===========================================================================
Tim Stanley's Generic Rewiring FAQ
===========================================================================
--------------------------------
Where to get more info
--------------------------------
To learn more about re-wiring - check out:
1) the Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer - there is a fine section on
fundamentals and all of the possibilities.
2) Check out a book that Warmouth and Stew-Mac sells called "Build
Your Own Electric Guitar" (can't remember the author, methinks it is
Foley, but it is not the one by Melvin Hiscock). There are quite a
few rewiring schematics in there - nearly all the traditional ones
(Strat, Tele, Gibson Les Paul/SG, etc) plus more. Hiscock's book has
a few schematics, but is really a (very good) reference on building
the actual guitar.
3) The 2/93 Guitar Player magazine has an article summarizing 4 old
previously printed rewiring schemes.
4) Also, check out these old Guitar Player articles (sorry, I can't
remember the titles, all I have is this list and all I know is that
they were interesting enough that I wrote the dates down):
GP 3/81
8/84
8/85
3/86
5/86
11/86
2/87
8/87 (Dan Armstrong Super-Strat that you sent)
1/89 (Ultimate Strat Switch)
--------------------------------
Where to get parts
--------------------------------
The switches you need for the Dan Armstrong modification are available
from either Warmouth or Stewart-MacDonalds (one of the switches is not
not available at Radio-Snark).
Push-pull pots are available at Stew-Mac, too.
If you want to get a new pickguard - check out WD Music Products.
Lots-o-colors, custom no-problem, be prepared to do some final fitting
of edges using your own tools. Depending on color, custom, and size,
$20 --- $50+. WD is now at 4070 Mayflower Rd, Fort Myers FL 33916 ph#
813 337-7575.
--------------------------------
Overview of some articles
--------------------------------
The February '93 Guitar Player has some Strat rewiring schemes in the
article that starts on page 98. One of them requires no extra
hardware. Or, if you're willing to exchange the 5-way switch for 3
mini switches, the Dan Armstrong ``super strat'' scheme is pretty
flexible. It gives you:
- each pickup alone
- three parallel pairs
- three serial pairs
- three pickups in parallel
- three pickups in series
- three pickups in series/parallel
The mini switches go in the slot where the 5-way usually goes. You
have to drill three holes along the slot to make room for the switch
shafts.
I did the Dan Armstrong mod last August - it is pretty excellent. I
also used potentiometers with push-pull DPDT switches to also add
phasing capability. Very flexible and interesting, indeed. This mod
has 12 positions of its own, and with phasing, provides 24 different
combinations. My favorite is all three pickups in series, with the
bridge pickup out of phase - a very funky frequency response notch
seems to be generated.
I would say that the Dan Armstrong mod is trickier to get used to than
the simple/standard 5-position switch. To me, the extra sounds are
worth it; to a working axeman, he should think about it before he
switches ;-). But, it is not *that* hard to remember the 12 switch
positions - they *do* have a logical pattern. In fact, I am currently
in the process of wiring up my 3 old Squire strat pickups in this
configuration on a new black-pearloid pickguard just for kicks (hey, I
am an engineer, I can't help it...spending 4 hours with a soldering
iron in my basement is fun for me...).
IMHO - the Dan Armstrong mod is the coolest and most flexible (my
personal goal - YourMilageMayVary). Also, IMHO, if you are inside
your guitar hacking about, shield the cavity and the pickguard using
something, I recommend the 3 coats of shielding paint (also at
Stew-Mac).
--------------------------------
There's another stock-parts-only project in the February '87 issue of
GP, if you can get hold of a back issue. It uses one of the tone
controls to mix between the usual wiring and some series/phase reverse
combinations.
"Ultimate Strat Switch". Of course, there really isn't much new in
the basic switching of pickups, **but** it is an !!!interesting!!! way
to use a 6-pole 4-throw rotary switch to "configure" the pickups for a
certain pre-set of possibilities, and the regular 5-way switch is then
used as usual. What is interesting is that:
1. you don't have to add switches to your guitar (if you care about
that sort of thing).
2. if you like the 5-way switch because it is so damn easy to
understand and grab on to, you can keep it, but still get a new bunch
of other series/parallel/phased sounds.
3. one of the "configurations" of the rotary _is_ the original
configuration so you don't lose your Stratocaster among the switches.
Some of the 5-way positions are repeats - i.e., there are really only
two or three different swithing modes among the 5 positions. Also,
there is an error in the description. Most importantly, with a little
thought, you can figure out variations on the theme of the rotary
switch and perhaps get more flexibility or something more tuned to
your needs.
--------------------------------
"I added a new pickup and now my guitar doesn't work right.
's products suck! What should I do?"
--------------------------------
One of the earliest things that engineers, builders, tinkerers learn
is this:
1) If you make >improvements< on something that works,
2) and the something ceases to function properly,
3) and you are %100 sure that your >improvements< were implemented
correctly,
Then:
4) There is a %99.9 chance that you are %100 wrong about your improvements.
What this means when you encounter problems with a new pickup is this:
5) There is a %0.1 chance that there is something wrong with the
pickup you just added and a %99.9 change that something is wrong
with what you did.
The problem is that early in our experimental experience, we lack the
skills to determine for certain what is wrong. Get help from
experienced friends, learn the analytical methods needed to debug your
improvements. Leave time and room for mistakes and learn to diagnose
and fix them. Be precise, careful, and methodical. Take your time.
Did I mention, take your time?
G'luck,
T
===========================================================================
Digest of rewiring posts
===========================================================================
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
From: dweber@lark.qualcomm.com (Dan Weber)
Subject: Re: Applause (Fender Strat Copy) Repairs
Organization: Qualcomm, Inc., San Diego, CA
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 1992 18:26:02 GMT
In article <1992Dec9.172736.10571@sis.uucp>, naccarat@sis.uucp (Rob Naccarato) writes:
|> The
|> signal will only get through the Tone when it is set to about 2 - 4.
|> So, I believe that I should purchase a new Tone control, but what do I
|> buy? At one of the music stores, I saw a couple of them with a label
|> that said "500 K" or "275 K" or something like that. What does this
|> mean and what should I do?
You may want to try some thing new, I recently replaced the middle
tone control with a midrange cut pot and rewired the remaining tone
control to be a master tone. This enables you to get some vintage
sounds. I got the kit from Torres Engineering for about $3.95 and
it takes about 10 minutes to install, and I'm no whiz kid either.
Write Torres or call for free catalog of kits and such.
Torres Engineering
110 Avila Road
San Mateo CA 94402
(415) 571-6887
for blues you can use,
Dano
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
From: lrm28@cas.org ()
Subject: Followup to pickup mod
Summary: What's an overcompensating cap?
Organization: Chemical Abstracts Service, Columbus, Ohio
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1993 13:25:42 GMT
Some have mailed me the question,"What's this cap you're thinking
about adding?" Well, refer to page 153 of the Feb 93 Guitar Player.
