YoshiBass #2: A Headless Xmas Tree

[yoshi]

It's all dead now.

if i run a wire from the white pickup lead (attached on the 3 way switcher) to the jack hot plug i get a sound though. must be some duff wiring?

do the 3 way selector units (pickup config switch and mid select) have a "top and bottom" or can they be wired in any rotation so long as the wire "pattern" matches?

The diagrams:

 

[yoshi]

... i think i put my volume switch in upside down so it was turned to 0% all this time. Oh my...

stil lwork to do on clarity but that seems to have been the main problem lol

 

[ctmullins]

 

[yoshi]

It's getting there! Some really weird - and quite frankly, terrifying - bursts of distortion on the mid knob. I think it's because it's a bit loose and is hitting the side of the cavity which is painted in conductive paint and grounded.

Also, there is sometimes a bit of distortion/clipping. I think i may have to dig out the router and bosh in another battery to boost it to 18v instead of 9v...let's see. That would get ugly for sure as I've contoured the back already...oops!

Main thing to do now is to drill a hole from under the bridge to the control cavity for grounding purposes. I also need to install some kind of fret markers on the top and intonate and set it up. Watch this space!

 

[yoshi]

Couldn't resist... here's some pics. Sorry all for the lack up photos between now and the last lot.

I've applied about 5 coats of tru oil, which is a remarkable product. I love it!

Here you can see the lovely tru oil effect, and also the body curve that that I nicked from my Warwick Thumb.

Hornet's nest...

Some more shots of the axe. Havn't put on knobs yet (black hardware, nothing too exciting)

Still plenty to do. And it's riddled with mistakes and ugly bits that I won't point out just yet,,,!

 

[Lonnybass]

Hey buddy! Looking good. Saw your note about the electrical noise and distortion. From the pictures it looks like you have a few exposed (and potentially cold soldered) joints that may be coming into periodic contact with shielding or loose wire. Not sure if you've used heat shrink tubing before but this is good way to make sure that your connections are protected, similar to electrical tape wrap.

I'm trying to remember how I did the pickup switch setup on my last bass, since it's essentially the same aside from the preamp…I'll take a look through the wiring diagram and see if it rings any bells!

Lonnybass

 

[JustForSport]

Oh, that's a nice finish- makes the most of the color and grain.

As far as the 'clipping' goes, the OBP3 has lots of boost avail and with hot pickups, it's easy to boost too much and create clipping at the preamp/amp. If you need the boost in part of the range, just lower the volume a little.

 

[yoshi]

Hey buddy! Looking good. Saw your note about the electrical noise and distortion. From the pictures it looks like you have a few exposed (and potentially cold soldered) joints that may be coming into periodic contact with shielding or loose wire. Not sure if you've used heat shrink tubing before but this is good way to make sure that your connections are protected, similar to electrical tape wrap.

I'm trying to remember how I did the pickup switch setup on my last bass, since it's essentially the same aside from the preamp…I'll take a look through the wiring diagram and see if it rings any bells!

Lonnybass

Thanks Lon! This is pretty much the first soldering I've done since school 15 years ago. I am an absolute amateur. I'm not sure what cold soldering is (I had a quick look on google). I used a cheap soldering iron and solder, and have some extremely messy joints! Can you apply heat shrink tubing to such rubbish soldering, or is it worth redoing them before applying the heat shrink?

Also, my pickup selector switch really does not seem to do anything: it sounds the same in all 3 positions, which is a little upsetting.

Oh, that's a nice finish- makes the most of the color and grain.

Thanks! I absolutely love the finish. I think I'm done with coats as I don't want to buff it out - I like the "shotgun stock" finish (not that I've ever seen or handled a Gun over here in England!)

 

[Lonnybass]

Thanks Lon! This is pretty much the first soldering I've done since school 15 years ago. I am an absolute amateur. I'm not sure what cold soldering is (I had a quick look on google). I used a cheap soldering iron and solder, and have some extremely messy joints! Can you apply heat shrink tubing to such rubbish soldering, or is it worth redoing them before applying the heat shrink?

Also, my pickup selector switch really does not seem to do anything: it sounds the same in all 3 positions, which is a little upsetting.

Hello my friend-

You definitely want nice clean solder joints that are well insulated. Cold soldered joints look dull and gray, whereas a good solder joint is shiny and bright. Are you using a multimeter to check your connections? That might be a good investment as well, just to check that everything is hooked up as it should. The heat shrink tubes are applied to one side of the wire before you make the solder joints, then you slide them over the top, and then use a little hot air gun to melt the tubing over the the bare wire of the joint. Easy, and looks great! But you'd need to sever your connections and re-solder them in order to get the tubing onto the wire.

