How To Solder: Basic Electric Guitar Wiring 101 (by request)

This video scratches the surface of basic electric guitar wiring. By request. If this piques your interest for more, I suggest digging deeper in to the internet for more information. Many guitarists LOVE to talk about this sort of thing.
Tip Cup: www.paypal.me/timsway
My Patreon:
/ timsway
My Website:
www.timsway.net
My personal store:
squareup.com/store/timsway
My Podcast:
www.reclaimedaudiopodcast.com
My Etsy:
timsway.etsy.com
be good,
Tim

[@darinhatcher6178]

Close your eyes and you can almost hear Ray Romano. Love the channel!

[@gozer9556]

Dude I was just about to comment "Everybody loves Raymond!!" lol

[@codeblue27]

I couldn't put my finger on it, I just like thought it was RR. :)

[@dguyiop8]

If you open your eyes you'll see a guy that looks nothing like Ray Romano.

[@daveg4236]

dguyiop8 mind...blown 😂

[@roamingboss7339]

Too funny!!! bahahah This comment had me rolling as I tried it!

[@taboy122797]

I'm building my first telecaster and have searched all over the place for wiring information. By far the most informative video I've seen yet. You simplified the whole process. Great video!

[@joecraven2034]

Ditto!

[@non_brewed_condiment]

Hey man, this was a great video. I'm just getting started doing my own guitar mods so I've been watching quite a few videos like this. The way you explained this really helped me a lot, there were a couple things that weren't quite clicking for me but you explained them in a way that helped me understand everything much better. Thank you!

[@ltlauch]

Why am I even watching this? I've done this a million times. His voice is so calming tho...

[@timsway]

hahah! I have a voice for KZbin and a face for radio :)

[@7884golfguru]

Tom Schulte good for us learners though

[@bobcorl8736]

Thank you, Tim. I'm wiring my first electric guitar and this video was easy to follow.

[@scriptureexamined4664]

Thank you very much! You were the first guy who could tell me about grounding the bridge.

[@robertbernardo783]

I'm new to wiring and I find your video clear and fun to watch. Thanks!

[@brandonkreinhop359]

Best tutorial I've seen so far. Thank you! Plus, that pickguard looks so badass!

[@pavlepaja7642]

Finally some good video about soldering and logic behind wiring. Thanks man 😊

[@expediant121]

I'm about the re-wire my guitar came across your Video. Sodder on! thanks TIM.

[@onemanaftermath771]

Excellent Video! Walked me right through the process. Thank you!

[@nw8488]

i love the way you re-use and re-claim. nothing beats that imo. yyou must have the most interesting guitar collection! cheers!

[@timsway]

thanks! I try to sell them, tho, not collect them :) newperspectivesmusic.com

[@garagemonkeysan]

Boy, I haven't seen that banded colored wire in decades! Brings back some memories. Thanks for sharing! : )

[@timsway]

70s vintage!

[@kazunobunazaki7141]

Thanks for this tutorial tim,keep on rocking!

[@jimbola77]

Thanks man really good video I followed you now my guitar is back to life!!!!

[@MemoGGG16]

Second person I heard talking about the word solder while soldering... I loved the tutorial. Thanks!

[@VanishedPNW]

Much more capable than you freely admit, and youre genuine in the way you present yourself, very endearing. People always like a person who seems capable but who admits they dont know everything about everything, which is intimidating, and makes people a little nervous and shy because we are then faced with the fact that we dont know anything. Lol. Why Im saying all this, who knows. Good video, great approach, excited to see whatever you do next.

[@timsway]

cheers. Indeed, "the more I learn, the less I know" and I make these videos to encourage people to try to do things themselves rather than feel there is some sort of invisible "knowledge block" with expert gatekeepers. Been making videos for over a decade. enjoy!

[@theloniouslinford283]

Thank you for finally doing this video, it is super helpful!

[@timsway]

cheers! sorry it took so long.

[@BOBANDVEG]

Dude.......you answered all my q in like 3 min. Thank you

[@asslord]

Thank you for the very informative and helpful video!

[@beyondmywildestdreams6942]

Awesome video, thank you very much for making it.

[@LillySchwartz]

Great informative video, thanks for making this! Just one thing I noticed: The way you were talking about how you do the shielding sounds like it isn’t really effective. It doesn’t really matter so much for your humbuckers, but if you ever want to coil split them, you’ll need a faraday cage to make it effective. It needs to be closed off on all sides. Shielding just the pickguard won’t be enough. Maybe you meant it that way anyway though.