ASCII graphics editor, activate:
From pickups:
|
|----|
| --- 1500pf (Mylar or polypropolene)
--- ---
|v| |
|o| |
|l|<----------- to jack
| |
---
|
|
|
-----
---
-
To quote the article:
This cap increases the proportion of high frequencies as you turn
down the volume control, giving a brighter sound for rhythm parts.
--
Luke Mayercin lrm28@cas.org "Why does ear wax taste like it does?"
Chemical Abstracts Service is not responsible for these comments.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: rogers@calamari.hi.com (Andrew Rogers)
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
Subject: Re: Followup to pickup mod
Date: 10 Mar 1993 10:41:23 -0000
Organization: Hitachi Computer Products, OSSD division
NNTP-Posting-Host: calamari.hi.com
In article <1993Mar10.132542.764@cas.org> lrm28@cas.org () writes:
>Some have mailed me the question,"What's this cap you're thinking
>about adding?" Well, refer to page 153 of the Feb 93 Guitar Player.
>
> [circuit deleted]
This mod has been around since the early 70's; the first place I heard
about it was a _Guitar Player_ interview with J. Geils. I've added it to
most of my electrics since then; it really does prevent the sound from
becoming muddy at lower volume levels. (According to recent product
reviews and comparison tests in the guitar rags, this "bypass cap" is
standard on a lot of electrics these days.)
>This cap increases the proportion of high frequencies as you turn
>down the volume control, giving a brighter sound for rhythm parts.
I think 1500pf may be too large for most guitars, though; after
trial-and-error on many, many guitars, I found that 1pf per K of pot
resistance is just about right. So if your volume control is 250K, a
220pf cap would be appropriate.
If the cap is too large, it will allow not only the highs but a lot
of the midrange to filter through, effectively turning the volume pot
into a bass roll-off control over most of its range.
"Mylar or polypropylene"? Why, when I was your age, sonny boy, we
made our own condensors - none of these new-fangled "capacitors" -
out of tinfoil and wax paper! You young whippersnappers don't know
how easy you have it! :-)
>Luke Mayercin lrm28@cas.org "Why does ear wax taste like it does?"
Andrew Rogers
old fart at play
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: mic@emx.cc.utexas.edu (Mic Kaczmarczik)
Newsgroups: alt.guitar
Subject: Re: Strat Capacitor Change
Date: 18 Mar 1993 17:44:47 -0600
Organization: UT Austin Computation Center, Unix Services
NNTP-Posting-Host: emx.cc.utexas.edu
In article <9303181452.AA13148@deepthought.cs.utexas.edu> ISTS024@UABDPO.DPO.UAB.EDU (Leonard Watkins) writes:
>I changed my Capacitor in my Strat from whatever it was (it was old and
>un-readable) to an .015 to get a warmer sound. It works great if your
>Strat or copy sounds a little too trebly or shrill change the capacitor
>it worked for me. You can always change back...I highly recommend it for
>blues players, nice tone....L.W.
I read about this particular value in a recent Guitar Player (the
article about the guy who has done guitar tech work for SRV, Clapton,
and Dylan), and tried it out on my Les Paul with P-90 soapbars. It
really does give a nice tone.
--mic--
--
Mic Kaczmarczik - Unix Services /
UT Austin Computation Center / Never try to outstubborn a cat.
remark@{ccwf,emx,bongo} 1-0251 \ -- Lazarus Long
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From META@UNB.CA Thu Mar 25 21:33:45 1993
Newsgroups: alt.guitar
Subject: Re: Strat Electronics
Organization: The University of New Brunswick
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1993 01:01:07 GMT
Thanks to Tim Stanley for his exhaustive collation of pickup
rewiring articles in GP.
I've had pretty much the same pickup configuration and wiring scheme
for the last 12 years or so, and I'm pretty happy with it.
One 3-position switch for neck/both/bridge pickups, with its' own
volume control. One 3-position toggle to select middle PU off/in-
phase/out-of-phase with its' own volume control. One master tone
control (these days I just have a 3-position toggle with 3 different
rolloffs).
The main switch lets me use the guitar in "Telecaster" mode, and
ignore the middle PU. The separate volume controls allow one to
dial in degree of phase cancellation, and if you can work it with
your pinky, get some phase-shifty kinda sounds.
In total, it gets 9 basic pickup combinations, but doesn't include
any series options (fine for me, I like my playing clean most of the
time).
Recently, I wired up my nephew's Charvel for him with a 5-position
switch and volume/tone. I found that it was possible to configure
the switch so that it got the standard N/N+M/M/M+B/B settings
(N=neck) but cut the tone control in and out depending on the pickup
setting. (tone engaged for N/N+M/M positions but not for M+B/B).
This gave a sort of "ready-for-action" capability, in that he could
set the tone for a rhythm sound, when using anything but the bridge
pickup, and get full treble whenever he engaged the bridge pickup.
It strikes me you could do the same sort of thing with the usual
Strat configuration, PLUS use the extra tone control as a middle PU
volume control. While this doesn't provide all the flexibility of
the toggle-switch arrangements mentioned in the GP article, it
provides stage-oriented convenience, and a reasonable array of
sounds once you wire up the extra volume control. In some respects,
the original Strat wiring is intended to let you have two tone
settings, however they tend to interact, whereas the arrangement
described here provides crystal clear treble on the bridge pickup
regardless of where your tone control is set when using the other
pickups. As well, the extra volume control can get some interesting
sounds (especially if you compensate one volume control with a
bypass cap but notthe other). If you get a switching pot, such as Tim d
escribed, and use it to switch the phase of the middle PU, there are
even more possibilities afforded.
The switching pots are expensive, as pots go, but I dare you to get
as many new sounds for $7.50 any other way.
Mark Hammer
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From kimple@vax.cns.muskingum.edu Thu Mar 25 21:35:24 1993
Newsgroups: alt.guitar
Subject: Re: Strat Electronics
Date: 19 Mar 93 12:52:08 -0500
Organization: Muskingum College
> In article tower@dcl-nxt37.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
>>I am looking for as many different tones I can get form my Strat without
>>having to buy a new amp or pickups. I would like schematics that people
>>have come up with.
>
Well, I almost tried the Armstrong thing, and then a friend showed me a
different way (which coincidentally is the one that Torres' has also put in
one of his Perfect Guitar things..)
REplace the 5 way with 3 mini toggles, but they have to be DPDT wit a center
ON position - not the most common, and you can't find these at Rat Shack,
but I beleive Most big electronics outlets will have them (got mine from
Newark electronics) and Stewart Mac has them.
Now, the switches are wired as phase switches in SERIES, so you can get
pickups individually, combinations in series in phase, combinations
in series out of phase. About 12 combinations with standard single
coils (22 with my HotRails with hum/single switch). Not all of these
combinations are incredible - some aren't very different than others,
but you get some cool sounds not otherwise possible, and it's a bit
easier to use than the Armstrong. Center position for each switch is
off. Either up or down is on. Two or more on in same direction are in
phase, and in opposite directions they're out of phase.
