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jazz bass rewiring/improvement

heavyfunkmachin

heavyfunkmachin

Jan 21, 2005
1,276
500
42
#1
hi all!

I´ve decided to go a step further and re-do the wiring on my jazz bass. the plan is star ground it, change the pots to cts good ones and ad a push pull for series/parallel... and do it all on my own (hurray!)

now, I have some doubts... first of all, i have NO idea about electronics, though i´ve managed to change pickups in the past and so on... anyway...

pots: 250k? 500k? linear? log? i just want the good ol´jazz bass sound. im bumped by my mim pots... it sounds like 80% of the volume is in the 8-10 turn... so.. what whould i get?

push/pull wiring... how should i do that?...well, i guess the REAL question, oh, mighty electronics gurus, is... how the hell do i wire this up?? i want a vol/vol / tone with the tone being a push/pull phase switch... all of it star grounded...

i have the star gounding .doc document but it shows a blend/master volume/master tone wiring...

can you help me out?
 
#3
How many wires does a pickup have coming out of them? What brand are they?
Pots... it matters not. I like audio taper (which is standard), but I run vol. full out or full off. If you want to be precise, use linear.
Series/Parallel and phase reverse are two different animals.

I suggest doing a bit more research before you heat up the iron.
 
#4
ups!

pickups are fender custom 60´s, 2 cables i believe... black and white... i meant a "s-1 ish" switch... (series/paralel).... im researching, believe me. just havent found the exact answer yet... i though i would get a "short cut" by asking you people, SOMEBODY here has to know how to do this....

by the way... i found this, but i CANT understand it!!
;)
 
#9
You may be interested in this thread, regarding 250K vs. 500K and logarithmic vs. linear:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=494664

IMO A tone control is ALOT more useful when you have a linear taper.
FWIW, a standard Jazz bass is all 250K log. taper pots.

You may want to do some research on star grounding, as its all a load of crap.

I assume that by phase switch, you mean a switch that inverts the polarity of one pickup, correct?

I can draw you a diagram if you need it.
 
#12
GREAT!


im STARTING to get a grip of this stuff...

so basically, for the wiring i want to do i need a push/pull audio taper volume pot, a regular audio taper volume pot and an linear tone pot... all of them 250K... and [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] will be the basic wirinig, isn it?

by the way, what´s the difference between a volume and a tone pot?

and between a solid and a split pot?

and how do i combine all this with the star grounding system?

it has something to do with the ground wiring and not soldering cables to the back of the pots ("so nothin get´s overheated"?)

i know i dont have any idea... but believe me... IM TRYING! :rolleyes:

by the way, thanks you all so far.

i meant a series/pararell switch, so i get more of a p-sound and some volume increase, i believe.

p.s: rick, yes, im putting some time on this proyect because i like learning about my bass, learning by doing that is. i want an extra tone option (series/pararel) and i want a silent bass (i HATE flourescent lights! and hearing a "pop" sound when touching the strings)

by the way, english isn´t my mother tongue so please excuse my english mistakes :hiding:
 
#13
heavyfunkmachin said:
GREAT!


im STARTING to get a grip of this stuff...

so basically, for the wiring i want to do i need a push/pull audio taper volume pot, a regular audio taper volume pot and an linear tone pot... all of them 250K... and [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] will be the basic wirinig, isn it?

by the way, what´s the difference between a volume and a tone pot?

and between a solid and a split pot?

and how do i combine all this with the star grounding system?

it has something to do with the ground wiring and not soldering cables to the back of the pots ("so nothin get´s overheated"?)

i know i dont have any idea... but believe me... IM TRYING! :rolleyes:

by the way, thanks you all so far.

i meant a series/pararell switch, so i get more of a p-sound and some volume increase, i believe.

p.s: rick, yes, im putting some time on this proyect because i like learning about my bass, learning by doing that is. i want an extra tone option (series/pararel) and i want a silent bass (i HATE flourescent lights! and hearing a "pop" sound when touching the strings)

by the way, english isn´t my mother tongue so please excuse my english mistakes :hiding:
Click to expand...

