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Comment by Paul Craig on May 16, 2019 at 6:38pm

What amp/amps are you working with?

Comment by Allan Zolnekoff on May 15, 2019 at 4:32pm

I figured out what was going on with my volume pots. Really, the pickups are a bit weak for a baritone guitar. The stereo pickups are wound for regular tuning of a normal electric guitar. 

I fixed the problem by using 2 stompboxes, (since this is a stereo setup), one for strings 1-3 and one for strings 4-6. Any kind of signal-boosting stompbox would work. 

I am now working on recording this guitar in stereo so that y'all can hear the separation of sounds. Also, please remember that the typical guitar amp compromises your sound by combining the high and low notes through the same electronics and speaker. Stereo guitars send the right notes to the correct speaker! 

Comment by Allan Zolnekoff on May 5, 2019 at 5:28pm

My volume pots are CTS and horrible. 

My luthier changed the grounding a bit on my Fender bari with identical Ultramagnetics pickups. It will be interesting to a/b the 2 guitars. 

Comment by Paul Craig on May 5, 2019 at 8:48am

Use a B pot for the volume to get better volume level control, gets rid of that notchy feel. Could be a bad pot too. Honestly, good pots are getting to be hard to find. The Bourns pots are good, CTS and Emerson are great, but it seems that Alpha pots have taken a nose dive in quality. I bought a bag of mini pots for the cheap price a few years ago and ended up throwing 90% of them in the trash. Lesson learned. I have a set of Emerson pots in my Hollow body guitar that have served me well since the late 80's.

Comment by Allan Zolnekoff on May 4, 2019 at 9:45am

I will write that down, thanks. I'm working on the volume control now with different grounding since the knob acts a bit notchy, not smooth. I will a/b test the volume tonight with my first guitar, (same wiring and pickups).

Comment by Paul Craig on May 4, 2019 at 8:43am

I'm having a hard time finding a diagram of that wiring, but I'll try to tell you.

Signal wire from pickup or switch to lug 1 of volume. Volume lug 3 to ground. Volume lug 2 to tone lug 1. Tone lug 2 to positive lug of jack. Tone lug 3 to tone cap and other side of cap to back of tone pot. Use a Linear pot/B pot for the tone. This give level tone use throughout the circuit. You can use an A or a B pot for the Volume depending on if you like to do volume swells(A pot) or not.

Comment by Allan Zolnekoff on May 3, 2019 at 12:57pm

That sounds like what every guitar needs! The old tone pot wiring never boosted anything good, to me. 

Comment by Paul Craig on May 3, 2019 at 9:15am

I almost always use a tone knob, but I wire mine like they do on a amp. I wire the signal path through the volume, then through the tone and then to the jack. They called it Modern wiring back in the 80's. It does give a more functional tone pot that way.

Comment by Allan Zolnekoff on May 3, 2019 at 9:05am

My father was a bassist for Billie Holiday and worked on bass amplification and pickups for decades. He ended up with a Fishman ceramic pickup on an upright bass. 

To me, the jazz guitar sound is just muddled and unclear quite often. But I stole the idea of using an ebony fingerboard from the bass guys. I want a clear tone. If I want distortion, that is easily added, but not the reverse.

Comment by Allan Zolnekoff on May 3, 2019 at 9:01am

I have a Danelectro bari and really can't stand the knob in a knob thingy. I like the cheapie chickenhead knobs because you know what's up at a glance lr by touch. I bought 12 for $10.

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