Let's see if I can do this in ascii...
(looking at the bottom of the switches)
________ __________ _________
l @ @ l l @ @ l l @ @ l
l \ / l l \ / l l \ / l
~----l-@ \/ @-l--------l-@ \/ @-l---------l-@ \/ @-l-----l
to l /\ l l /\ l l /\ l l
vol. l @/ \@ l l @/ \@ l l @/ \@ l __l__
l_l____l_l l_l____l_l l_l____l_l / / /
l l l l l l (ground)
l l l l l l
l l l l l l
(+) (-) (+) (-) (+) (-)
bridge pu middle pu neck pu
Anyway, does it make sense? I'm doing this from memory, and while I think it's
right, I'm not absolutley sure at the moment.
Of course, I have it wired to one master volume control, If you want individual
volumes/tones, place them between the pickup and the switch.
It's really easy to use, and I've found that the coolest lead sound is the
Bridge (hotrails, full on humbucking) and the Mid in series, in phase.
A great, FAT sound! Bridge is single coil out of phase w/ the neck pu is
a cool, almost telly 'funk' sound (it'll never get the 'real'telly sound
because it's not parallel, and the difference in pickups - the neck is only 4K)
Adding the middle PU to the neck fattens that sound out some. Neck and
Bridge (single coil) is a cool sound - mostly the bite and edge from the
bridge, but with the low end roundness from the neck. Very cool with
lots of distortion, wherethe neck might otherwise sound muddy.
jd
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.guitar,rec.music.makers.guitar
From: bill@verdix.com (William Spencer)
Subject: Re: Phase Wiring and Tele Pickups
Nntp-Posting-Host: voodoo.vslan.verdix.com
Organization: Verdix Corp
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1993 19:34:16 GMT
skarp@leland.Stanford.EDU (George Marino Skarpelos) writes:
>I was wondering how I would put a 5 position switch on my
>stock tele as a replacement for the standard 3 position switch.
>The idea would be to have two out of phase configurations in the
>2 and 4 positions. Is this possible? Could someone post a simple
>scematic?
Normal 5 position switches have only 3 external connections. This particular
arrangement is not possible.
The possible configuration is position 2&4 = both pickups, 2 is inphase,
4 is outphase or vice versa. 1&5 are bridge pickup and 3 is neck, or vice
versa. You need a two pole type switch (most of them) i.e. DP5T.
Connection "0" is the common:
bridge + ------------*---------1 \
neck + --------------|---------2 >section 1
bridge - ------------|--*------3 |
out + -----|--|------0 /
| |
| -------1 \
| 2 >section 2
----------3 |
neck - ---- out ground --------0 /
Bill s
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From dab@elan.cc.bellcore.com Wed Mar 16 22:57:07 1994
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
From: dab@elan.cc.bellcore.com (dave ballard)
Subject: strat volume mod
Nntp-Posting-Host: elan.cc.bellcore.com
Organization: Bellcore
Date: Wed, 9 Mar 1994 17:31:10 GMT
Hey now- I just put a mod in my strat that smooths out the volume control
so that it actually has some effect below 6 and also keeps the high end up
when the volume is turned down. It comes from an article on modifying pickup
wiring in the 1/89 Guitar World. The whole mod consists of soldering a
680 PF capacitor and a 1/4-150k ohm resistor in parallel across the "in" and
"out" on the volume pot. Works like a charm.
Anyone else done this? Why doesn't Fender do it to begin with?
-dab
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From icrmd@cc.uab.es Wed Mar 16 22:57:19 1994
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
From: icrmd@cc.uab.es
Subject: Re: strat volume mod
Organization: Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
Date: 10 Mar 94 12:29:09 +0100
In article , dab@elan.cc.bellcore.com (dave ballard) writes:
>
> Hey now- I just put a mod in my strat that smooths out the volume control
> so that it actually has some effect below 6 and also keeps the high end up
> when the volume is turned down. It comes from an article on modifying pickup
> wiring in the 1/89 Guitar World. The whole mod consists of soldering a
> 680 PF capacitor and a 1/4-150k ohm resistor in parallel across the "in" and
> "out" on the volume pot. Works like a charm.
>
> Anyone else done this? Why doesn't Fender do it to begin with?
I did something similar, but I can't remember the values of
the capacitor I used and I don't think I bothered with the
resistor (I was aiming at the most dramatic change, cos I
was really fed up with the tone disappearing completely
below 9). The change is really useful, so most of the time
now I use the neck and mid pickups with the volume just
below half and get a really nice sound.
I read that PRS guitars have this arrangement as standard.
Anybody got any other easily done mods ?
The only other thing I did was put in a toggle switch
adding (or not) the neck pickup into the output, so I can
now have all three pickups on at once, or have neck and
bridge. The way I did it hasn't made a great deal of
difference but I'm sure it is possible to get some good
sounds out of this idea.
martin
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: bwh@beach.cis.ufl.edu (Brian Hook)
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
Subject: Schaller's/Stew-Mac's nifty 5-way pickup switch
Date: 01 Jun 1994 14:45:42 GMT
Organization: University of Florida, Dept of CIS
I just purchased that coolie Schaller/Stew-mac 5-way pickup selector switch
the other day. It was 14 or so bucks + shipping. I haven't had a chance
to install it yet (waiting for my Lawrence XL-500) but basically here's the
story:
This pickup gives you things like coil tapping and stuff without needing
mini-toggles. And, better yet, it givees you a tele sound in position 3,
vs. the traditionally wimpy/useless middle single coil. The positions are as
follows:
S/S/S H/S/S H/S/H
Bridge BSC BHB BHB
Bridge/Mid BSC + MSC BSC + MSC BSC + MSC
Mid BSC + NSC BSC + NSC BSC + NSC
Mid/Neck MSC + NSC MSC + NSC MSC + NSC
Neck NSC NSC NHB
This requires that any humbuckers are of the 4-conductor coil-tapping
style. I'm real interested to hear other people's opinions on this setup.
I'll post once my guitar gets back together (Fender Strat+, Bill Lawrence
XL-500, Fender Gold Lace Sensor, Fender Gold Lace Sensor).
I'm kind of worried that my guitar may not fit the mold for what Schaller
expects, because the Lace Sensors are typically not available RWRP and I
think the switch assumes this (all positions that are not one single coil
only are supposed to be humbucking, including the coil tapped modes).
Guess I'll find out soon enough.
Brian
PS No, I'm not affiliated, etc. etc.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From rogers@sasuga.Hi.COM Wed Oct 12 15:40:02 1994
From: rogers@sasuga.Hi.COM (Andrew Rogers)
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
Subject: Re: An EASY Guitar Mod
Date: 11 Oct 1994 14:24:32 -0400
Organization: Dead Skunk in the Information Superhighway
NNTP-Posting-Host: sasuga.hi.com
In article gwatts@cv.hp.com (gary watts) writes:
>: >Lastly, you can tie a very small cap across pot to allow the highs to
>: >pass when you turn down the pot. Experiment with different values but
>: >I like a .22pf with humbuckers.
