Guitar Killswitch

Step 6 Soldering the switch to the volume pot.

This part was pretty tricky for me, mainly because I was working by myself with nothing helping me to position the wires. Remember, you don't need to solder the wires, if you cannot solder. You can twist them on, however they might fall off with time.

I soldered one wire onto the middle contact on my volume pot. (output signal), and the other wire onto the actual volume pot itself (the volume pot was grounded)

For non-Strat guitars: Though the wiring for the pickups and all are different in Les Pauls and other style guitars, the basics for the killswitch are the same. Instead of soldering the killswitch onto the volume pot, on other guitars, simply trace the wire that goes into the output jack (in this case a gray wire) and inside the wire should be two smaller wires. Simply solder one wire thats attached to the killswitch onto one of the wires found in output jack, and solder the other wire attached to the killswitch to the other wire. One of the wires coming fro the output jack should not have a rubber casing, as it is the ground. Basically what you just did was create a potential bridge in which you can kill the signal with the press of a button.

Comments

[smatt1]

If I literally attach my wires to the spots shown, will it work? Or do I have to move any other wires than the ones on the switch?

[itsachen]

Yes. You just need to set up a connection between hot and ground.

[stormtrooper85]

Just a note: for those of you who are unfamiliar with the wiring let me try and simplify things. The wire being connected to the volume pot is the ground wire for the switch and the one being connected to the input jack is going to be hot. The prong on the input jack should be attached to the white wire.

[rkr]

Just a note: It is highly recommended that you solder things together if you're going to do this, because loose connections make for bad sound quality, plus, as mentioned, they can fall apart.

[phoenixinhoc]

I think that this is the step that I'm doing incorrectly -- either that or I didn't get the right kind of switch. Anyways, I haven't drilled yet because I want to make sure it works first. I have one wire attached to the middle output from the volume, then the other to the top of the volume. Nothing happens when I push the button. Any ideas?

[itsachen]

First check for faulty connections, ie. cold solder joints. Just checking, but you have a strat or strat copy right? Strat circuits have the final output to the jack at the volume tab, but les pauls and some other gibsons don't work like that. You might want to also see if your volume pot is grounded, but it probably is. If all else fails, intercept the signal at the output jack, and tell me how that goes. That should be foolproof.

[ShredLikeBuckethead]

Ok. So i have my fender squire and my ibanez rg350dx both opened up right now. they are on the ground next to me. i have taken one of the tone knobs off my squire,and bent it to the side to the hole is free. as for the ibanez, i plan on drilling a hole in between the volume and tone knob and i plan to put it there. i have bought 2 switches that monts in a 1 half inch hole. currently i have cut some of the gray casing off my hot and ground, and im planning to cut the hot (white wire?) and solder one wire to each end of the hot. then i plan to solder thase 2 new wires onto each prong on the switch. am i doing this correctly, is the any chane of failure/damage to my guitar, and possibly any other tips. a request would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance,

[itsachen]

On the switch, connect one of the prongs to the hot, and another to the ground. Don't solder two wires onto the hot. There's a very very low chance of anything happening. 1) You're not dealing with any chips or any complicated circuitry 2) The signal that comes from your pickups is relatively weak. Just make sure you drill patiently. Avoid leaning to one side, and judge your pressure when you drill (I leaned and slipped, scratching the plate) I just bought an Ibanez RG350dx. I'm too afraid to cut it up though.

[ShredLikeBuckethead]

I have done my rg350dx, check out my killswitch instructable for a picture i'll be putting it on today it looks great.

[varietyshowjoe]

Hi, I have a Epiphone SG and want to install a killswitch in the hole that my rhythm volume knob is in. I plan on making the bridge volume the master volume so that I can still control the rhythm pickup's volume. Have you ever done this? And how would I go about making the treble volume the master volume while still maintaining the pickup's respective tone knobs?

[varietyshowjoe]

Well today I did just what I asked about, I made my treble volume my master volume and installed a killswitch in the open hole left by the rhythm volume knob. I'm so glad my dad used to be an electrician because he helped me know how to rewire everything to make it work. So for all of you wanting a killswitch, but not an extra hole in the body, just do as I did. It works and looks great!

