total noob question about single pick up for bass guitar wiring

[Gregory nangle]

hi, so i made this really unusual bass guitar out of metal. so the whole body and neck are metal and the fretboard is wood. i have a lindy fralin single humbucker i want to wire into it and i have never wired a pickup in before. the pickup only has one lead but the exterior of the pick ups lead is a metal braided sleeve, is that the second wire of the pickup? do i need to isolate the pickup from the metal body of the guitar? any help would be appreciated.

[Gregory nangle]

i bought two pots 250k and a jack do i need a cap?

[Peter Wilcox]

You should be able to wire it like this. Your braided wire is the second pickup lead and should go to ground.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/wp-content ... _1V_1T.jpg

No need to isolate the pickup from the body that I can see - the whole body will be at ground potential through the jack and the pot casings.

Yes, if you want tone control you need a cap - 0.05ufd should be OK.

[Gregory nangle]

wow! thank you so much peter, that is perfect!

[David King]

I'd love to see photos of this guitar when you get it together.

[Peter Wilcox]

Gregory - if the guitar body is made of conductive metal, like steel, you won't need any of those ground (black) wires in the diagram. Attach the braided pickup wire to one of the pickup mounting screws, and as shown, solder the volume pot's 3rd lug to its case and solder the cap lead to either pot case or the volume pot's 3rd lug.

[Gregory nangle]

here is a detail of the instrument before the wooden side panels are attached(via the dovetail along the length of the guitar) it has a purpleheartwood fret board resin bonded directly to the cast aluminum body and i cast my own bridges, my guitar company is called deadman guitar

[Gregory nangle]

the special thing about my guitar is the shape of the neck. here is a shot that shows my design:



no truss rod allows me to take liberties with the shape in my old age i decided that i needed a fretting surface that was easier to get my hand around.

[Gregory nangle]

Gregory - if the guitar body is made of conductive metal, like steel, you won't need any of those ground (black) wires in the diagram. Attach the braided pickup wire to one of the pickup mounting screws, and as shown, solder the volume pot's 3rd lug to its case and solder the cap lead to either pot case or the volume pot's 3rd lug.

Peter,
so that makes sense to me. so the pots are grounding when i mount them to the aluminum surface ,therefore it eliminates the need for the ground jumpers in the diagram? so then the .047 cap i ordered , youre saying i can attach that from either of the pots case to the volume pots 3rd lug? should the .047 cap come from the tone pots body to the volume pts 3rd lug? or from the middle lug on the tone pot to the third lug of the volume pot? this is super helpful. i spent too much time thinking about the body and not enough about the electrics.

[Peter Wilcox]

The capacitor goes between the tone pot's middle lug and ground, so you can ground it wherever it's easiest - soldered to a pot casing, or the volume pot's 3rd lug which is grounded (usually bent back and soldered to its pot's casing), or any other ground point.

I was assuming the whole body was going to be metal, but if your electronics are in a cavity in a wooden wing, you will need a ground wire/electrical connection from the electronics to the metal where the pickup and bridge are mounted. It might be easiest just to wire it the way it is in the Seymour Duncan diagram. In any case, the bridge needs to be grounded to ground the strings.

It looks like a very interesting design - I'll be looking forward to more progress.

[Gregory nangle]

Peter, thanks ,i understand.
and yes the body that houses the pickups and the control knobs is all metal(im mounting the control knobs and input jack along the tail of the instrument) so youre right, i can ground anywhere that is convenient, same for the bridge which mounts directly to a metal surface as well! i will post updates when the first played is done! thanks!

[Gregory nangle]

it worked great sounds amazing!

[Gregory nangle]

update on these, they are going very well ,see you at namm next jan!