The switch should DEFINITELY be making a noticeable tonal difference between the three positions. Something is wonky in there. Did you jump the switches to the blend pot?

Lonnybass

 

[yoshi]

Did you jump the switches to the blend pot?

I've just created this masterpiece to illustrate how I have wired it up! I am certain this is an accurate map of what I've got going on in there.

Is it possible to do the 3 way switch "upside down" ie the diagram shows the 4 PU wires go to the 4 bottom nodes and the top 2 are empty. Is it possible I've rotated the switch and put the wires to the top 4? NOTE: The 3 way switch in question is the one between pickup and vol pot and NOT the DPDT mid select!

 

[Jisch]

With a DPDT (dual pole, dual throw) switch, with the switch in the "up" position you're connecting both the middle terminals to the respective upper terminals independently (left middle connected to left upper, right middle connected to right upper), with the switch in the down position you're connecting the left middle to the left lower and the right middle to the right lower. Without knowing what the Aguilar needs it's hard to say, but that wiring configuration doesn't make sense to me, but it could be configured to work that way, I don't know. Essentially (if I understand the layout above) you are connecting GRN/ORG to GRN/RED and YEL/WHT to ORG/WHT in the up position and opening that connection in the down position.

 

[JustForSport]

Re: "Is it possible to do the 3 way switch "upside down" ie the diagram shows the 4 PU wires go to the 4 bottom nodes and the top 2 are empty. Is it possible I've rotated the switch and put the wires to the top 4?"

Either way, the tonal difference will be the same, just the toggle would be the opposite direction.

There are 2 types of switch like that.
One of them has no connection to the end terminals when in center detent,
the other has connection to diagonally opposite poles when in center detent.

 

[yoshi]

With a DPDT (dual pole, dual throw) switch, with the switch in the "up" position you're connecting both the middle terminals to the respective upper terminals independently (left middle connected to left upper, right middle connected to right upper), with the switch in the down position you're connecting the left middle to the left lower and the right middle to the right lower. Without knowing what the Aguilar needs it's hard to say, but that wiring configuration doesn't make sense to me, but it could be configured to work that way, I don't know. Essentially (if I understand the layout above) you are connecting GRN/ORG to GRN/RED and YEL/WHT to ORG/WHT in the up position and opening that connection in the down position.

Thanks for the help debugging thus far! Very keen to figure this out and hear those different settings..!

Is there another way you'd suggest wiring the pickup to the pickup config selector switch, and the switch to the main circuitry? I got the idea (shown in my digram above) from the original OBP diagram, but replacing the blend pot with the 3 way switch (direct to one pickup).

Just to reiterate and make things clear, here's Aguilar obp3 diagram:

Here's how I have done it, replacing the blend pot for 3 way switch

Re: "Is it possible to do the 3 way switch "upside down" ie the diagram shows the 4 PU wires go to the 4 bottom nodes and the top 2 are empty. Is it possible I've rotated the switch and put the wires to the top 4?"

Either way, the tonal difference will be the same, just the toggle would be the opposite direction.

There are 2 types of switch like that.
One of them has no connection to the end terminals when in center detent,
the other has connection to diagonally opposite poles when in center detent.

Would both of teh 2 types of switch have the same wiring pattern as shown on the nordstrand digram, or would it differ? How can you tell which kind of selector you have?

 

[Jisch]

If it's a DP/DT on/on (as specified), then it should have only two positions, one that connects the top and one that connects the bottom.

 

[yoshi]

...

OH! Sorry, my mistake - i have sent you on a wild goose chase. the switch I am talking about is the one that is between the pickup and the volume pot!!

The mid select switch works perfectly, sorry about that.

 

[Jisch]

What kind of switch is that?

 

[ctmullins]

Parallel/Single/Series is done with a 3-way, on/on/on switch.

 

[yoshi]

What kind of switch is that?

It's one of these:
"DPDT 3 position on-on-on mini toggle guitar switch"

from: DPDT 3 position on-on-on mini toggle guitar switch

 

[Jisch]

it looks like it should work to me! it should work regardless of which way you have the switch oriented, but I would ohm out the switch to verify the positions and connections. You do have the white wire connected to both the 4 and 2 terminals right?

 

[yoshi]

You do have the white wire connected to both the 4 and 2 terminals right?

NO LOL! I thought it reached over to the mid-left one...didn't even know a wire going to two nodes was "a thing". Does it stop off for a break at the bloody top-right then? How do you even do that: cut a bit of the casing to expose it then whack it down?

Is there any end to my novice-ness?!