>
>: 22pF I assume? .22pf is, err, kinda small!!
>
>Yes that (.) decimal just slipped in there...
I first read about the bypass cap modification in a Guitar Player interview
with J. Geils back in the early 70's; he recommended something like .01mf,
which is *way* too high (it let so many of the highs through that it almost
turned the pot into a *bass* rolloff control). The basic idea sounded
worthwhile, though, and after some experimenting I settled on ~1pf/Kohm:
220pf for 250K pots, 470pf for 500K pots, etc. (A lot will depend on the
impedance of your pickups and capacitance of the cable you use, but these
values have worked well for me.)
Andrew
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From till@netcom13.netcom.com Wed Oct 26 17:28:56 1994
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
From: till@netcom13.netcom.com (Don Tillman)
Subject: Re: Any alternative pickup wiring schemes?
In-Reply-To: stubbs@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu's message of 25 Oct 94 11:09:15 CDT
Reply-To: don@till.com
Organization: NETCOM On-line services
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 1994 07:40:33 GMT
From: stubbs@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
Date: 25 Oct 94 11:09:15 CDT
Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Services
I have noticed on guitars with two pickups that althought there
are two volume controls, when I turn one pickup down(part or all
the way) the other pickup goes down two.. I have looked at the
wiring and I guess it is because the volume shunts the signal
to ground and as they are connected in parallel they both get
grounded.
Yup.
I wonder if anyone has come up with a wiring scheme to allow
a blending of the two pickups (without resorting to active
electronics,e tc.)
Sure, reverse the pot connection so the wiper goes toward the pickup
and the clockwise side goes to the output. Rickenbackers and the
Fender Jazz bass have always done this to allow for a more
controllable pickup mix.
A downside of this approach is that at lower volume levels there's
more noise and more of the high end gets shunted off.
-- Don
J. Donald Tillman
Consultant; Software Engineering, Analog Electronics
Palo Alto, California 415 327-6234
Internet: don@till.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From mic@uts.cc.utexas.edu Sun May 22 16:50:03 1994
From: mic@uts.cc.utexas.edu
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.builders
Subject: Re: Strat+ tone circuit?
Date: 20 May 1994 19:59:57 -0500
Organization: UT Austin Computation Center, Unix Services
NNTP-Posting-Host: curly.cc.utexas.edu
In article <2rguir$hk5@staff.cs.su.oz.au>,
James Uther wrote:
>I was wondering if anyone knows the wiring for a strat+. The blurb says that
>it is a passive circuit that boosts as well as cuts frequencies (?). Anyway,
>I have fender-lace sensors on my home made chunk of noisy sculpture, and
>was hoping to add some worthwhile circuitry to it. Any help would be
>appreciated.
> thanks
> jim
The Strat Plus and Plus Deluxe models use a Fender TBX circuit for the
bridge/middle pickup tone control. I think the American Standard does
too. It's available for $25-$35 from Fender dealers, according to a
phone call I made a few weeks ago for another reason.
There's a circuit diagram for the TBX in A. Duchossoir's book _The
Fender Telecaster_. It uses a dual ganged pot with 250K audio/1M
linear resistances, an 82K resistor and a .22 MFD tone capacitor.
>From 0 to 5, it's a normal 250K treble rolloff circuit. From 6 to 10,
the 1M resistance keeps some of the highs normally lost by the 250K
circuit. I guess ``add'' means ``doesn't lose as many as usual''
here.
There was a posting here a few weeks ago about using higher
resistances in tone and volume controls to increase the volume and
highs you get from a pickup. The TBX is a clever way to apply this
principle in a single, relatively intuitive control.
I like having the TBX, but I find that if I want my Strat's 2-pickup
combinations to sound ``twangy'' to my ears, I have to stay in the 0
to 5 range. I guess 250K pots are a subtle part of the traditional
sound.
--mic--
--
Mic Kaczmarczik | ``Now, blues music is simple music. And simple
Unix Services |music is the hardest music in the world to play.''
UT Austin Computation Center | - Albert Collins, ``Ain't Nothing But The Blues''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: spangler@hpsdde.sdd.hp.com (Kevin Spangler)
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
Subject: Re: Pickups for coil tapping
Date: 7 Dec 1994 12:27:55 -0800
Organization: Hewlett Packard, San Diego Division
>Does anybody have any good recommendations on some
>humbucking pickups that would sound good when tapped
>for a single coil configuration? I love a nice
>warm, mellow Gibson like tone, but I would also like
>to be able to switch to a more Strat-like tone when
>a song needs the extra clarity.
I've done it to a number of guitars that could safely and sanely be
drilled out for toggle switches. (Don't do it to that '59 Les Paul
under Grandpa's bed). I've not noticed that any particular model of
humbucker gives a particularly "better" single-coil sound than another,
but have noticed that those designed for more high-frequency output
(say, a Duncan JB) definitely sound brighter, while a more low-frequency
emphasized pickup (say a Duncan '59 or Dimarzio PAF) will have a slightly
warmer and less cutting tone. But it's been hard to predict the single-coil
sound by listening to the double-coil sound. ***Please note that you can
do this operation by replacing one of your volume/tone controls with a
push-pull pot; you don't need to drill toggle-switch holes unless you want
to do more elaborate set-ups like the one discussed below.**** :-)
If DiMarzio and/or Duncan are not online here, you can call them and ask
if they have any recommendations (of course there are lots of other pickup
manufacturers besides those two). One thing I would suggest is considering
a parallel-coil configuration. This will give you *very* close to the same
sound as going single-coil, but it is fully humbucking so you won't get nasty
noise and hum. Putting a humbucker in single-coil mode will give you hum!!
The parallel-coil sound is slightly higher output (two coils vs. one) and
slightly less trebly than single-coil, but IMHO it's worth it to avoid hum.
I buy three-way mini-toggle switches from Stewart MacDonald and wire them
so the three positions give me series-coil (normal humbucking mode)/
single-coil (non-humbucking)/parallel-coil (alternate humbucking mode).
The DiMarzio and Duncan pickups should come with diagrams that show you
how to wire this. This way you can have all the choices. I use two of these
switches - one dedicated to each of the two humbuckers in the typical
2-pickup guitar. This gives you three sound per pickup; when you start
combining the two pickups, you can get a lot of neat variety.
I've posted this in case anyone else was interested in the answer. If you
need more details just reply to me through e-mail.
- Kevin
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: ez004557@rocky.ucdavis.edu (George Kaschner)
Newsgroups: alt.guitar
Subject: Re: 7 String Pickup Info Neede
Date: 21 Dec 1994 20:36:46 GMT
Organization: University of California, Davis
Rich Beerman (rbeer@starcore.cris.com) wrote:
: Is there any one out there with information on pickups for 7-string
: guitars?
