Wiring for electric resonator

[andrewsmith]

Hello, I'm brand new here (redirected from resohangout!) with some questions about wiring up a solid body electric resonator. I bought a kit off ebay, and the guitar looks great. I'm currently assembling it after staining and finishing it, and will be putting the hardware on next. So far so good. However, I don't know anything about guitar electronics, and am at a bit of a loss. This kit didnt come with instructions, or even a parts list. I've got a humbucker, and what looks like some kind of piezo electric filament that seems to fit nicely under the saddle in the spider bridge. I've got three pots that came somewhat already wired, and the description of the kit said it came with a volume, tone, and blend control. Now I have no idea which one is which, but have some educated guesses, and I don't have any idea how to wire the pickups into the pot configuration. I'm mostly wondering if anyone has done anything like this before, and if they've got any pointers. I've been looking up wiring diagrams like mad, and haven't found anything exactly like what I've got. two of the pots say a500k and one says b500k, one has something that looks like a capacitor wired into it. If anyone feels knowledgeable about this and has some hints or pointers, they would be appreciated by this guy. 

[Michael Messer]

Hi Andrew,

I am writing to welcome you to our forum, not to advise you about your wiring which I am not at all knowledgable about. However, I know there are a few forum members who are knowledgable in this area and should be able to advise you.

Good luck with your project.

Shine On
Michael

[Stevie]

This is an uphill task because you have to make sweeping generalisations.
A is log and B is linear. Either will work, just the sweep of the changes will differ. American and British pots can tend to be opposite each other in this naming method, just to add to the stew! A ring out (resistance measurement of the centre tab to each outside pot tab at the halfway point) with a multimeter will prove what taper each pot actually has.
The one with the capacitor is going to be the tone pot.

Contentious point!!! If you are just going down the low volume level- bedroom noodler route then go for log pots. If you will be winding the wick up then linear pots might be a better choice, (but there are those that would disagree...)
The blend pot <probably> has only one wire soldered to the centre tab? This will leave you to solder the two pickups one to each of the outside track tabs.
The remaining pot (as Sherlock would have said) must be the volume pot.

Practice soldering a bit first. Don't move the joint while it's cooling. Keep a clean soldering iron tip. Scrape clean copper and plated surfaces prior to "tinning" them (pre-floating solder onto component before you solder anything.) Be careful not to get the pot cases too hot if you need to solder ground wires onto them because the tracks may be damaged.
You'll note that I have steered well clear of exact wiring diagrams because I don't know what you have or intend. For instance, modern or '50s pot wiring etc etc. As Michael says, good luck.


e&oe

[andrewsmith]

Thanks Steve! I think I've been able to deduce that you're probably right about which pot is which. In terms of running them together, does the circuit need to follow a linear path? I would guess then that I would want the blend first, then either the volume or tone? And for the pickups, can I run their grounds to the back of the pots as I've seen in many diagrams? The pots are already soldered together in a way that I can't make much sense of, with the volume first, then the blend, then the tone. I was thinking of taking them apart and starting from scratch, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to do that cleanly. You'e already made more sense out of this than I had to begin with, so I appreciate it.

[polly]

G'day Andrew, I've been tempted to get one of those kits. What put me off was the "please note, the kit does not come with instructions".
Anyhow, I can't help you with wiring, But maybe you can track down a diagram for a Dean resonator. They have a Pickup/Piezo setup with a blend knob. Goodonya.

[andrewsmith]

Hey Folks! Big shout out to Steve, who apparently explained in basic and abstract enough terms to make sense to me. I got it up and running by tearing apart the harness that it shipped with and started from scratch. That made the most sense, and now its up and running great. No hum (which I was having a huge issue with at first, until I switched to a better cable). Blend knob works great, the humbucker is a lot richer than I thought it would be, and keeping it about midway between the humbucker and the piezo gives a really nice crispness to it. Although the trial and error drove my wife and dogs crazy, I'm happy with my guitar. I'll probably tear it apart and do some final finishing tweaks and adjustments now that I know what I'm doing. The cone and spider it shipped with are of solid quality as well, but no name brands or anything, but sounds like a resonator unplugged and plugged.

[Stevie]

It's not possible to give specific instructions using words Andrew. For a start it depends whether the blend pot blends one of the pickups in with the other, or if it is intended to mix the two together like a pan control.

Despite what I have written about identifying the blend pot, if you arrange it all to blend the piezo in then you would at least have a degree of control over the relative volume of both pickups. Treating the blend pot as an individual volume pot for the piezo pickup would achieve this. Strictly speaking the blend pot should be a reverse log pot but that is extremely unlikely to be the case. Rothwell Products sell such a pot and I have used it with great success to blend in the neck pickup with the bridge pickup on a Strat with standard wiring. With a piezo, YMMV.

In an ideal world, you would (or should) have a preamp for the piezo. I don't recall you mentioning one? Combining a piezo with a "normal" pickup and getting a result that you find acceptable is going to be a bit of a lottery without some means to manage the impedance that the piezo is going to look into.

As the other contributor recommended, it would benefit you more by trying to find a suitable circuit of which there must be many examples on the internet. Is there anything on the kit manufacturer's website? Fender carry a wealth of circuit diagrams as do Seymour Duncan. I have tried to help you identify the pots but beyond that I cannot go from this remote viewpoint.

I'm no expert but whatever I write is always going to assume that you are familiar with principals that are second nature to me, and you probably aren't given that you've started the thread. A good example is writing "ring out" assuming that you know what I mean.

There are other forums (even on Proboards) that exist purely to discuss guitar wiring. Michael would not be best pleased if I linked to one of them on his forum!





e&oe

[andrewsmith]

Steve, it may be chance or blind luck, but the arrangement I constructed after reading your post turned out great, and did what I need with the instrument. I play in a little bluegrasss/country group and needed a somewhat lighter resonator than the one I usually play, and this did the trick. I don't know anything about ringing out a pot, for example, but I re-sequenced the circuit based on my understanding on what each pot is supposed to do, and grounded everything to the tailpiece, and I get no hum, all three pots function as desired, and the whole rig sounds great. Thanks again

[Stevie]

That's brilliant, and a relief too!
Well done indeed.
e&oe

[polly]

I'm glad you got the wiring sorted Andrew. I'd be interested to see some pictures.
Goodonya.

[pete1951]

Good that it all works well. You may have problems if you use very long cables, piezos don`t like long leads, so keep close to your amp.
PT
if your rig had not worked, I would have recommended 2 jacks, then the hum-b. could go through a standard guitar amp and the piezo through a mixer (via a small pre amp)