[@beccalynn4441]

You’re a life saver! I’m making 2 guitars for a class and one needs wiring. Naturally, I had no idea how to do this and you made it super easy to understand! Absolutely wonderful tutorial

[@beccalynn4441]

Kurt Cobain ?

[@nathanielyeater9884]

Same man, getting ready to build one in my senior high shop class, but I know next to nothing about electronics.

[@user-xo2vo6uk9l]

I need help

[@aaron6841]

Plumbing solder has very harsh flux that can damage your components

[@keithhampton9700]

Very cool guitar! Thanks for your knowledge 🤠

[@webingerphoto49]

Excellent video for guitar wiring for this newbie! Going to use it on Cigar Box Guitars ( CBG ).

[@samaker4]

That hold down tool of yours is a great Idea Tim.

[@timsway]

That and the heat shield came with a soldering iron I bought years ago. The iron is dead but those tools are super useful.

[@jensine.ondrums]

Thank you for the video!

[@markbrown9216]

That was strangely relaxing, especially with the tick tock of the clock in the background.

[@ralphorlando8279]

Best tutorial on youtube.

[@samichpower]

This is fantastic! You make it seem so easy for someone like me who knows next to nothing about wiring (I had to google what grounding meant lol). Thanks for this

[@timsway]

Like welding, woodworking, etc., there is soooooo much more to soldering and electrical work than I get in to here, but what I can't stand are people who "gatekeep" that information. This won't teach you all the finer points of electricity but as long as you don't try to rewire your clothes dryer like this and stick to low volt guitars, you'll be ok :)

[@Otisjames569]

Thanks great vid. Helped me out.

[@pamreed7588]

Thanks for the help your content is great

[@mc4kvb]

“Pokery thing” is the best! I have to disagree with you son....you DO know what your talking about. You haven’t built as many guitars as you have and not know what your doing. I appreciate all your videos and enjoy watching all you do. Thanks Tim...great video, great job!!

[@timsway]

Becky's Texas Wood Shop thank you! What I mean by I don't know what I'm doing is there is a LOT more that can be accomplished with and added to the electronics part of guitars that I don't know about. Like I'm pretty good at addition and su traction but suck at calculus, so I can't say I know a lot about math )

[@mc4kvb]

tim sway I totally understand what you mean. To me you are so way, way ahead of what I understand. I’m just being honest that you are very talented and know a lot about a lot of things. I’m 65 and don’t have a great education BUT I have tons of common sense and that has,gotten me Thur life. I use my head and think before I react and that is how I approach my builds. I’m basically self taught but wish I knew more. I learn everyday and that’s a good thing. I always love your videos bc you explain them very well. Thank you for that. Be safe son.

[@timsway]

thank you very much! I'm self taught, too, which I look at as a benefit more than a hinderance: fewer preconceived notions of how I'm "supposed" to be doing things :)

[@markkicksass2448]

Well done! Thank you

[@jpkalishek4586]

It's late and I should be in bed. wait. a Sway vid tomorrow is Saturday, *click*

[@miloellis191]

My current time is 4:11am I feel you bro

[@walther9161]

The cooling probe or heat sync tool is a great idea!

[@donaldscheer5206]

Excellent Video! I Have A Humbucker That Also Has The Green Wire As The Hot Wire & Black As The Ground! That Can Be Confusing Because Other Humbuckers Have The Green For Ground & Black For Hot! Thank You! You Got Right To The Point! Well Done!

[@alphacentauriproxima]

Thank you. Very helpful.

[@jgclark45]

I think in the USA we say sodder, in Europe they say solder

[@timsway]

that seems to be the consensus.

[@markgowans]

@@timsway I believe every US state says sodder but here in the uk its Solder. Its a bit like Tom ate oh vs Tom at oh. Everyone knows what you really mean. Language is a strange thing at the end of the day lol

[@Jimmie16]

Check the spelling then pronounce it like the American Footballer.

[@paulmullins4861]

In eastern Kentucky, we call it sorder. The rest of the state, it's sodder.

[@BigFatCaulk]

@@markgowans i say it like “souder

[@MrMetalv7]

Great video.

[@mns8732]

You're a natural teacher. But I think I'll learn how to string my guitar before attempting installing a new pickup

[@scottfisher3948]

nice video easy to understand.

[@wout810]

Thank you so much 😀

[@littlebritain64]

Thank You!