Have you considered blade-type pickups (vs pickups with defined
polepieces)? If they are sufficiently wide for your string spacing,
there may be no need for custom units.
Regards,
George Kaschner
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: till@netcom8.netcom.com (Don Tillman)
Subject: Re: Getting a "neck-pickup" sound out of a guitar withonly a br
In-Reply-To: jps@cup.portal.com's message of 1 Jan 1995 06:00:38 -0800
Organization: NETCOM On-line services
Date: Mon, 2 Jan 1995 03:05:14 GMT
From: jps@cup.portal.com (John P Sheehy)
Date: 1 Jan 1995 06:00:38 -0800
>Is such a thing possible? I have a sneaking suspicion that the reason I
>can't get certain types of distorted sound is that there is no neck
>pickup. Turning the tone knob down just cuts ALL high sound down, and
>isnt what I want. I want only harmoncics cut down. Is there a way to do
>it, or must I buy a guitar with a neck pickup to do that? I think that
>turning tone down cuts out all highs, and that using neck pickup cut s
>out harmonics. Am I right?
Pretty close. The neck pickup doesn't cut out harmonics, but rather, it
emphasize the fundamental, so harmonics are weaker as a percentage of
total volume.
Well no, actually.
You know how a string vibrates, right? Like a jump rope for the
fundamental frequency. For the second harmonic it looks like a figure
eight with jump rope action on each side and a non-vibrating node
point in the middle. For the third harmonic it looks like three jump
rope regions with two nodes between them. And so forth. And these
patterns all squeeze together when you play notes higher up the neck.
When one of the node points is centered over the pickup, that harmonic
won't come through. And when the vibrating region is centered over the
pickup, it'll come out in full force. For example, on a Strat the 4th
harmonic on the 5th fret on any open string creates a node right over
the neck pickup and can't be heard unless you switch to one of the
other pickups.
So the frequency response variations of a pickup due to it's placement
will be like a comb filter. It's even pretty easy to calculate:
Response = sin (pi * PickupDistanceFromBridge / VibratingStringLength)
It's the tuning of all these notches and peaks, all different for each
string, that gives us the warm sound of a neck pickup and that brash
sound in a bridge pickup.
(Folks with plotting facilities might want to do a log-log plot of the
response curve for fun. Then plot it for different pickup distances.
Then plot it for two pickups summed. Two pickups out of phase. Three
pickups. It's pretty cool, and gives you an interesting look at
what's going on. For extra credit do a 3-d plot. Ooh, aah.)
So there's nothing you can do to make a bridge pickup sound like a
neck pickup (other than playing up around the nineteenth fret where
the pickups are equal distances from the ends of the string!) The
best you could do would be to wack at it with a graphic equalizer
until you come upon something acceptably close.
-- Don
--
J. Donald Tillman
Consultant; Software Engineering, Analog Electronics
Palo Alto, California 415 327-6234
Internet: don@till.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: leiter@panix.com (Philip Dahl)
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
Subject: Re: Pickup swapping tips?
Date: 18 Jan 1995 22:02:14 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC
Lines: 12
Tim Victor (timv@well.sf.ca.us) wrote:
: Has anyone tried any sort of
: quick-disconnect system for pickups?
The quick-disconnects used for telephones come in a six-conductor
version; enough for four leads and the shield. Raido Shack has 'em. I
haven't put any in yet--I'm afraid of what it'll do to my wallet. Maybe
we can set up a standard and have a pickup exchange?
Phil Dahl
leiter@panix.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From phillip@flagstaff.princeton.edu Fri Jan 27 11:32:11 1995
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar,alt.guitar
Path: zip.eecs.umich.edu!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!gatech!udel!princeton!flagstaff.princeton.edu!phillip
From: phillip@flagstaff.princeton.edu (Phillip Charles Saunders)
Subject: Re: NEW PICKUP WIRING!
Message-ID: <1995Jan27.042015.10712@Princeton.EDU>
Originator: news@hedgehog.Princeton.EDU
Sender: news@Princeton.EDU (USENET News System)
Nntp-Posting-Host: flagstaff.princeton.edu
Organization: Princeton University
References: <3g33mm$dl9@ra.lib.ucalgary.ca>
Date: Fri, 27 Jan 1995 04:20:15 GMT
Lines: 11
Xref: zip.eecs.umich.edu rec.music.makers.guitar:39720 alt.guitar:44724
I like the Feb 89 Guitar Player mod that allows you to mix the middle
pickup into the circuit to get humbucking configurations. It converts
the third tone control into a fader that mixes in the third pickup.
When this control is at 10, you get the stock tones. When its at zero,
you get humbucking configurations in the 1 and 5 position and true out
of phase sounds in the 2 and 4 positions. When the fader is in
intermediate positions, you get blended tones. A most superior
modification that uses all original parts.
From Jeff.Vineburg@f705.n2614.z1.fidonet.org Tue Mar 7 12:31:32 1995
From: Jeff.Vineburg@f705.n2614.z1.fidonet.org (Jeff Vineburg)
Path: zip.eecs.umich.edu!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!news.cac.psu.edu!news.tc.cornell.edu!travelers.mail.cornell.edu!news.kei.com!ub!galileo.cc.rochester.edu!ceas.rochester.edu!rochgte!UUCP
Newsgroups: alt.guitar
Subject: All pick-ups on switch a
Message-ID: <794499081.AA07611@rochgte.fidonet.org>
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 1995 00:00:48 -0500
X-FTN-To: Pascal Sauve
Lines: 14
PS>I saw in a magazine a few years back that one guy was trying to have a
>switch put in his Fender Strat (5 way switch) so that he could have all
>the three pickups on.How do you do that if your not an electronic genius ?
It's not that hard, when you think about it.
The existing switch will already allow 2 at the same time, so all you
have to do is install a switch to turn the remaining one on.
The best bet is a push/pull pot in place on one of the tone or volume
knobs.
* SLMR 2.1a * Who voted these clowns in anyway?
From jjourard@aol.com Sat Apr 1 13:24:17 1995
Path: zip.eecs.umich.edu!newshost.marcam.com!hookup!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!news.ultranet.com!zombie.ncsc.mil!news.duke.edu!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!news.cac.psu.edu!news.pop.psu.edu!hudson.lm.com!newsfeed.pitt.edu!uunet!newstf01.news.aol.com!newsbf02.news.aol.com!not-for-mail
From: jjourard@aol.com (Jjourard)
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
Subject: Re: Feedback/Harmonics
Date: 31 Mar 1995 02:50:34 -0500
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Lines: 34
Sender: root@newsbf02.news.aol.com
Message-ID: <3lgc8a$hnj@newsbf02.news.aol.com>
References:
Reply-To: jjourard@aol.com (Jjourard)
NNTP-Posting-Host: newsbf02.mail.aol.com
OK here's my take on feedback. Feedback is a function of gain, not
volume. If you have scads of gain from overdrivers, overdriven amp
channels, compressors, etc - anything that really cranks up the gain, you
can get feedback at an astonishingly low volume! So, item number one is a
source of mondo gain. A RAT pedal will do, I still use my modified (for
durability) Big Muff Pi with a lot of gain cranked in.
