help with pc-1

[rjohnstone]

Each board is "tweaked" a little different from another, but you can baseline them by centering both pots. Then flip the sustainer on (down on a righty), max out the intensity and leave the harmonic switch to fundamental mode (up on a righty).
Then adjust the pot closest to the center of the board either way until the string is vibrating strongly, but not distorted or full of feedback. The other pot controls the harmonic. Flip the harmonic switch to harmonic mode and then adjust the outer pot either way until you get a clean harmonic. Make sure you can still hear some of the underlying fundamental note though.
You're going to be playing with both pots until you get the right balance of attack and harmonic tone.
Driving the board too hard will kill battery life and shorten the life of the sustainer board.

[shaman]

whew..that makes sense-I am getting good sustain , just when I flip it into harmonic, I can tell something is a little off-if I am playing a higher note, the harmonic seems to die, but on wound strings, it really cuts thru-I think we will be able to salvage this puppy afterall-will update progress
-very helpful indeed-hats off!

[rjohnstone]

Just remember that the higher you get up the fretboard, the less effective the sustainer will be.
It needs string length to do it's job well.

[shaman]

almost home,guys...I need help with one final thing-the small black wires that enter the cavity-4 of them?(I am at work...going from memory, so please excuse..)-looks like three are soldered together in above pics , connected to the screw bracket...one I cant tell...can you tell me exactly where these suckers go...
thanks!

[rjohnstone]

They are ground wires.

[shaman]

that is what I figured, but I am still getting a little buzz...how many wires are connected to the screw in your guitar and are any soldered to a pot?
thanks

[rjohnstone]

All the grounds go to the screw and one lead goes from the screw to the tone pot.

[shaman]

hot damn, thats it...from screw to tone pot looks to be the missing ingredient-thanks for putting up with all my quetions...will check this out

[shaman]

went home during break, did a quick solder job...BINGO!! back in bidness!!THANKS AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[rjohnstone]

Glad to help.

[Robert Burns]

Im just happy to see a local JCF'r who knows these PC-1's inside and out!

[rjohnstone]

Hey Robert, I thought you were selling off your PC1?
I'd be on it if I wasn't broke, but curious why you're dumping it.

[shaman]

I'll sell you this damn lefty-just when you thought I was gone-upon further review, everything is purring sweetly, but now my middle pickup isnt working
when I was able to put the volume to her tonight, there was still the slight buzz when I wasnt touching metal
I have the two black wires that enter the cavity from the neck /middle pickup area soldered to the ground wire attached to the bridge-they are all soldered to the screw
I have a wire that also connects the tone pot to the screw
-is it still missing something?
-there was still a buzz, and I unplugged ,swapped around each connector pin to make sure it fit snugly.etc...the red/black connector from the sustainer , once turned around an re-connected, made the ground buzz go away..the sustainer worked, the harmonic switch no longer made the high pitched tone..everything was cool, I was grinnin'....alas, when i moved the switch to the middle position, nothing...works everywhere else
ranout of time, so I thought I would bug you cats again before I break down and send her in..I AM SO DAMN CLOSE-it takes our guitar guru around here 2 weeks just to get to one...and that becnh charge stings these days
other than mid pup, it is killer,sutainer and all

[shaman]

I did remove the wire that ran under the bridge pickup-its located there to make contact with the paint in the cavity in order to cut noise(correct?)...it was a loose wire with tape when I got it...when I started messing around with everything and removed the ground buzz, I also removed this wire to see if there was any change/there was not-it is very quiet without it
-makes me think it is a connector issue on the board..maybe one of the plugs is ass-backwards...it is a lefty guitar...trust me , these things happen alot!!I experimented with the plugs, but no success thus far-i can't see the forest because of the trees, maybe

[rjohnstone]

Can you take some closeup pics of the board and all your connections?
Hard for me to diagnose any further without the guitar in hand or at least really good pics.

Sounds like you may have a broken lead wire in the middle pickup connector.
Time to break out the meter and trace the leads.
As for the paint in the cavity, yeah, it's shielded paint to help block any RF interference.
It's also used as a ground for the cavity. Not really needed, so no harm if you yank it.

What part of the world you live in?