[@HGXAF]

nice work

[@ashersolomon9560]

Excellent video! However I heard that you were only supposed to heat your solder up once in order to bond the flux to your wires. If you re-heat already bonded solder it won’t have as much flux in the next bond

[@DandinXY]

Awesome, thank you

[@lect0n7]

Okay, I’m second-generation lead guitarist/amp tech who works as an electrical engineer, I have a M.S. in Electrical Engineering. Audio Taper 250K (also known as A250K) for Volume Pot with a Single Coil setup, Linear Taper 250K (or _B250K)_ for tone pot with single coil pickups. Now, a humbucker is one single coil pickup half-wound one way, & another single coil pickup half-wound the opposite way, then they’re half wound together… the reverse-winding puts them out of phase which _’Bucks the Hum’ (so-to-speak)_ that being said, it’s two pickups which would normally be outfitted with 250K pots wound together & therefore a 500K is necessary. Sound decibels are on a logarithmic scale so, ideally Volume pots should be _Audio Taper (Logarithmic Taper)_ or _A250K/A500K_ They’re adjusting sound volume & sound decibels are *not linear* (like volume bars on a television) Sound decibels are a representation of Amplitude, which is the relative strength of sound waves (transmitted vibrations), which we perceive as loudness or volume. Decibels (dB), refer to the sound pressure level or intensity. Now, if a 500K Potentiometer is used in an exclusively single coil setup, all the audible change will all happen between numbers 1 & 4 (using a traditional numbered volume knob for this example). And I’m not saying a linear taper pots won’t or can’t work for volume control, I’m just saying an _Audio Taper_ pots do it better… now, with tone control, the scale is linear & there’s a bit of deviation in tone pots; which are _Linear Taper_ because tone level is measured on a linear scale…however, there is some deviations which exist; like the _Fender TBX Tone Control_ is a 250K stacked pot _Treble/Bass Expander_ I’ve heard it can be configured to totally cut treble in one direction or totally cut bass in the opposite direction… it’s got a _No-Load_ Detented Center Position which measured 1K _(a true 1-Meg Pot measures 10K)_

[@MobileFreedomEnterprise]

Wooooowwww!!!! What a beautiful guitar!!!!!

[@singinalex52]

Awesome!

[@Charlie-ov1bj]

The best one ive seen yet... It would be nice if u showed us the switching part though this guitar dont need one

[@timsway]

For 3-way switches if you had two pickups you would run the positive lead of one pickup to one side of the switch, and the second to the other. the middle pole of the switch would then go in to the rest of the wiring just like the one pickup lead wire does in this video. you would also have a ground wire tab on the switch.

[@AkiraSatsujinki]

That's actually surprisingly simple! I'd had this idea to make a solderless guitar wiring system so that you don't have to solder when changing new pickups. I'd heard that it's just simply dropping a couple of terminal boards, but I'm not sure how it works. Maybe it could be a future video idea if you think you could give it a shot? Thanks in advance!

[@timsway]

They sell pre wired kits like that you can clip together. Soldering takes a little practice to get used to but it is not difficult. Cheers!

[@37BopCity]

Great video for beginners and people wanting to learn more. At first it's like rocket science, then it becomes a lot easier to understand. Basic guitar and amp wiring is a fascinating subject and a great thing to know and understand. Advanced electronics, however, really is rocket science!

[@philgallagher1]

Great video, Tim 👍. It's good to see (like in all your videos), a "real world" application of the theory. Most other channels will explain what to do, then jump-cut to a perfectly executed final product, often leaving most people more confused than before watching the vid 😬. I find with your vids you get your message across by showing us how to do it not just telling us. It makes the info stick much more better! (See my comments below on language!) 😈. Give a man a fish..... Also, yes I agree with what most people say....in the USA, you say "sodder" and "aluminum" etc, while we in the UK pronounce our words correctly!! (LOL!!) Seriously though, I don't think it matters so long as we all understand what the words mean, regardless of what you people have done to our beautiful language!!! Hahaha!!

