Complete Guitar Wiring. A book teaching how to wire and troubleshoot guitar and bass
 

Complete Guitar Wiring

Everything you need to understand, modify, and
troubleshoot your guitar’s wiring.

With a foreword by Dan Erlewine

 

Whether you're swapping your first pickup or you work on guitars for a living, you'll find Complete Guitar Wiring crammed full of expert technical and practical advice to help you out.

From the basics of how things work, through electric and acoustic pickup systems, and on to a succession of soldering and wiring projects, this book walks you through step by step. There's a huge library of reference diagrams, modifications, and lots of troubleshooting tips in case things go wrong.

Written in a friendly, easy to understand style and richly illustrated in full colour throughout, Complete Guitar Wiring is the best way to learn guitar wiring.

Man, I wish I’d had this book when I first became obsessed with guitar wiring and mods.

…Complete Guitar Wiring already has a permanent home on my workbench tablet.
— Joe Gore, Joe Gore Pedals; Editor Primer Guitar
 

What you’ll learn

Complete Guitar Wiring has over 400 pages of information for beginners and professionals alike. Here's a taste of what you'll learn:

Chapter 1: Theory - Learn about the parts and components in most guitars, how they work, and how they combine to build a circuit.

Chapter 2: Electric Guitar - All about electric guitar and bass. A deep dive on pickups and considerations on choosing and installing them—body modifications, component choice, and pickup setup.

Chapter 3: Acoustic guitar - Acoustic instruments can have pickups too. A look at the choices and practicalities on acoustic pickups and preamp installation.

Chapter 4: Wiring - An introduction to soldering and the tools you'll need is followed by step-by-step guides to a number of wiring projects. We start easy and work up to swapping pickups and rewiring guitars.

Chapter 5: Troubleshooting - Learn what to do when things don't work as planned. From basic troubleshooting and how to use a multimeter, to dealing with out of phase pickups, to hum problems. There's even a section on acoustic pickup troubleshooting.

Chapter 6: Wiring Diagrams - A huge library of common (and some hard to find) wiring diagrams. Over seventy guitar and bass reference circuits with accompanying notes.

Chapter 7: Modifications - Dozens of wiring mods to change the tone, switching, or operation of an instrument to better fit the ideas in your head. From the everyday to the esoteric, there's plenty of inspiration here.

Appendix: Reference - A collection of specifications and reference materials for common components. Pickups, pots, switches, jacks, resistors, capacitors, and more… Even the screws used to hold things together.

 
…a book that’s comprehensive and detailed while also very approachable, offering plenty to beginner, novice, and experienced DIY’ers alike.
— Dave Hunter, author Fender 75 Years, The Guitar Pickup Handbook
 

Look Inside

…a must-have for any luthier, guitar technician, roadie, guitar shop, and of course any player who’s into guitar electronics.
— Dirk Wacker, CEO, SINGLECOIL-Guitars Germany; writer, Premier Guitar

 

buy COMPLETE GUITAR WIRING

Get the ebook for immediate digital download

Complete Guitar Wiring ebook. Cover on tablet computer
 

Get Complete Guitar Wiring in ebook format right now. Digital download file for $40

 
 

What you’ll get:

  • Complete Guitar Wiring in PDF format.

You can download and start reading straight away. This digital download version looks great on tablet computers.

Or, check out below for additional bundle deals.

 

 

Complete Guitar Wiring Bundles

If you’re more heavily invested in this guitar wiring game, I’ve bundled some extra tools with Complete Guitar Wiring.
Read more about each tool below.

 
Complete Guitar Wiring PDF on tablet and guitar component and pickup wiring graphics package

DIAGRAMMING BUNDLE

Get the ebook and the Guitar Wiring Graphics together and save $5.

 
 

What you’ll get in the Diagramming Bundle:

  • Complete Guitar Wiring ebook in PDF format.

  • Guitar Wiring Graphics package and personal use license (normally $20).

 
 
Complete Guitar Wiring PDF on tablet with bundles of guitar wiring graphics and switch mapping templates.

GUITAR TECH BUNDLE

Get the ebook, Guitar Wiring Graphics, and Switch Mapping Worksheets and save $10.

 
 

What you’ll get in the Guitar Tech Bundle:

  • Complete Guitar Wiring ebook in PDF format.

  • Guitar Wiring Graphics package and personal use license (normally $20).

  • Switch Mapping Worksheets to help plan your switch wiring (normally $10).

 

ABOUT THESE TOOLS

Both Guitar Wiring Graphics and Switch Mapping Worksheets are available separately or as part of the bundles above. Click the links for more details on each.

Guitar Wiring Graphics

A huge collection of graphics for making your own professional looking wiring diagrams. Detailed illustrations of pickups, pots, switches, jacks, and other components. More details…

 

Switch Mapping Worksheets

A collection of templates breaking down the active lugs for each position of many common switches. Use them to help figure out the pickup switching wiring for more involved projects. Learn more…

 
 

Complete Guitar Wiring in Print

Complete Guitar Wiring is also available as a physical, softcover book. It’s sold through Amazon and is available in most marketplaces. If you like your books made from actual paper, you can buy Complete Guitar Wiring on Amazon.

