New harness on my H150 Gold Top

[Gianluca]

Hi all,

I decided to change the pots on my H150 Gold Top, not sure if I want to go with work needed for changing only the pots and keep the capacitors yet, honestly I think I'd prefer to replace the entire pre-assembled harness and keep it as easier as possible

I received a good indication by Rockabilly69 about Vitamin Q harness but looks like I can't find them here in UK and importing them from US is going to be a bit too expensive for me

I have found some alternatives that seems interesting, especially about the capacitors - I do not need to replace the selector - from:

 - Home Of Tone
 - Six Strings Supplies
 - Charles Guitars

I thought to go with Home of Tone's, I have been exchanging some email with James and seems to be a nice guy, he played a H535 some time back

but the other too are interesting and good looking too being Charles' the most expensive

I will need to buy the soldering iron and solder too, mine is in Italy and I'm not going to go back soon enough to wait, the volume pots are too scratchy
 

any comments and suggestions highly appreciated

[kbp810]

No experience with any of these, but here’s my take just based on what I see on their sites: Home of tone and Charles looked the cleanest to me - six string looked like it had some potentially cold solder joints; and if that’s what they used for their website example, I’d personally question the quality of what they’d be sending out to me. 
 

Between home of tone and Charles - hot appears to use an unknown rebranded capacitor (they list as a mustard style, if I had to guess, they’re probably mallory’s - which are cheap, but still good reliable caps); while Charles appears to use Jupiter caps, which is a higher end cap and was often one of my go to’s for amp builds. 

So between those three, Charles would likely be the one I went with, with home of tone a close second (if Charles was back ordered for a lengthy period of time). 
 

alternatively though… if you’re getting a soldering iron anyways, just snag a 50watt and you should have no trouble soldering pots; and in which case, just swap pots and/or build your own harness. ?

 

[PunkKitty]

I just build my own harnesses with CTS pots and whatever decent capacitor I can find at a decent price. I prefer Emerson spec pots, but they aren't always easy to find.

[Gianluca]

thanks for the replies
I could maybe replace only the Pots I see big caps

I see 4 connectors PU cables i wrote to The Bareknuckle asking them what possible configurations I could have
I'd be interested in out-of-phase but even only coil splitting could be interesting if I have the option

[ElNumero]

I don't put any harness's on my guitars, I like them to roam freely!

[DetroitBlues]

1 hour ago, ElNumero said:

I don't put any harness's on my guitars, I like them to roam freely!

You mean in their cases, tucked away in a closet?

[Gianluca]

Bareknuckle replied via email and reported it's possible
they added instructions and schemes

https://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/upload/support/Web_ccc41d7.pdf
https://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/upload/support/1_hum_4_con_pushpull_pot_phase_reversal_with_another_hum_c8e3961.pdf

need to learn the circuit and buy the correct push-pull pots

 

[bobmeyrick]

4 hours ago, Gianluca said:

Bareknuckle replied via email and reported it's possible
they added instructions and schemes

https://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/upload/support/Web_ccc41d7.pdf
https://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/upload/support/1_hum_4_con_pushpull_pot_phase_reversal_with_another_hum_c8e3961.pdf

need to learn the circuit and buy the correct push-pull pots

 

I've used these CTS pots - https://www.hotroxuk.com/cts-500k-audio-knurled-shaft-375-bushing-dpdt-8628.html. You'll need two of them, and note that the connections for sldering to the switch are the holes just under the main pot contacts.

Hotrox are good people to deal with - very convenient for me as they're located in Nottingham - they also stock all types of capacitors, and their prices are competitive. If you're not sure, give them a call.

[Gianluca]

thank you very much Bobmeyrick I will follow your indications

[rockabilly69]

They all look fine to me, although one solder joint on the six string supplies looks suspect to me. Remember though you need short shaft pots and the Charles is a long shaft pot harness.

[Gianluca]

13 hours ago, rockabilly69 said:

They all look fine to me, although one solder joint on the six string supplies looks suspect to me. Remember though you need short shaft pots and the Charles is a long shaft pot harness.

duly noted, thank you very much

[bobmeyrick]

22 hours ago, Gianluca said:

thank you very much Bobmeyrick I will follow your indications

I just realised I linked to the long shaft (3/4" or 19mm) pot. The short shaft (3/8" or 9.5mm) pot is this one - https://www.hotroxuk.com/cts-500k-audio-knurled-shaft-375-bushing-dpdt.html. You can always measure the pots you have installed at the moment to make sure you get the right one.

[Gianluca]

update:
- I bought soldering iron (Ersa)
- base and solder
I am about to buy three of 500k push/push pots
I need to replace a regular one but I couldn't find it at 500k, from the shop James told me he has the 550k pots, saying <<I only have CTS 550k pots in stock as the CTS 'TVT' series pots I use changed from 500k to 550k to be more vintage correct.>>

not sure, I think the 550k is ok

so I should have two push/push for coil splitting on the Volumes
one push/push for phase reverse on the bridge Tone
I'll keep original caps

one standard 550k on the neck Tone

I didn't make a research but I think it's going to be fine, just not 100% on the 550k pot value?
Or should I maybe use the 550k for a Vol pot?

[bobmeyrick]

I wouldn't worry about it. It makes sense to me to have the volume controls performing the same function, i.e. coil splitting. If you're new to soldering, take some time to practice on scrap bits of wire, and I'm sure there are plenty of online tutorials. Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.