[@timsway]

haha! thanks for the kind words. I gotta tell ya, my grandfather's Boston accent was so thick I couldn't understand a word he said - and the same could be said for a few accents I've heard from UK regions. Here in Connecticut, however, we have no accent and speak English perfectly :)

[@philgallagher1]

@@timsway Haha! I'm sure you'd struggle with my Liverpool accent! What I find strange is that the UK is smaller than most STATES, yet the difference between accents is remarkable! Even in CITIES we have differences in the accent which others probably wouldn't hear. A good example is the Liverpool accent itself. You probably wouldn't notice, but the North accent (say Ringo) is very different to the South (say John or George) and they are both different to the mid accent (say Paul). However if you drive just 30 miles you come to Manchester and get the Gallagher brothers of Oasis fame (no relation sadly!!). Their accents are very different to mine. Another 60 miles brings you to Birmingham. They again have numerous accents in a small area (think about the differences between say Robert Plant and Ozzy Osbourne!) That's a very small indication of the differences. SIX famous musicians raised within 90 miles of each other, each with very different accents. (Don't even get me onto Welsh, Scottish or Irish!!!)

[@timsway]

@@philgallagher1 Each state of the NEW England region I live in (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island) has very different accents - with some regional accents within regions. But to someone from California we all sound the same.

[@philgallagher1]

@@timsway Yeah. As I said earlier, so long as we all understand each other I think the diversity is what makes the world go around! I also prefer to hear singers using their own regional accents. You probably don't hear it, but so many British singers try to emulate a generic American accent. This mix of them trying to sing with two accents at the same time becomes what we call a "Mid-lantic' accent...neither one thing nor the other. Happily this seems to be dying off now and regional accents are making a welcome comeback!

[@daveyboy8907]

@@philgallagher1 thanks for the accent lesson guys. I have 4 states surrounding me and we all have different accents..Hell I have a different accent than my own neighbors..lol take care

[@bearshield7138]

Thank you

[@jonasulfsfalt4451]

Thank you for this video Brother! Great one, easy to understand and I did my wiring an solder quick after you teached me. Thanx! Just wonder, what is the value of the capasator you use here? Kind regards from Jonas in Sweden!

[@timsway]

I believe I used a .047.

[@JimDockrellWatertone]

Good one Tim. A couple of tips if you wish. Seymour Duncan's website has tons of wiring diagrams. Heat shrink tubing is cheap and works better than tape, and try tinning your wires instead of your lugs, you may find it easier.

[@timsway]

excellent tips. thank you. I know the heat shrink is way better, I just don't have any and keep forgetting to get it. :-p I was taught to tin both the wire AND the lugs, but have gotten a little lazy I suppose.

[@JimDockrellWatertone]

Happy to help. Your guitar builds are cool, and your playing too.

[@FirestormAudio]

Great video. I don’t have any spare wire on hand because I’m about to try this for the first time. Any recommendation on where I can buy wire and what gauge to use?

[@timsway]

Cheers. Where I live there are no more radio shacks. You could try an auto parts store and look for the lightest gauge available - or cut open a pinball machine :)

[@walterp7125]

Sir could you please tell me about the capacitor ,,,,its value ? Thanks !

[@michaeld2716]

Thank you.

[@vasco2109]

thx for this video! one question which leader do you solder the capacitor to the ground when it doesn't have any indication what is the positive or negative?

[@timsway]

with some larger capacitors and other electrical components, direction is important, but with these little guys it doesn't matter.

[@gasperkoren3951]

Wow that was a realy good painting!!!😂

[@mrramz13]

Mr.Sway, After extensive research.... OK, 2 minutes reading comments. I say it's pronounced "welding".

[@timsway]

Mr Ramz hahaha! Obviously...

[@arttheboy]

I made an electric guitar cello cuz of you!! Thanks mr sway

[@timsway]

arttheboy I wanna see it!!!!

[@VfletchS]

Yes!

[@Blackdog4818]

Are there any videos on reverse polarity on humbucking pickups? I saw the Brian May guitar rundown and he said he had two switches for reversing polarity. Is the sound that different?

[@timsway]

it is VERY different sounding. did it once by accident and I decided I didn't like it enough to leave it that way. I'm sure there are videos out there with the info you need.

[@JB-bc9nm]

BTW you're saying it correctly. Solder=SOD-ER. Thanks for the video!

[@jiffey_faux]

We pronounce it "sodder" down here in Texas as well!

[@JackieSunshineOmega]

Aluminum tape works well too! :)

[@windward2818]

What value, voltage and type of capacitor did you use? It look like a metal film cap from the video.

[@timsway]

I think this was a NOS soviet cap, .047

[@DanielJAudette]

Tim, I see you use wire you have kicking around to wire up your guitars. I have a tonne of old cat 5 wire kicking around. (Computer network wire) its 4 pairs of 24 gauge wire. Do you think it would work well for wiring up the guitar including wires to custom pickups

[@timsway]

probably?

