Running pickups straight to jack, through a cap

[line6man]

Wow! This is awesome. I can't thank you enough. Just a few quick questions, so I make sure I get this right...

The "output jack tip terminal" is the inside ring on the output jack, correct? And don't I wire the other part to ground? Or no?

Also, what do those two arrows mean? Do I wire those to ground?

Thanks so much.

The tip terminal would be the one that connects to the tip of your guitar cable.
The sleeve does need to be grounded. I usually leave grounding schemes off of my diagrams, because there are several different ways people can do them, depending on the instrument.

If you are mounting everything on a control plate, the jack should already be grounded through the plate. Some people argue over the importance of a soldered connection, so if you want to, you can also run a wire from the sleeve terminal to the third terminal of the volume pot. I don't think it matters though, the ground through the control plate is fine.

The arrows are the standard schematic symbol for a ground. You can connect those two terminals on the rotary switch to any grounded point, such as the back of the pot.

 

[ElectraPhoenix]

The tip terminal would be the one that connects to the tip of your guitar cable.
The sleeve does need to be grounded. I usually leave grounding schemes off of my diagrams, because there are several different ways people can do them, depending on the instrument.

If you are mounting everything on a control plate, the jack should already be grounded through the plate. Some people argue over the importance of a soldered connection, so if you want to, you can also run a wire from the sleeve terminal to the third terminal of the volume pot. I don't think it matters though, the ground through the control plate is fine.

The arrows are the standard schematic symbol for a ground. You can connect those two terminals on the rotary switch to any grounded point, such as the back of the pot.

So does the back of the pot in itself serve as a ground? Or do I need to wire it to the ground wire? (I'm asking b/c, since this is a jazz bass, there's a wire that leads to the bridge through a little hole that is the ground wire)

 

[line6man]

So does the back of the pot in itself serve as a ground? Or do I need to wire it to the ground wire? (I'm asking b/c, since this is a jazz bass, there's a wire that leads to the bridge through a little hole that is the ground wire)

The back of the pot does serve as a ground.

The wire from the bridge is the bridge ground, which ensures that your strings are grounded properly. That wire goes to the back of the pot, as shown.

 

[Emm9T]

And heres a plan for where the knob used to go...

coil a rubber tube around your cable that plugs into your bass. At one end next to the amp is a fog machine. stereo jack or something similar to funnel the smoke through the now open space where your tone usually goes. Instant win.

 

[ElectraPhoenix]

The back of the pot does serve as a ground.

The wire from the bridge is the bridge ground, which ensures that your strings are grounded properly. That wire goes to the back of the pot, as shown.

Oh... I didn't know that; I assumed that the bridge was the place where it was grounded TO, not that the strings themselves needed it... it all makes lots of sense now, thanks.

I just opened up my bass and took a little look at the switch... instead of those two terminals that are supposed to be grounded being grounded, they have little rubber sleeves on them. Does that serve the same purpose as grounding?

 

[ElectraPhoenix]

And heres a plan for where the knob used to go...

coil a rubber tube around your cable that plugs into your bass. At one end next to the amp is a fog machine. stereo jack or something similar to funnel the smoke through the now open space where your tone usually goes. Instant win.

Haha, that's a great idea actually..

 

[line6man]

Oh... I didn't know that; I assumed that the bridge was the place where it was grounded TO, not that the strings themselves needed it... it all makes lots of sense now, thanks.

I just opened up my bass and took a little look at the switch... instead of those two terminals that are supposed to be grounded being grounded, they have little rubber sleeves on them. Does that serve the same purpose as grounding?

Hmm, that doesn't make sense.
The neck pickup's - lead must be grounded in parallel mode in order to be audible.

As far as the grounding for the first position, the alternate way of soloing the neck pickup would be to simply leave the bridge pickup's hot disconnected, however, I prefer to ground it, so as to eliminate any potential for extra hum/noise from it.

 

[ElectraPhoenix]

Hmm, that doesn't make sense.
The neck pickup's - lead must be grounded in parallel mode in order to be audible.

As far as the grounding for the first position, the alternate way of soloing the neck pickup would be to simply leave the bridge pickup's hot disconnected, however, I prefer to ground it, so as to eliminate any potential for extra hum/noise from it.

Ok, gotcha. It all makes sense now; thanks so much for your help.

 

[madmatt]

Ok. So, I have an interest in running my bass without a volume pot, going from volume to a switch I have installed, then through a cap and to the output jack. So, no tone knob. My question is - what value cap works best in this setup?

Using a Fender Jazz Bass in a P/J setup.

As far as going with a permanent Cap value for a fixed tone output I have found a .0033 microFarad does a good job. It takes just the very highest frequencies out. Almost feels like compression to me, but it is not compression in any sense of the application.
On my Jag I use a switch which switches between either the .0033 microFarad, or a tone pot with a .022 microFarad cap. If I want the full signal I just choose the tone pot turned all of the way up. Normally I just use the permanent .0033 cap tho, it sounds good and there is no pot to load the circuit down. It also helps to get rid of some of the hum associated with single coil jazz pickups, but still keeps it bright.
I also did something similar on my P/J. I have each pickup going to one jack. I have another jack which, if plugged into, only sees the humbucker circuit and removes the humbucker from the other output. So it is like having an output jack for each pickup, which allows for some unique sound capabilities. When the circuits are isolated each one has it's own tone circuit: the P gets a switch with a .047 microFarad cap, and the humbucker gets a tone pot with a .022 microfarad cap. When the circuits are combined the tone controls are combined too, which means I can go from .022 all the way up to .069 microFarads which is all I need.
I can definitely tell the difference in tone when the P pickup is by itself versus having the humbucker circuit blended with the P circuit, which is a good reason for a three-way switch.