Rewiring LP copy - what wire gauge and cap type/values?

[che_guitarra]

I've got a newly installed Phat Cat in the neck and a Custom in the bridge of my LP copy, and tomorrow i'm off to the local electronics shop to wire things up and have my axe ready for a weekend blast.



So my questions:


What gauge wire (and earth wire) should I be looking for? Currently braided wire is installed, but I want to ditch this in favor of color coded wiring so I know what's going to where incase of future mods (wise move, or should I stick with braided?). The wire I was looking at was 13 x 0.12mm (not sure what the 13 means). Otherwise 24 x 0.2mm is also available.


Also, i'm getting some 0.047UF capacitors as per schematics... what type? Blue chips (monolithic)? Green caps (metallized polyester)? Ceramic? They're my options, but I don't know which is for my purpose... and what voltage should I go up to? Previous wiring had 600V orange caps the size of jelly beans that looked a little out of place.



Any advice is appreciated

[che_guitarra]

And is it 0.047 UF, or just 0.47UF? Seymour Duncan schematics say 0.047UF, but a recent post kept referring to 0.47. Physics and mathematical defragulation is beyond me, so if this could be clarified for me too i'll sleep easy!!!

[blueman335]

And is it 0.047 UF, or just 0.47UF? Seymour Duncan schematics say 0.047UF, but a recent post kept referring to 0.47. Physics and mathematical defragulation is beyond me, so if this could be clarified for me too i'll sleep easy!!!

It's .047 MF on the caps. On bridge PU's, and especially something bright like a Custom (ceramic magnet), I use 250K pots & a .100 MF cap to warm it a little. I like the Custom much better with an A5 magnet (which makes it a Custom 5). With a C5 and 250K pots you get a warm, powerful hard rock/blues tone, if that's what you're after. I think there was just a thread on Customs, where forum members said that they liked it for chords, but not solos. What are you wanting to do?

On the Phat CatN you'll want 500K pots with a .020 cap to let more treble thru. Phat Cats have twin A2 magnets, which can make them dark in the neck position on some guitars. I replace one of the A2's with an A5, which opens up their sound & brings out the full benefits of a single coil. PM me if you need to know how to do this.

Without modding the PU's, you have a very bright bridge & a fairly dark neck. I always try to bring them closer in EQ, otherwise it can be nearly impossible to get an amp setting that works well for both PU's. The mods above will do that for you.

[che_guitarra]

Interesting... it's actually a Duncan Custom SH-5 going into the bridge (sorry - it seems the word 'custom' is in every second p/u name - confusing). I got this combo on the advice of the forum about a month ago. I've already got some 500K pots as that's what the schematics specified, so i've assumed Seymour knows best! But i'll try 250s if they don't get some sort of mojo happening for me.


That's interesting - the lower the cap value the more treble? I may try a few seeing they cost a pittance.

Replacing magnets sounds like an obvious tone booster, but i'm guaranteed to f**k it up if I try!!!



My style is pretty broad, but I mainly play low/medium gain rock through a Mesa Boogie Lone Star w/ MXR GT-OD overdrive pedal (OMG - the tone, the tone!!!). A bit of Hendrix, Page, SRV, Bob Marley, Brian Setzer, James Brown, Danny Gatton, Slash... I could list 100 but style wise these guys cover the bases I play.

[che_guitarra]

I guess I should take it from step one - after listing these influences and bits of gear, do I have the right pickup combination to suit (Phat Cat neck/Duncan Custon bridge)??

[uOpt]

The wire doesn't matter, except if your cavity isn't shielded then shielded cable improves things somewhat.

Capacitors for passive guitars are usually 22 or 47 nF. The 470 nF are for active guitars.

The kind of capacitor seems to be loosely separated into the small ceramic disks on one side and all the fat stuff on the other, as far as easily noticeable sound differences go. I'd slam in some $1 thing that isn't ceramic and go from there.