Wiring
Pick the voicing you're building and you'll get its bench-side wiring reference: the selector map, connection points, and the published harness.
This is the bench-side reference for the Relay Velvet harness. It gives you the selector map, pickup roles, labeled connection points, and the published base wiring without forcing a blow-by-blow soldering tutorial.
Control Layout
5-Way Blade
Bridge
Bridge humbucker alone.
Bridge + Middle
Bridge humbucker and Retrotron Nashville in parallel.
Middle
Retrotron Nashville alone. This is the main Velvet destination.
Neck + Middle
Neck humbucker and Retrotron Nashville in parallel.
Neck
Neck humbucker alone.
Volume - Standard 500k audio taper.
Tone (push-pull) - The published base harness uses the pot as a standard tone control. The push-pull switch lugs stay open until the Velvet focus contour is finalized.
Pickup Layout
- Bridge:
GFS Professional Series Alnico II Humbucker, bridge cavity, clearest rhythm voice. - Middle:
GFS Retrotron Nashville, middle cavity, primary Velvet voice. - Neck:
GFS Professional Series Alnico II Humbucker, neck cavity, warmest voice.
Reference Labels
| Label | Component | Wire | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| BP-H | Bridge Pickup | red | Hot output wire |
| BP-G | Bridge Pickup | black | Ground wire |
| MP-H | Middle Pickup (Retrotron Nashville) | red | Hot output wire |
| MP-G | Middle Pickup (Retrotron Nashville) | black | Ground wire |
| NP-H | Neck Pickup | red | Hot output wire |
| NP-G | Neck Pickup | black | Ground wire |
| SW-BP | 5-Way Selector | Bridge input lug | |
| SW-MP | 5-Way Selector | Middle input lug | |
| SW-NP | 5-Way Selector | Neck input lug | |
| SW-OUT | 5-Way Selector | Selector common/output lug | |
| VOL-IN | Volume Pot (500k) | Input lug from selector | |
| VOL-W | Volume Pot (500k) | Wiper/output lug to jack | |
| VOL-B | Volume Pot (500k) | Back of pot, tied to ground bus | |
| TON-IN | Tone Pot (500k push-pull) | Tone input lug, tapped from VOL-IN | |
| TON-W | Tone Pot (500k push-pull) | Tone wiper lug to capacitor | |
| TON-B | Tone Pot (500k push-pull) | Back of pot, tied to ground bus | |
| TON-A1 | Tone Push-Pull Switch | Pole A, lug 1 - leave open in this revision | |
| TON-A2 | Tone Push-Pull Switch | Pole A, lug 2 - leave open in this revision | |
| TON-A3 | Tone Push-Pull Switch | Pole A, lug 3 - leave open in this revision | |
| TON-B1 | Tone Push-Pull Switch | Pole B, lug 1 - leave open in this revision | |
| TON-B2 | Tone Push-Pull Switch | Pole B, lug 2 - leave open in this revision | |
| TON-B3 | Tone Push-Pull Switch | Pole B, lug 3 - leave open in this revision | |
| CAP-H | Tone Capacitor | Hot leg from tone wiper | |
| CAP-G | Tone Capacitor | Ground leg to ground bus | |
| J-TIP | Output Jack | Tip lug (hot) | |
| J-SLV | Output Jack | Sleeve lug (ground) | |
| GND | Ground Bus | Common ground point for pot backs, pickup grounds, shielding, and jack sleeve |
Wiring Map
| From | To | Notes |
|---|---|---|
BP-H | SW-BP | Bridge pickup hot to bridge selector lug |
MP-H | SW-MP | Middle pickup hot to middle selector lug |
NP-H | SW-NP | Neck pickup hot to neck selector lug |
SW-OUT | VOL-IN | Selector output to volume input |
VOL-IN | TON-IN | Tone feed tapped from volume input |
VOL-W | J-TIP | Volume output to jack tip |
TON-W | CAP-H | Tone wiper to capacitor hot leg |
BP-G | GND | Bridge pickup ground |
MP-G | GND | Middle pickup ground |
NP-G | GND | Neck pickup ground |
VOL-B | GND | Ground the volume pot body |
TON-B | GND | Ground the tone pot body |
CAP-G | GND | Capacitor return to ground |
J-SLV | GND | Jack sleeve to ground bus |
Leave TON-A1 through TON-B3 open in this published revision. Those six switch lugs are reserved for the Velvet focus contour and are intentionally unused in the base harness.
Build Outline
Outline
Shield the cavity first
Velvet is meant to stay exposed and clean, so start with shielding before you mount anything.
Build the full 5-way base harness on the bench
Wire the pickups to the selector, the selector to the volume pot, the tone branch from
VOL-IN, and the jack fromVOL-W.Run one clean ground scheme
Tie shielding, pickup grounds, pot backs, capacitor return, and jack sleeve into one ground bus.
Install only after the harness passes a meter check and tap test
The cavity is the wrong place to discover a bad selector joint.
Sanity Checks
Checks
Continuity
In each selector position,
SW-OUTshould connect only to the expected pickup lug or lugs. Position 3 should connect only to the middle pickup.Resistance
With volume full up, measure between
J-TIPandJ-SLV. Expect roughly 8.6 kOhm in position 1, 8.0 kOhm in position 3, and 7.6 kOhm in position 5, with positions 2 and 4 reading lower because the pickups are in parallel.Tap test
Plug into an amp at low volume and tap each pickup with a metal screwdriver. Make sure the Retrotron Nashville is isolated in position 3 and blended only in positions 2 and 4.