The other thing is filtering of some kind. Roll off some or all the highs
on the pickup, you can do this on the fly as needed. I have a secret
trick which has served me well for 15 years and I will reveal it here for
the first time anywhere: On the treble pickup I have substituted a .005
capacitor for the original tone control capacitor, which bumps the
effective frequency peak way up into the midrange and gives a solid, boxy,
chewy sound to the lead pickup when a lot of overdrive is in use. It also
encourages more musical-note type feedback, in my experience.
The other, main thing for affecting the note that chooses to feed back is
Where You Stand, and At What Angle, compared to the amp's speakers. This
is 100% unique to your setup. You have to settle on an equipment
arrangement, a pickup, tone setting, volume level, etc and try different
spots. I used to do this in the afternoon during soundcheck, and put a
piece of tape on the floor where "X" marked the spot. Then, during the
show, I could count on getting something useable if I stood in that same
spot.
My experience has been that these are the most important things, the other
things like strings, wood, etc are all included in this method because the
only practical approach is to "see what it'll do" for a specific setup,
and then repeat that scenario to get similar results.
As far as the horrible screech feedback type, that means too much high
frequency activity. Roll off the highs, use a dark-sounding distortion
setting, and/or avoid microphonic pickups that reproduce physical rather
than magnetic vibrations. That translates into a pickup that will amplify
the sound of being tapped with a neutral object such as a pencil or comb,
rather loudly...this effect is "bad" and will create problems. We Don't
Like It. High quality (=$$) pickups rarely have this problem.
Hollow body guitars feedback much better than solids!
From charlier@cs.tamu.edu Sat Apr 1 13:44:47 1995
Path: zip.eecs.umich.edu!caen!hookup!news.Direct.CA!scipio.cyberstore.ca!math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!news.tamu.edu!charlier
From: charlier@cs.tamu.edu (Charlie Richardson)
Newsgroups: alt.guitar
Subject: Strat SC Pickup Loading vs. Sound
Date: 30 Mar 1995 18:02:55 GMT
Organization: Texas A&M Computer Science Department, College Station, TX
Lines: 51
Message-ID: <3lerof$i0f@news.tamu.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: sparc27.cs.tamu.edu
Howdy - this is just an observation/tip I found out quite by accident
during a rewiring project on my Strat clone. The clone is a Peavey
Predator (amazingly nice for the money IMHO).
The stock PV single-coils seem to be in the "vintage" or "American Standard
equivalent" category - DC resistance on them is about 6K to 6.1K with
slight differences between all the three PU's.
I rewired the two tone controls so that the first tone becomes a
master tone and the second becomes a dedicated bridge pickup volume
control . Works as advertised - but due to the way I wired the switch
and bridge P/U, with the hot lead of the pickup to the pot wiper, whenever I
turn the dedicated volume control down, it shunts the pickup with a
variable resistance, going from 500K (this guitar has 500K's instead of 250K's) to 0 ohms.
Anyway, fooling around with this combination and a (Classic) SansAmp, I
discovered that shunting the bridge pickup with anywhere from about 5K
to 15K radically changed the sound of the pickup without changing the
volume as much as I would have expected. When shunted, the highs and
(somewhat) lows are attenuated in an interesting way. The midrange
sound that is left is PERFECT for getting a tight, fat distortion from
the SansAmp. Sounds like a humbucker but better in that by slightly
playing with the pot I can bring in the characteristic Strat bridge
pickup bite/jangle/twang in varying amounts.
The reduced output level of the pickup when it's shunted is easily compensated
for by dialing in more gain on the preamp/distortion pedal/etc. I had not
been very happy with Strat-type single-coil bridge pickups through the
SansAmp - the sound wasn't as hot and fat as I wanted and had a lot of
high-end clashing jangly distortion. The shunted bridge sounds
just great. Haven't heard this kind of distortion sound from anything
but a Gibson-sized humbucker before.
The next step is to possibly put a Vintage Rails or some other
aftermarket humbucking Strat pickup into there and try the same sort of thing
with the advantage of not having to deal with the bloody 60-cycle hum
in the sound. I like the shunted sound so much I am considering
building in a simple FET preamp to bring the signal back up when the
shunt is engaged on the bridge.
Comments and suggestions welcome...
-Charlie
--
Charlie Richardson (409) (W) 845-9470 (H) 693-8056
Systems Analyst, Computing Services Group
Dept. of Computer Science, Texas A&M University
From goldtop@ix.netcom.com Sat Jun 17 13:37:11 1995
Path: zip.eecs.umich.edu!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netnews
From: goldtop@ix.netcom.com (goldtop )
Newsgroups: alt.guitar
Subject: Lindy Fralin Strat mod - check this out !
Date: 6 Jun 1995 01:25:28 GMT
Organization: Netcom
Lines: 22
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <3r0aq8$39u@ixnews3.ix.netcom.com>
References: <3qubj4$qsq@eplet.mira.net.au>
NNTP-Posting-Host: ix-atl6-01.ix.netcom.com
In
"L. Jackson" writes:
>
>I think they're called Lindy Fralin and they are highly regarded
>whether or not they would suit your guitar depends on the sort of
>sound you want from your guitar.... LJ
>
I think that guy lives in VA. Frank at Atlanta Vintage guitars gave me
his number once. Lindy told me about a mod he does to Strats that
involves that last, essentially useless, tone control on a Strat and
replacing it with a 1 meg ohm pot. The pot is placed (electrically)
between the neck and bridge pickups. When you turn to pot off (zero
resistance), it effectively allows both outer pickups on, giving you
this Tele kind of tone. Turn the pot to max (1 meg) and the other
pickup is effectively shut off due to the resistance and the normal
pickup plays alone (depending on whether the selector switch is up or
down). I tried it and it was a real cool sound, especially in clean
modes.
Give it a try!
goldtop
From mgarvin@panix.com Sat Jun 17 13:37:38 1995
Path: zip.eecs.umich.edu!panix!not-for-mail
From: mgarvin@panix.com (Mark Garvin)
Newsgroups: alt.guitar
Subject: Re: Lindy Fralin Strat mod - check this out !