[@fatfro1]

I appreciate the fact that you use repurposed wire. If you used shielded wire where would you use it specifically? Just the hot and not for ground? Or for everything?

[@timsway]

I'm not sure I'm qualified to answer that? some pickups come with shielded wire but I've never used it beyond that. I do shield the cavity, however, which is pretty important.

[@maurorockefeller6177]

What a tutorial. I truly appreciated it. Quick question, what about this capacitor you installed? I was checking my bass wiring and doesn't have one. Should I install one on mine? It actually got an annoying buzz I've been trying to kill.

[@timsway]

The buzz is more than likely the ground wire going to the bridge is bad, it another ground issue somewhere. Yea, there should be a capacitor on the tone knob. It may look different, small and plasticy

[@maurorockefeller6177]

Thanks, Tim. My respects.

[@donaldscheer5206]

I've Waited For A Few Weeks Now Trying To Sort Out That Hot Green Wire & Ground Black Wire ?....Thank!

[@lindaaustin-morin7781]

Shout out from Massachusetts!!! 2024

[@josecasarez5228]

So, I know this video is old but I have a question. What do I do if I have a guitar that doesn't have a tone knob? I have a black squire bullet that I'm piecing together but there's not Tone potentiometer

[@timsway]

If you want to add a tone knob you can drill a hole and put one in, buy a capacitor and find wiring diagrams online easily. If you want to leave it as is, just bypass the tone knob. look at the schematics, and just cut the tone out of the equation so the lead from the volume goes right to the output jack. Hot wire: pickup to switch (if there is one) to vol knob to output jack. Grounds: make sure they all touch everything.

[@JDGuitar82]

Is there a demo video of this guitar being played?

[@timsway]

i think it was this one? This was a long time ago: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJzZppKAl5VjY7s

[@pshep123]

Great video Tim. What gauge wire do you use / recommend?

[@timsway]

I use old wires from pinball machines as I have miles of it. It's not the right wire or gauge, I'm sure, but it works :)

[@pshep123]

@@timsway Fair enough, it's probably low voltage enough that it's hard to be too small of gauge. Thanks

[@raymondpinder3692]

Thanks for the video :) At 2.10 you say, "a grounding wire that I have already attached". What are you referring to there?

[@timsway]

you need to run a ground wire to the bridge, usually one of the screws that holds it down. this adds the metal strings to the ground circuit and helps with hum and noise.

[@raymondpinder3692]

@@timsway Thanks for the reply! Will be following your video for sure. Currently building a guitar for my nephew, electronics is one area I have always struggled with. Anyway, greatly enjoyable material on your channel :)

[@raymondpinder3692]

From what Ive heard with a Telecaster bridge this is less of an issue?

[@timsway]

@@raymondpinder3692 I think that's because the puckup is mounted to it, completing the ground circuit there.

[@saul3521]

Everybody loves Tim

[@t43604]

thanks

[@crisjohnalvarez6036]

Hi, sir I got a zebra neck pickup from onlinestore, but the wires are too short to reach the pot. Is it possible to solder an extra length of wire so it can reach? All help appreciated

[@timsway]

absolutely. solder the wires as long as you need and be sure to tape over the points so they don't accidentally touch each other or ground out. They sell shrink tube to do this, but all you need is to wrap a little electrician's tape around each. Pro tip: after wrapping, heat the tape up a little with a lighter and it'll sort of melt together and get tighter.

[@crisjohnalvarez6036]

@@timsway thanks sir, how about the stack wire of the pickup i will cut and extend to the new pickup,

[@timsway]

@@crisjohnalvarez6036 yea. As long as it's a similar gauge wire and conducts electricity itll fit and the guitar won't notice a difference or care !

[@HallvardurAsgeirsson]

thanks for the video! out of curiosity what kind is the guitar?

[@timsway]

One of mine! (newperspectivesmusic.com)

[@HallvardurAsgeirsson]

beautiful work

[@andrefornia]

Hey, I wanna extend a wire that has a hot and a ground wire in one cable/tube. I have to extend both separately, right? Thank you 🙂

[@timsway]

Well, they need to be separate wires and can't touch each other, yes. Bit if they are attached and insulated (like lamp cord) that's ok.

[@andrefornia]

​@@timsway thank you for your answer! I figured so 🙁 That makes lengthen it a bit of a pain in the butt, but I have the same problem as you here, the wire of my new neck pickup is way too short.

