Wet Sanding

I tend to graduate in grades of sand paper as I work my way from the initial coats to the final wet-sanding of the last clear coats. Starting with 800 and working up to 1200. I use a wooden block when I am specifically trying to work out an imperfection, such as a run. I use a sanding sponge, a firm foam block, for most of the sanding, and sometimes, I just use my hand to conform to the curves of the body.

I use just enough water to lubricate the process and carry away the debri, some people use a drop of detergent to help with the lubrication. Her you can see I have sacraficed a clean soft rug as a work surface.

Polishing

There are many techniques and opinions regarding the best approach for achieving the final polish, and I do not claim to have 'the' answer. What works for me, after wet-sanding, is hand rubbing using rubbing compond, and then a combination of a buffing wheel and hand rubbing using Finesse-it.

Soldering Iron

A high quality soldering iron gets hot fast and allows you to make quick work of the soldering. This not only is a benefit to your patience, but it help reduce the likelihood that any of your pots or switches will be damaged from heat during the soldering process.

Pots, Switches and Caps

Everything makes a difference in the sound, even the wiring. CTS 250k pots are often used, but 500k pots are sometimes used (typical in Telecasters) and will change the sound. For single coil guitars like my Strat, the pot resistance should be 250K Ohm. The volume pot should be audio taper (also called logarithmic) and the tone pots should be linear taper. You can raise the value of the pots to 500K, but this will make the guitar a bit brighter, which you don't usually want on a Stratocaster (especially with a maple fretboard - which is brighter sounding).

You can see different capacitors in the picture above, and I tend to like .047 or a .064. Most guitars and basses with passive pickups use between .01 and .1MFD (Microfarad) tone capacitors (caps) with .02 (or .022) and .05 (or .047) being the most common choices. Larger capacitors will have lower cutoff frequency and sound darker in the bass setting because a wider range of frequencies is being reduced. Smaller capacitors will have a higher cutoff frequency and sound brighter in the bass setting because only the ultra high frequencies are cut. Strats often use a .022. Experiementation is the only way that you can find what works for your tastes in combination with your guitar.

Lastly, you might notice and unusual volume pot in the picture. This is a push/pull switch that allows the neck and bridge pickups to be mixed.

Testing the Electronics

Once I have the electronics soldered and installed on the pickguard, I use aligator clips and do a mock assembly so I can run the pickups and switches through some tests. Using a pocket amp, I test the wiring, pots, switches and pickups by validating that each pickup is working at the right switch settings. Success is measured by no unwanted noise, and sound only when tapping (lightly with a screw driver) the pickups that should be giving sound at a particular switch setting.

Neatness Counts

 

As I continue to assemble more and more guitar electronics I am finding that neatness really does count. You will have less chance of problems with your wiring, easier troubleshooting if problems do arise, and a much easier time of installing the loaded pickguard, if you take the time to trim each wire to length and zip-tie them together in a tidy path.

Here is a fairly clean and simple set of electronics on a early 60's style pickguard. The pickups are Samarium Cobalt Noiseless (SCN), so the each have three wires instead of two. Also, I employed a push/pull volume pot that works like a Stratocaster Deluxe S1 switch (connecting neck and bridge or all three pickups). Lastly, I installed .47uf Spraque orange drop capacitor.

All of this together was about $150 upgrade to a Mexican Strat that I have been building up as the guitar I am less afraid to get damaged. It sound fabulous and the $150 custom neck I put on in it (including vintage tuners) adds great feel and playability.

Copper Shielding

If you really want to reduce the chances for electrical noise, you can use SCN (Samarium Cobalt Noiseless) pickups and copper sheilding. For lots of ideas on customizing and improving your electronics, you should check out the great and in-depth resources at Guitar Nuts http://www.guitarnuts.com/index.php

Shielding Paint

Here is another body with the shielding paint being applied in an effort to reduce any electrical noise that may build up, especially with hot pickup and an overdriven sound. Patience is critical when doing this so that you avoid getting this shielding paint on your painstakenly and perfectly finished body (this was a copper metalic).

Neck Pocket

I use a Dremel tool with a sanding cylinder attachment to clean-up the neck pocket. It should be a good fit, too tight creates the risk of a cracked body, or at least finish. Too loose is no good as the neck alignment will not be stable and for optimal sound and sustain, you need the neck and body to be as intergral as they can be, given that the neck and body are not joined as solidly as they are on Les Paul or most PRS guitars.

Shielding Paint

I use a sheilding paint, which is water soluble, for the body cavities that house the electronics, including the the output jack. It helps alot if you start with a body that has the minimum amount of material taken out for the pickups and switches. Ther were bodies during the early CBS era that had one large all-purpose cavity for all the pickups, which was prone to electrical noise (hum).