understand your wiring diagram!  I need a crash course in guitar electronics!

[Lightyear]

Yeah Kenny, she down right pretty! 

And, Doc, God help me, it's finally happened!  I understand Kenny's schematic!    Please send help

[Highlander]

My son, that's seven hail Mary's and fifteen how's ya father's...

Might get on with it... early finish due to lack of work today... now home and just gone 3pm

[Highlander]

Well, finally got the charcoal up to a high enough temperature to heat the soldering iron up... wiring all done... no new strings around so I slung the old set back on for now to do some testing late afternoon and all operational... got some nice sounds out of the old girl... now on the home-straight...

[Lightyear]

Well, finally got the charcoal up to a high enough temperature to heat the soldering iron up... wiring all done... no new strings around so I slung the old set back on for now to do some testing late afternoon and all operational... got some nice sounds out of the old girl... now on the home-straight...

Just in time too!  What with winter being just a couple of weeks away - your shed will be uninhabitable

You know the drill - post the pics with knobs and such in place

[Highlander]

There you go... a switch...



Just kidding... this is what I meant by a slight thickness issue...


... I ended up routing down the entire cavity and nearly lost it with the router...

Anyway... this is the back...


... and this is the front...


I was doing some sound-testing when I took this shot, and the camera went flat, with all the spares flat too... anyway, I was planning to wait for a sunny day to get some decent shots...

I have a few issues as when you turn either of the pots off everything shuts off and if both pups are running and I turn down the RD's pot there is an increase in output from the MB before it all shuts down... whatever, I rarely ever use a pot unless it is to shut the instrument off anyway, but... something to check on... overall, the range of sounds I'm getting a excellent... the RD is a peautiful sound in that body, and the Mudbucker is everything (and more) that I expected to get in a mahogany body... yes, I intend to post some samples at some point, but I need to finalise the wiring issues and get a new set of strings...

There are some cracks appearing in the cover of the Mudbucker, so expansion/contraction is causing an issue... it was only a temporary thing until I could arrange plating anyway... I may well need to create a black and gold plate for the 4 pos selector switch - I like the idea of the black switches (may change the pup selector for a black pin, too) but I may go for different knobs - black (with white, speeds) just don't look right, either...

[exiledarchangel]

Maybe those knobs would fit better.

[Highlander]

Not going to worry too much at the moment... I'm tempted to do something highly out of character as I suspect the differing outputs between the pups may be causing a feedback issue between the pots, so I may settle for a single overall volume and fit a tone control... any recommendations for a capacitor...?

[Psycho Bass Guy]

I have a few issues as when you turn either of the pots off everything shuts off and if both pups are running and I turn down the RD's pot there is an increase in output from the MB before it all shuts down... whatever, I rarely ever use a pot unless it is to shut the instrument off anyway, but... something to check on...

You have one or both pickups grounding through the pots AND each other. You need to ditch the inidividual wires and use a coaxial shielded wire for all the connections. You CAN make it work with separate lines for the hot and ground connections, but using a single shielded wire makes it much easier to make sure that all your connections are correct.

[exiledarchangel]

I always do star grounding on my wirings and never had any noise problems, maybe you should think to try it Kenny.
Here's some info. http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/shield3.php

BTW, tone control? You? It's a joke, right?

[Highlander]

I always do star grounding on my wirings and never had any noise problems, maybe you should think to try it Kenny.
Here's some info. http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/shield3.php
BTW, tone control? You? It's a joke, right?

Noise is not the issue and everything is grounded, it's the lack of any noise... The only reason I thought about the tone control is using the hole in the body as it's there now...

Now, PBG and Exiled...
1 - the RD pup screen grounds directly on the pot, the signal on one side of the pot with the output to the selector on the centre and to screen on the other side...
2 - the MB has a screen on the Belden which goes to the 4 way switch - the equivalent of the screen (black on the Belden) goes to a common screen point but the red (bridge side coil) changes how it connects, as do the other pair...
3 - the issue is common only when the pup selector is on both as the pots work as part of an individual circuit...
4 - the three green wires you can see running through to the common on the 4 way are all screen conns - it was just a convenient position to connect them...
5 - the choice of individual wires from the two coils on the MB was to enable the multiple options, and hopefully it should work, but it did not...?

PBG - you probably have the best circuitry knowledge round here - if you have a moment to take a look at my schematic and see if you can figure why it's doing what it's doing, I'd be obliged... I'll have a more in depth look as-soon-as...

Ultimately, this 'bird ran with one pup and one pot since 1988, so If I revert I'll still be happy - the sound-range I have right now is pretty phenomenal, and yes, I do intend to post, once I'm happy with the finished work...

[exiledarchangel]

Maybe if you add a resistor to the mudbucker output to lower its output? That may work.

[Iome]

You can check this link to see how to fix the different output from the pickups. If you scroll down you have the schematic http://www.lindersson.se/BASS/Flowerpower.htm

[exiledarchangel]

That's clever, install a low pass filter. But I would try a resistor anyway.

[Highlander]

... but I don't want to lower the MUD-level...