Date: 7 Jun 1995 17:53:27 -0400
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC
Lines: 16
Message-ID: <3r574n$gub@panix2.panix.com>
References: <3qubj4$qsq@eplet.mira.net.au> <3r0aq8$39u@ixnews3.ix.netcom.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: panix2.panix.com
In <3r0aq8$39u@ixnews3.ix.netcom.com> goldtop@ix.netcom.com (goldtop ) writes:
>>
>>I think they're called Lindy Fralin and they are highly regarded
>>whether or not they would suit your guitar depends on the sort of
>his number once. Lindy told me about a mod he does to Strats that
>involves that last, essentially useless, tone control on a Strat and
>replacing it with a 1 meg ohm pot. The pot is placed (electrically)
>between the neck and bridge pickups. When you turn to pot off (zero
>resistance), it effectively allows both outer pickups on, giving you
The pots Lindy sells are modified so that extreme counterclockwise
rotation turns the pot off completely. Infinite resistance.
That way the mod can be taken 'out of circuit'.
Mark Garvin
From gwatts@cv.hp.com Sat Jun 17 13:37:44 1995
Newsgroups: alt.guitar
Path: zip.eecs.umich.edu!panix!hookup!europa.chnt.gtegsc.com!howland.reston.ans.net!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!hp-pcd!hpcvsnz!gwatts
From: gwatts@cv.hp.com (gary watts)
Subject: Re: Lindy Fralin Strat mod - check this out !
Sender: news@hpcvsnz.cv.hp.com (News )
Message-ID:
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 22:26:51 GMT
References: <3r574n$gub@panix2.panix.com>
Nntp-Posting-Host: hpcvsgen.cv.hp.com
Organization: Hewlett-Packard
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL9.4]
Lines: 16
Mark Garvin (mgarvin@panix.com) wrote:
: The pots Lindy sells are modified so that extreme counterclockwise
: rotation turns the pot off completely. Infinite resistance.
: That way the mod can be taken 'out of circuit'.
You can easily do this yourself. All it is is scraping off a small section
of the resistive material at the end of the fiberboard. The wiper will
roll across the "resistor" until it runs off the end of the material onto
the non conductive backing.
All that is requiresd is a prying tool to open up the pot cover and
a sharp instrument like an Xacto knife to do the scraping.
Gary Watts
From COLLINS_JIM@tandem.com Thu Jul 6 14:26:53 1995
Path: zip.eecs.umich.edu!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!europa.chnt.gtegsc.com!howland.reston.ans.net!nntp.crl.com!pacbell.com!tandem!pc6-54.atg.tandem.com!user
From: COLLINS_JIM@tandem.com (Jim Collins)
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
Subject: Re: Tone circuit on new Telecasters?
Followup-To: rec.music.makers.guitar,alt.guitar
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 1995 19:20:13 -0700
Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc.
Lines: 55
Message-ID:
References:
NNTP-Posting-Host: 130.252.7.54
In article , dbetz@dvorak.amd.com (David Betz)
wrote:
> Question for y'all out there --
> I've got a '93 Am. Telecaster. The tone knob has kind of
> a "midway" point that you can feel as you are increasing
> the tone. A guy at a guitar store was telling me that
> this is Fender's special "tbx" circuit or some such thing,
> and he claims that past the "midway" point, this circuit
> kicks in and adds a treble boost. To be sure, this
> guitar is supremely trebly with the tone cranked --
> good for "cutting through" as it were. Anyways, does
> anyone know the lowdown on this?
>
> Also, how much of the "twang" of the Tele is caused by
> the circuitry? Can anyone post some cool circuitry
> modifications w/ comments? I was thinking that it would
> be cool to add like a "Rock/Twang" switch to de-twang
> the guitar if I wanted.
>
> Of course, this is all moot if the twang is in fact a
> result of the standard Tele pickups which my guitar
> has. I have thought of replacing them with some Seymour
> Duncans or something, but I'm afraid of killing the
> trademark twang completely. Plus, this guitar really
> sounds good through a loud Marshall, I think due to
> the low output single coils. Anyways...
David,
The twang of the Telecaster is not really because of the TBX circuitry --
Teles twanged long before the TBX was invented. The pickups and the bridge
contribute a great deal to the twanginess of the Tele.
There is a way to add a sort of rock/twang switch to a Tele, but it
involves replacing the pickups. Seymour Duncan makes a bunch of different
Tele pickups, but one set you might be interested in is the HOT Tele
pickups, with the tapped bridge pickup. The HOT Tele bridge comes in
either tapped or untapped flavors. For this to work, you need the tapped
bridge. Once you get these pickups, you also need a five-position switch,
such as the ones found on Strats. When properly wired, the HOT Tele
pickups with the tapped bridge pickup give you five distinct, and very
useful, sounds. The sounds are, from the most forward switch position
(toward the neck) to the most rearward position (towards the bridge) are:
tapped bridge, tapped bridge + neck, neck, neck + full bridge, and full
bridge. The full bridge sound is a big, fat, loud sound, not very twangy.
The tapped bridge sound is very much like a vintage bridge sound. The HOT
neck pickup is very much like a vintage sounding Tele neck, but it is
louder. The inbetween positions are interesting. They are each different
>from the middle position of a standard Tele. Obviously, the full bridge +
neck is different, but even the tapped bridge + neck is a bit different,
mostly because, I suspect, the neck pickup is louder than a vintage neck.
By the way, when I use the term vintage in this comparison, I'm referring
to the Seymour Duncan '54 neck and '54 bridge pickups.
This particular setup is a pretty cool one -- very versatile. You get
the traditional twangy Tele, plus a beefier one.
Jimmy
From COLLINS_JIM@tandem.com Thu Jul 6 14:50:18 1995
Path: zip.eecs.umich.edu!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!nntp.crl.com!pacbell.com!tandem!pc6-54.atg.tandem.com!user
From: COLLINS_JIM@tandem.com (Jim Collins)
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
Subject: Re: Tele Pick-ups ?
Followup-To: rec.music.makers.guitar
Date: Wed, 05 Jul 1995 10:06:02 -0700
Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc.
Lines: 37
Message-ID:
References: <3sci7k$si8@ixnews1.ix.netcom.com> <3tc4a1$ind@fountain.mindlink.net>
NNTP-Posting-Host: 130.252.7.54
In article <3tc4a1$ind@fountain.mindlink.net>, Michael Kent
wrote:
> I also own a Tele with Joe Bardens, and am satisfied. It is a good
> idea, though, toreplace the standard 250K volume pot with a 500K pot.
>
> This will ensure that the pickups do not get loaded down. You can
> really, really hear the difference--brighter, fuller, more responsive
> to player dynamics, more tonal depth.
>
> Anyone might consider putting a 500K pot in place of their 250K pot,
> I just did that to my strat and again I'm very pleased with the results.
>
> --Mike.
I put 500K volume pots in my Teles with Bardens, and I noticed a big
difference, myself, especially when the volume pot is full on. That last
little eighth turn really brightens it up. I notice it most when I select
both pickups in parallel. Just knocking the volume pot off a tad -- about
that last eighth turn -- seems to give the same effect as a 250K volume pot
full on, so that last bit is only there when I need it.
