Help me wire my first project bass, please!

[Lyle Caldwell]

I jump the middle lug from which volume pot middle lug to 1 and 6? Do I jump the wire from 1 to 6 on the switch?

Is the preamp output the white wire? And the preamp input the blue wire?

I'm sorry again...

You're making this too hard. Here's your diagram:

Remove the cap from the output jack.

The blue wire coming from the volume pots is the pickup out. Connect this to lugs 1 and 6 of the switch.

The blue wire connected to the Aguilar pre is the preamp input. This goes to pin 5.

The green wire connected to the Aguilar is the preamp output. This goes to pin 3.

Then run a wire from pin 2 to the tip connection on the output jack.

Then run a wire from pin 4 to the sleeve of the output jack.

 

[Lewis7789]

Thanks again Lyle, especially for being patient with me...

I'm finally done wiring this thing! I get the bridge and the rest of my hardware Tuesday from Warmoth then I'll fire it up. Thanks to everyone for all your help!

 

[Lyle Caldwell]

That's a beautiful wiring job, man, well done.

But you're not quite done. Notice the control cavity cover rests on wood, not the shielding paint. Even if the cover has foil on it, as it should, that foil will not shield squat unless it is in direct contact with the shield in the cavity.

Particularly with the Aguilar's Treble boost control, you'll want noise to a minimum, so you need to complete the shielding there.

 

[Lewis7789]

Blast!!! LOL, just when I thought I could button it up... I'll bust out the shielding paint and finish the top ridge to contact the shielding tape on the control cavity cover. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[needmoney]

So essentially the A/P switch is wired per the Aguilar diagram here with the ON/OFF switch?

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Also, in the diagram it shows the 2 batterys connected together, with the negative side on one connecting to the positive side of the other. But in your wiring you actually have both postives connected to the Red preamp wire, and both of the battery negatives running to ground. What difference does this make?

 

[Lewis7789]

So essentially the A/P switch is wired per the Aguilar diagram here with the ON/OFF switch?

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Also, in the diagram it shows the 2 batterys connected together, with the negative side on one connecting to the positive side of the other. But in your wiring you actually have both postives connected to the Red preamp wire, and both of the battery negatives running to ground. What difference does this make?

Yes, that's the diagram I went by. I just now noticed the battery wiring that you pointed out. The battery box comes prewired with two red wires and two black wires, not linked together like the diagram, that's why I just soldered the two reds together and the two blacks soldered to the output jack. I would assume that this would still work okay, god I hope so...

 

[Lyle Caldwell]

Nope. I didn't look at the battery wiring, sorry. But it should be red on one side tied to black on the other side, and the free red and black tied to the circuit for power. This is a series wiring and gives the full 18v.

 

[Lyle Caldwell]

Doing it in parallel as you did gives 9v but with twice the available current. So yours will work, and the batteries will last a long time, but the Aguilar would only be getting 9V.

 

[Lewis7789]

Ha! Blast again, That's not too hard to fix. I'll rewire it when the shielding paint dries on the ridge of the control cavity. No worries.


Thanks agian, Lyle.

 

[Lyle Caldwell]

Hey, think of it this way - you'll never make that mistake again.

So here's to new and exciting mistakes!

 

[needmoney]

Also do you plan on grounding the pots? Or are you just letting the shielding take care of that?

 

[Lyle Caldwell]

The pot casings are already grounded by the shielding paint, but he needs to tie lug 3 of each volume pot to ground, either at the pot case or with a separate wire to the ground lug in the cavity.

 

[Lewis7789]

Thanks for pointing these things out guys. I would still be scratching my head staring at a bundle of wires if you guys weren't helping me out... At least my next bass is going to be a breeze to wire up!

I think I'll just solder the ground lugs to the pot casings. Just jump a little wire from volume #1 to it's casing and volume #2 to it's casing? Should I connect the two pot casings together with a wire or will the shileding paint take care of that? I would run them to the star ground, but it was hard enough to solder 3 wires into the ground terminal.

Thanks again, guys.

 

[Lyle Caldwell]

Yup, and no wire connecting the pot cases is needed or wanted.

 

[Lewis7789]

Okay, I soldered the red wire (+) from the battery box to the preamp red wire, soldered the other red wire (+) from the batter box to the black wire (-) from the battery box, then then the other black wire (-) to the output jack for the 18v "series" wiring you guys explained. I ohmed out the wires 5 times before soldering anything to make sure it I was wiring the correct red and black wires together.

I soldered the gound plugs from each volume jack to the pot casing. The first one was a bit sloppy, but the solder and wires are secure it it ohms out okay. I was just a little paranoid about adding too much heat to the pot casings, but everything is secure.

Everything looking okay?

I'm also adding the coats of shielding paint to the ridge of the control cavity to contact the shielded control cover.

Again guys, thanks VERY much for your help. I'm really learning a lot and my next bass will be just that mush easier to wire. I know words on a message board can't thank you guys enough!

 

[Lyle Caldwell]

Looks great!

In future, you can just bend the volume pot lug over until it touches the pot case, and then solder them directly with no wire, but the wire works fine.

 

[Lewis7789]

Yeah, I saw that's how Fender did it on my MM Jazz, but the lugs are smaller on these volume pots and I didn't want to risk breaking something.

The rest of my hardware will be in on Tuesday, then I'll mount the neck and bridge, string her up and see if it works. Yikes!

Thanks yet again, Lyle and "needmoney".

 

[needmoney]

Hey no probs. +1 to what Lyle said, and don't worry about breaking anything, those little lugs are really flexible, although I understand those mini pot lugs are a bit harder to make contact with the pot casing.

Looking good!

If you wanted to test to see if it works without the neck and strings, just to ensure your wiring is all correct. Just pop a couple of batteries in, plug into your amp, and slightly tap on each pole piece with a small screwdriver, if you can hear the taps through your amp on both pickups, then all is good!

 

[emils]

Note to myself: "Never post any pics of your wiring jobs!"

 

[Lewis7789]

I tapped the pups with a screwdriver and heard some signal a few weeks ago, like you pointed out NeedMoney. But I wanted to finish mountin gthe neck and string it up just to be sure everythin gwas working properly. And it sounds great! I'm absolutley thrilled with the tone.

I can't thank you guys enough for all your help!!!

She's finally done. Just working on tweaking the neck and action.