[drpdedsxe]

ok so first off i think it is an amazing coincidence that we both have a fender starcaster from best buy. Same color and everything. almost creepy lol. then my real question is: so basically what happens is the two wires coming from the output jack are the output from the volume pot, and the ground for the volume pot. Then what i do is soder one of the wires from the switch to the same spots as the two from the output jack? (sorry if that was a little confusing)

[itsachen]

You basically solder one wire coming off of the switch onto the output wire, wherever that touches, and the other end onto wherever the ground wire touches. I've never really seen anybody with a Starcaster S2 before, I bought a new guitar but that was a great starting guitar for me

[drpdedsxe]

well yea my REAL guitar is a tele. so those two red wires coming off the volume pot are the switch i assume?

[itsachen]

yea

[drpdedsxe]

thanks dude. got it in both without a prob at all. this was probably the most reliable thing ive ever seen on the internet :D

[popperhopper]

(removed by author or community request)

[itsachen]

I dont understand what you were trying to get across. Looks like your guitar is strat based, can you explain your question again?

[popperhopper]

i have a aria stg guitar looks like kinda the one isotope has.would i have to solder the killswitch on to the volume pot or the two wires in my output jack.

[itsachen]

either way i prefer on the volume pot, as i can hide it in the cavity made for my electronics its the same signal, you'd just be intercepting at different points

[popperhopper]

thank you.

[blackdemonicfire]

Ok, I know one wire is soldered to the output signal (white wire), but I wasn't sure about the second one. I can solder it directly to the volume pot since the volume pot is ground right? Or should I solder it to the wire that makes the volume pot ground?

[itsachen]

you can solder it onto the volume pot, cause the ground tab on the volume pot is already soldered onto the volume pot

[isotope]

Thanks! My dad and I did it today, works great. I did it on a fake "Delta' Strat, and it's well worth it.

[itsachen]

no problem! glad i could help

[a7x1st]

hey is it ok to put the switch on the output jack? theoritically(forgive my spelling) i think both should kill the signal, but what do you think? it is like volume pot -ground goes into . . . output jack-ground (i want toput the switch here -signal -signal

[itsachen]

im not sure what youre talking about in the last part, but yeah you can make it. if you can bridge the output signal and the ground together with wires and add a switch in between, that when pressed transfers the output signal to the ground, its alright. if you study how the killswitch works and just think about it you can make a logical decision. anywhere theres an output signal flow and a ground you can make a connection for a killswitch.

[killswitcher]

hey, sorry to bother you, i have my squire strat opened up on my lap right now. I found the EASIEST way to completely avoid drilling into your guitar. i removed the tone knob farthest from the pickups, and am planning on using that hole for my killswitch. also, on my volume pot, there are two wires soldered onto the top. i am ASSUMING the black one, which travels to the bride, is my ground wire. i dont know about the other one. HOWEVER:P do i solder one wire onto the top, into the glob of solder where the ground is connected, and the other onto the empty tab (there are 3, 1 is empty)???? an answer would be VERY much appreciated.

[itsachen]

the black one is ground, and you do solder one end of the wire onto the glob ontop of your potentiometer casing, which is grounded. now the other side you have to solder onto the output...if you can find a wire that leads to your output jack, trace the non-ground wire to a tab, and solder the other end onto that tab. In that case, the cable leading to the output jack is gray, and i saw that the non-ground cable was in a white casing, which led to the middle tab. I then realized the middle tab was for output signal. I also wanted to keep my tone knob :D any other questions just reply

[psychodeathmonkey]

ok, i have one last question. If there is already a wire soldered into the middle tab then would you just solder the new wire on that solder joint?

[itsachen]

there should be a wire on the middle tab. yes, solder the new wire onto it.

[psychodeathmonkey]

So.. if i can get this straight you only have two wires going into the volume potentiometer. 1 goes into a tab on it and the other goes into the ground?

[itsachen]

Yep, on the middle, or output, tab. I used random wire I found in my house.

[chainmail311]

I'm sorry. Could you make it a little more clear on where to solder the wires? I'm confused. Thanks!

[chainmail311]

Nevermind. I did it. Works like a charm!

[itsachen]

Great! Have fun!

[itsachen]

Sure, basically one end of the wire goes to the signal out and the other to ground. Where I found my signal out (where i soldered one end of the wire to) was the middle...little thing sticking out of the volume potentiometer. Just solder the wire onto the little tab thing (I'm pretty sure its the middle one on most guitars) The other end of the wire was soldered onto the ground. Ground is basically the potentiometer itself (since its grounded)...or you could find a grounded wire...I highly recommend soldering onto the pot. itself. Take a look at the diagrams and if you have any more questions feel free to ask.