 

Click the links below or search Amazon for ‘Complete Guitar Wiring’ or ISBN 978-1919649429

Amazon Store in…
US - UK - DE - FR - ES - IT - CA - AU

…filled with insight you don’t find in other books dedicated to guitar electronics.
This book is a delight. You should buy it.
— Jon Sullivan, Sully Guitars
 
 

 Frequently Asked Questions

 

Buying FAQ - Buying the digital ebook

The PDF version is the immediate digital download sold via this site. Clicking the buy button (above) will bring up a popover window where you can buy the book. 

  • Sure is. I sell the PDF version through Gumroad. They take care of all of the nerdy security and encryption stuff. Your purchase will be completely secure. More info on security…

  • I sell through Gumroad and they handle all of the payments for the PDF version and will accept the usual credit cards as well as PayPal and Apple Pay. As much as it pains me to say so, please don't send cash or beer. More info…

  • Yeah. That sucks. Sorry. It’s something you’ll have to take up with your government, though. I wish I didn’t have to pay tax too, so you’ve got my vote if you run for office.

  • As soon as you purchase, you should see a successful purchase notification on screen. there will be a big button labelled ‘View Content’. Click on that and you can download or view the book.

    You’ll also receive an email receipt from Gumroad. This email contains the same big button labelled ‘View Content’. Check in your spam folder if you don’t see this email in your inbox.

    The download link in this email can be used at any time in the future if you need to re-download.

  • The guides are in PDF format and can be read on any computer, tablet or smartphone that can read PDFs (that’s pretty much all of them).

    Apple iPhones and iPads should have support built in. If your Android device can’t open Sketchy Setups, Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader (Play Store Link) is the—more or less—default app (but there are others if you search).

    On the desktop side, again Apple computers will open these natively. Windows 10 should also open PDF files without extra apps and you can get Adobe Acrobat Reader for older versions of Windows. If you’re running Linux, let’s face it: You already know how to read a PDF.

    A final note: There are alternatives to Adobe Acrobat Reader for most operating systems. Google is your friend if Adobe gives you any grief.

  • I’m flattered you would like to have both versions. Thank you. I’m afraid I can’t discount one against the other though. Sorry

 

Buying FAQ - Buying a print copy

If you're buying the print copy, you'll be dealing directly with Amazon. You'll be completely out of my hands but they’ve had a lot of practice dealing with this stuff so you should be pretty safe.

Clicking the relevant links will take you to Amazon’s web site. The links to Amazon use my affiliate ID. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

  • You'll need to contact Amazon’s support team. When you buy from them, you have to deal with them directly and I’m afraid I can't do anything to help. I wish I could but, for print versions, your transaction is with Amazon.

  • Continuing the trend, I’m afraid I have to refer you to Amazon. They do all the work on the print version and they keep a hefty commission for doing so. If you’ve any problems, you’ll need to make them work for that money. 😉

    Sorry for being a bit flippant and for, essentially washing my hands of support, but I’m really powerless to help with anything bought through Amazon.

  • Complete Guitar Wiring is available in most regions but, for some weird reasons I don’t understand, there seems to be a couple of places it’s not available.

    You can try searching for the ISBN which is 978-1919649429 or maybe you can order from another Amazon store and get it shipped to you.

    Failing that, there’s always the ebook version available above.

  • No. Sorry. The bundles with Guitar Wiring Graphics and Switch Mapping Worksheets are only available with the ebook version of Complete Guitar Wiring.

 

General FAQ - All the other stuff

  • Much of this wiring stuff is universal—the pickups and components in a bass operate in pretty much the same way as those in a guitar. So, while this is Complete Guitar Wiring, I hope bass players will get plenty from it too. On the wiring diagram side, the book skews heavily towards guitars but there’s a good helping of bass circuits too.

  • It has lots of stuff. Like really lots but it doesn’t have everything. I’ve tried to provide enough information and variations of circuits that you can hopefully find something similar to that thing I didn’t actually include.

    Please don’t email me to tell me something isn’t included. 🙂

  • For any errors, the digital version will be updated and all buyers notified so they can download the corrected version.
    The print version will also be updated (obviously) and any new buyers will receive the updated physical copy. I’ve no way to notify anyone who purchased the print book before an update so I will list any corrections on an errata page for reference.

  • Most people who use these graphics will do so for ‘personal’ projects—documenting their own circuits, sharing on forums, etc. That’s all cool and falls under personal use.

    If someone uses the graphics for project that generates income (or shares in a channel or medium that is intended to generate income), they need a Commercial Use license. So, if you make a diagram with these graphics and use it in a magazine, book, video, advertisement, or any channel that is used to generate income, you need to upgrade to a Commercial Use license.

    It’s reasonably priced and you can get upgrades from personal to commercial if needed. Check out the Guitar Wiring Graphics page for more info.

  • Wow. Thanks so much (even if I did write this myself).

    I’m not kidding when I say that reviews are a massive help. We live in the age of the algorithm and any author will really benefit from a nice review. Leaving a review on Amazon would be fantastic. Thank you!

  • You can use the contact form or email me at cgw@hazeguitars.com.