There is no difference between volume and tone pots. Its the way that they are wired that makes the difference.

Solid shaft pots have a solid shaft. You use them for screw on type knobs.
Split shaft pots have a gap in the middle of the shaft, and some knurling around the edges, so that the knob can "grip" on. You use them for push-on type knobs.

Like i said earlier, you may want to research into the star grounding, as its pointless and will not do you any good.

There really is no such thing as a "silent bass" when single coil pickups are in the equation. I would recommend a good shielding job and a noise gate, but aside from that, your bass will always be noisy, because that's the nature of single coil pickups. If the noise bothers you that much, you are going to have to look into a humbucking Jazz bass pickup.
 
#14
i can live with 60 hz hum, but it should be silent when both pickups are full (or equal volume)


so... if i shield everhing and conect the shielding to the ground everhing should be fine? using that wiring diagram i mean...

by the way, if i wanted to avoid solderint to the pots them self, where do i solder those cables?
 
#15
heavyfunkmachin said:
i can live with 60 hz hum, but it should be silent when both pickups are full (or equal volume)


so... if i shield everhing and conect the shielding to the ground everhing should be fine? using that wiring diagram i mean...

by the way, if i wanted to avoid solderint to the pots them self, where do i solder those cables?
Click to expand...

The noise from both pickups on full should be about the same level as any other humbucker equipped passive bass.
It will never be totally silent, but you should be free of most of the hum.

I choose not to solder anything to the back of the pots on my jazz bass, so i routed all the grounds to the sleeve terminal on the output jack. (You cant see it, but there is a piece of copper extending onto the finish, that grounds all the shield work to the control plate.)
3173193354_9878dcfa67.png

3173195770_018749eda4.png
 
#16
hi all again, excuse me if im being somewhat picky... but i want to double check everything:

1- shield all the cavities and make sure they are all connected

2- get the following components:

PUSH/PULL 250K audio taper split shaft pot ( for volume)
250k audio taper pot (for volume)
250k linear pot (for tone)
.05 capacitor

3- conect everything using [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] diagram

4- be happy :hyper:

please, correct me if im wrong or thres a better way to do any of these.

im really thankfull for your help. :)

p.s. some last minute doubts:

the push/pull 6 connections thing from the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] is supoused to be drawn as seeing it from top or bottom? i mean...

like this:


thin cable 1 2 thin cable
white cable 3 4 black cable
__________________5 6 (connected together)
​
or like this:

___________________1 2 (connected together)
white cable 3 4 black cable
thin cable 5 6 thin cable​

i hope you can understand what im trying to ask :rolleyes:... the idea was to have REGULAR volume when bushed and to have the series/parallel thing when pulled up...


THANKS FOR READING SO FAR!!!! :D
 
#18
Either way will work - it will just depend on whether you want UP to be series or parallel. Not all switches are created equal. Worse case, the switch works backwards from what you expected. In that case, just switch it to the other wiring diagram.

Series will be when the middle switch lugs are connected to the two lugs wired together, if you want to check with a multimeter first.

The pickups will be either series or parallel - there is no "regular" volume. When in series, only the middle volume control will work.
 
#19
heavyfunkmachin said:
like this:


thin cable 1 2 thin cable
white cable 3 4 black cable
__________________5 6 (connected together)
​
or like this:

___________________1 2 (connected together)
white cable 3 4 black cable
thin cable 5 6 thin cable​
Click to expand...

Hi mate,

I think you should be OK with the SD diagram - I've done a similar series/parallel mod on a Les Paul copy.
As for your switch question, you just need to figure which contacts are connected when the pot is down, then you can figure the rest. You will need access to a multimeter with continuity tester.

- with the pot down (i.e. normal position) check for continuity between 1 & 3 and 5 & 6.

Whichever pair has continuity when the pot is down, connect your link wire to the other side - i.e. if you get continuity between 1 & 3, connect 5 & 6 together. If you get continuity between 3 & 5, connect 1 & 2 together.

The rest will follow on as in the diagram.

Hope this helps and good luck.

BTW I love the series/parallel switch on the Les Paul - makes it roar . . . :bassist:
 

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