[@pyntaman-7410]

hello, mine stopped working and i tried to fix it but failed, i dont know how to do it, seems really difficult for me, there are 3 wires coming from each pickup (red, black, green) and a yellow cable that goes to the plug; to make it simpler, could i connect those directly to the plug without the tone and volume knots and it would work? thanks a lot

[@timsway]

yea. that's a good way to trouble shoot. start by connecting two wires directly to output and see if you can gert sound. then work backwards. you can also test the pickup with an ohm meter if you have one, to see if it's showing resistance (working)

[@sapelesteve]

Nicely done Tim! Having done that routine, I know what a PITA it can be. I really like that "Poker/Prody/Thingy". I also like how you put a dab of hot glue to hold that wire which I assume gets grounded to the bridge. OH, and your pronunciation of Solder is correct as the "L" is silent. Anyway, great video bud........................... :)

[@timsway]

Sapele Steve correct in Connecticut, at least. Thanks bud!

[@sapelesteve]

Just looked Solder up in the dictionary & no matter where you are on the planet, it's still pronounced "So-der" as the "L" is indeed silent. Obviously, people will have a different pronunciation depending on the particular colloquialism of the area. I know, getting nitpicky..................... :)

[@timsway]

hahaha!

[@pixel_ppl2504]

Ok so I want to rewire my guitar and there are two humbuckers with three wires coming out, one is ground and one is + and one is - (i think) and i want to rewire it with one tone, one volume, thee way switch and a jack (les paul style) I can't find any diagrams, can you help?

[@timsway]

Send the pickups to the jack first, one to each side, then take the lead from the middle of the jack and pretend it's the one pickup I used I thos video, follow the rest of the video.

[@bradmcclure4945]

so I'm left wondering about wiring two pots one on the neck and the second for the bridge

[@timsway]

Search for schematics and it will show you the proper way, then apply what I show in this video to the multiple pots.

[@adriangonzalez7850]

Great 👍

[@jasonfick4506]

Well hot damn, I have some small spools of that crazy old wire in the basement.

[@immastranger6752]

Jeff Goldblum much?! 🤣 instant subscriber

[@jakefromkmart]

whats the heat protector clip thing called i cant find it

[@timsway]

it's called a "heat sink clip" - you don't really need it but it doesn;t hurt. you can also just use an old alligator clip to slow down the heat transfer, too.

[@mikechecka292]

When shielding,you need to use conductive adhesive with foil or copper if you dont use shielding tape specificall,y for guitar.

[@timsway]

correct. As explained in this video, the pickguard I 'm using is made of aluminum, thus no additional shielding tape was required

[@steveparkes]

I regular post on a video that mentions copper tape. It's a pound a roll at Poundland in the UK in the gardening section. A bargain.

[@timsway]

that's super cheap!

[@cweasegaming2692]

Where do you apply the tape/paint?

[@timsway]

in this case, the entire pickguard was made of aluminum so I did not use either, but you would typically want to shield the entire surface the electronics are mounted to. You can also line the cavity with shielding if you so wish.

[@davidkastin4240]

I put a piece of tape on the end of my screwdriver before doing the tap tap test. Don't want unnecessary marks on the pole pieces

[@cheeseheadfiddle]

Anyone use foil tape from HVAC for shielding?

[@ronnieDshman18]

If the wires on your pick up have no colors at all… what do you do?

[@timsway]

There are many types of wire. If the wire looks braided, then that means there is an outer shell that is the ground and inside the ground is another, insulated wire (the +) if it is solid wire that has had all it's outer casing removed, you can tell which chain is positive by following them through the circuit. Anything that is negative will eventually lead to the negative terminal on the 1/4" jack. If you can't tell which is that, they negatives will also terminate onto the outer body housing of the knobs. take your time, follow each wire and they will tell you what they are.

[@borneonativetrader9122]

Just got my new potentiometer today..i replaced the broken one and boom!! No sound at all..it has sound at first but then the sound just like turning on and off..is this might be wire problem? i'm really frustrated..

[@timsway]

It could be a bad potentiometer, it happens, but more than likely there is a loose or shorting wire somewhere. it is real easy to miss one or have a wire accidentally touching the something it shouldn't. With the instrument plugged in and turned on, poke around in there and see if you can find what's loose or grounding out. You won't get shocked.

[@borneonativetrader9122]

@@timsway thank you sir..you are right, it's the potentiometer that have problem not the wiring😅