Possibly A Very Stupid Question, But ...

[kurdt]

Hi,

I found my way here after reading the "Quieting the beast" article on Guitarnuts, and I've gotta say, what a cool forum this is.

I've just been reading a thread about building your own fx pedals, which is something that's never even occured to me before!. I'm definitely gonna have to look into that, sounds like fun.

Anyway, back to my problem.

As I'm about to switch back to single coils on my Strat, I thought I'd give Star Grounding a go, but I've got a quick question that hopefully one of you more educated guys can help me out with.

I've wired up quite a few guitars, I can solder ok and I can follow a diagram, but when it comes to knowing the technical stuff I'm pretty useless.

I'm really struggling to find a 0.33uf, 400V metal film capacitor as recommended in the article, but I have found somewhere that sells Sprague Orange Drop caps in both .22 and .47, 400v versions.

I know in the article it says that the .33 designatin is not critical, but my question is, does it have to be a metal film cap?, or would one of the Orange drop caps be ok?

Like I said, I'm pretty dumb with the techy knowledge

Sorry if this has already been asked on here, I did do a search but I couldn't find any answers.

Cheers.

[newey]

kurdt-

Hello and Welcome!


The construction of the cap doesn't matter, an Orange Drop is fine.

You should read the late ChrisK's exposition on The Blocking Capacitor. He notes that, while a 400V capacitor is OK, 600V is better. He also emphasizes that the protection is better than nothing, but not perfect. A wireless setup is the only way to be truly safe from electrical shock through the guitar cord- since there isn't one . . .

[irwired]

Hi Kurdt
I've only been hanging around here since August so my knowledge is basic to put it kindly But some of the posts i have found useful may be helpful to you

If your strat has not been shielded and you will have it apart for a retrofit it would be a good time to do that operation. It's more arts and crafts than technical. Here's the link.Shielding

Another consideration at this point would be switching options...you can get pretty elaborate or just add a neck pickup on switch as i did here. This adds the missing pickup (pup) combinations of: neck-bridge and neck-middle-bridge.
I also added a TBX tone control OEM on some models and a treble bleed capacitor to the volume control.
Speaking of treble bleed i recommend you read JohnH's thread here.
Last but not least have a look at simple mod b i found this thread useful when i was trying to wrap my head around how these things actually work

Good luck with your project ;D
Let us know if you need more guidance and be sure to let us know how it turns out

Cheers
IRW

[kurdt]

Hey,

Newey, thanks for the link.

I've just had a read of it, and am I right in thinking that it's saying the star grounding method is actually safer re:electric shocks than the standard way most Strats are wired up?

For some reason after reading the "quieting the beast" article, I'd got the impression that it was the other way around, and that star grounding was more dangerous.

irwired, thanks for the links also, there's some interesting mods there.

That treble bleed mod is definitely something I'm goin to try at some point, but I think I'll leave it untill after I've got this star grounding sorted out first, so as not to get too confused if things go wrong.

I finished shielding my Strat with copper tape last night (with only a couple of minor cuts to my fingers :, so now I'm itching to start wiring it up, just gotta wait 'till these caps turn up in the post.

I'm really lookin forward to a quiet Strat ;D

[newey]

am I right in thinking that it's saying the star grounding method is actually safer re:electric shocks than the standard way most Strats are wired up?

For some reason after reading the "quieting the beast" article, I'd got the impression that it was the other way around, and that star grounding was more dangerous.

The danger has nothing to do with star grounding, it is exactly the same risk regardless of the manner in which the guitar is wired to ground. ChrisK is discussing the use of the "blocking capacitor", which can be used with or without star grounding.

The thrust of Chris' article was that using the blocking capacitor may provide some measure of protection over a guitar without it.

I say "may" because, while the electrical theory behind it is solid and it should work as advertised, so far as we know, the blocking capacitor has never actually saved anybody. The risk is real, but luckily, rare. But people have died with a regular set-up . . . .

One should not imagine that the blocking capacitor provides perfect safety from shock hazards. As Chris noted, only a wireless rig can do that. And using a GFCI to connect one's amp can reduce the risk- as can checking outlets with an outlet tester when gigging in strange surroundings. Using a blocking capacitor shouldn't relieve anyone of doing the basics one can do to minimize the risk.

There are 2 separate risks- a risk of tube amp failure- which can put a big load 'o DC up your guitar cable-and an AC risk of miswired mains or other mishap. The blocking cap should theoretically help with either.

Of course, if you don't use tube amps, you've greatly minimized the potential for failures. And if your tube amp is one of the more modern ones, with a three-pronged grounded plug, better yet.

Safest scenario: A solid-state amp with a three-prong plug, plugged into an outlet in your home which you know is good. And which never moves from there.

Worst scenario: A vintage tube amp plugged into a questionable outlet in some third-world country (or at some seedy rock club- see: "third-world country"), with you playing a guitar without the blocking cap, in stocking feet, standing on a concrete floor in a puddle of beer. And, with a medical history of cardiac problems . . .

If you've been there, buy a wireless set-up. And, install the blocking capacitor while you're at it, just in case your buddy picks up your git, and decides to plug directly into the amp.

Personally, I don't own a tube amp and my amps all sit placidly plugged in down in my basement. I don't bother with the blocking capacitor. If those things ever change, I'll go wireless.

[kurdt]

Nov 22, 2010 23:29:08 GMT -5 newey said:

Worst scenario: A vintage tube amp plugged into a questionable outlet in some third-world country (or at some seedy rock club- see: "third-world country"), with you playing a guitar without the blocking cap, in stocking feet, standing on a concrete floor in a puddle of beer. And, with a medical history of cardiac problems . . .

;D

Thanks again Newey, you certainly know your stuff! ... I didn't realise that you could use a blocking cap with the standard wiring.

All this reading about the dangers of electric shocks got me a bit concerned for a while there, but you've put my mind at rest abit now.

Sounds like I'm in a similiar situation to you, I'm only a bedroom guitarist and I've been using the same solid state amp for a good 10 years now with no plans to change it any time soon, so I think I'm should be pretty safe.

I finally got a chance to wire my Strat up last night, and to my surprise it worked! ... I felt sure I'd probably screw something up on my first go but nope, it sounds great.

There is now no noticable change in hum , switching from the humbucker in the bridge to either the single coil in the middle or neck when I'm using a clean sound. There is a bit of hum when I've got some heavy distortion on it, but I'm sure that's only to be expected, and besides, the humbucker takes care of all distortion duties ;D

The one thing I didn't do was use audio cable to wire the jack socket, I tried, but it's so thick it's hard to work with, so I ended up just using normal hook up wire ... still I'm really happy with the result and I'll defo be using the star ground method on any new Strats in the future.

Thanks again for the advice, appreciate it