I will say, though, that putting in the 500K volume pot forced me to
install a tiny treble-boost capacitor on the volume pot. I didn't really
think I needed it with the 250K pot, but I do with the 500K pot. With a
500K pot and no treble-boost cap, I found that when I played with the
guitar's volume pot significantly less than full on, too much brightness
disappeared. With the 250K volume pot, the loss of brightness at lower
volume pot settings was still there, but nowhere near as noticeable, at
least to me. Joe Barden recommends a 120 picofarad cap as a treble boost.
I couldn't find any 120 picofarad caps, but I was able to find some 100
picofarad caps at the local Radio Shack, and one of these works just fine.
I found that the little cap that Fender used as a treble boost -- the very
cap that they include in the '52 reissue update kit -- was much too large.
At lower volume pot settings, the tone was much too tiny. When I turned
the guitar's volume pot closer to full on, I got a nice, full tone, but
this was not gradual. It was more like an on/off switch.
Jimmy
From smilbrgr@ihs.com Wed Aug 9 10:16:22 1995
Path: zip.eecs.umich.edu!newshost.marcam.com!hookup!europa.chnt.gtegsc.com!howland.reston.ans.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.sprintlink.net!noc.netcom.net!firewall.ihs.com!news
From: Steven Milberger
Newsgroups: alt.guitar,alt.guitar.amps,rec.music.makers.guitar
Subject: Book: Build a Universal Coil Winding Machine
Date: 7 Aug 1995 14:21:05 GMT
Organization: Information Handling Services
Lines: 25
Message-ID: <4057gi$cun@firewall.ihs.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: smilbrgr.ihs.com
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Mailer: Mozilla 1.1N (Windows; I; 16bit)
Xref: zip.eecs.umich.edu alt.guitar:66731 alt.guitar.amps:2833 rec.music.makers.guitar:62194
I recentlyl came across an excellent book on building a
device to wind coils. This book would be usefull for
anyone wanting to wind their own pickups or even
transformers. The coil winder in the book does require
some machine shop ability, just as a warning.
Build a Universal Coil Winding Machine
by
David J. Gingery
PO Box 9123
Springfield, MO 65801-9123
$8.95, 24pp.
No ISBN #
This book looks like a "DIY" job, ie, self published, but
the info in the book is worth the $9.00, IMHO.
Enjoy,
Steve Milberger
From BRodrick@world.std.com Wed Sep 13 14:03:35 1995
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar
Path: news.eecs.umich.edu!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.sprintlink.net!in1.uu.net!world!BRodrick
From: BRodrick@world.std.com (William R Rodrick)
Subject: Re: Lace Sensors / 5-way J.D. switch for Telecaster
Message-ID:
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]
References: <4373h1$j5n@kodak.rdcs.Kodak.COM>
Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1995 17:42:27 GMT
Lines: 56
Jim Vence ISSC (jimv@mailroom.itc.kodak.com) wrote:
: I own a U.S. standard Tele, and started looking into replacing the stock p/u's
: with Lace Sensors and rewiring with a 5 way switch as is done on the Donohue
: models. I'd like a lower hum, and don't mind sacrificing a bit of the trebly
: sound of the stock p/u's, provided the resulting sound is still distinctly
: Telecaster. Has anyone performed such surgery that would not mind sharing their experience? Thanks.
Here's something I posted some months ago (by the way, I would think the
Lace Sensors would give a somewhat anemic sound in this configuration, but
I'm only guessing. In my experience, it's best to reconcile yourself to a
little hum for the sake of a nice, full sound):
JERRY DONAHUE TELECASTER WIRING
===============================
According to the Fender schematic for the U.S. Jerry Donahue model,
this is how the pickups are connected to achieve a "Strat-like" sound
(when the 5-position switch is in position #4 or second from Bridge-end).
Note that the two pickups are wired out of phase.
+ _________________ .01 uf/100 V
--------| Neck Pickup |------||-------|
| ----------------- |
| \
| / 6.2k
Ground \
| /
| |
| _________________ + 6.2k |
--------| Bridge Pickup |-----/\/\/\------> Volume
-----------------
I suppose the two resistor values could be tweaked in order to
balance the relative levels of each pickup, depending on what kind
of pickups you're using. I have tried these same values (actually
5.6k for the resistors) in my Tele, which has a Duncan Hot Tele bridge
PU (I'm using the tapped output, which gives about the same sound and
output as a stock Tele bridge PU) and a Rio Grande Strat PU in the neck
position, which sounds very similar to a stock "vintage" Strat PU but
has a higher output. I don't think using the stock Tele neck PU would
give very good results, but I may be wrong.
The sound is quite similar to a vintage Strat in the bridge+middle
"in-between" position, but of course not exactly like it, so that if you
have a choice and it's really the Strat sound you want, you will want to
use the Strat. But if you only want to bring one guitar along, the Tele
with this configuration will do a pretty good job. Besides, the sound
is nice in its own right. It's basically the sound heard in "King Arthur's
Dream" on the first Hellecasters CD. It's interesting to compare it to the
same song on JD's album "Telecasting", where I'm 99% sure he used a Strat.
It is possible to order the JD switch from Fender, but it costs something
like $45, I'm told.
Bill
From BRodrick@world.std.com Mon Oct 30 12:30:38 1995
Newsgroups: alt.guitar,rec.music.makers.guitar
Path: news.eecs.umich.edu!newshost.marcam.com!news.netins.net!news.dacom.co.kr!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in2.uu.net!world!BRodrick
From: BRodrick@world.std.com (William R Rodrick)
Subject: Re: Strat - Phasing mid p/u? help....
Message-ID:
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]
References: <4705tr$e54@tst.hk.super.net>
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 13:37:32 GMT
Lines: 20
Xref: news.eecs.umich.edu alt.guitar:76504 rec.music.makers.guitar:70498
Mahatma Kane-Jeeves (mkj@world.std.com) wrote:
[snip]
: You might get some mileage out of wiring a phase switch onto the
: BRIDGE pickup; because it covers a narrower, higher spectrum, it tends
: to cancel less of the useful sound of other pickups, creating some
: interesting quacky tones. I especially like an out-of-phase bridge
: pickup combined with the NECK pickup (but that, of course, requires
: yet another switch installed).
One way of getting a _useful_ sound out of two single-coil pickups wired
out of phase is to insert a capacitor with a value between .047 and .1 uf
in series with one of the pickups. This "recaptures" some of the volume
and bass normally lost with the out-of-phase wiring. This seems to work
especially well with the bridge and neck pickups on a Strat or Tele, and
is in fact the "secret" to the Jerry Donahue Telecaster's "Strat middle
position" tone. I still much prefer the sound of the bridge or neck PU
in parallel with the middle PU on a Strat, but if you're going to try
wiring two of the PUs out of phase, then you should try this.
Bill
Received: from zip.eecs.umich.edu (root@zip.eecs.umich.edu [141.212.99.4]) by dip.eecs.umich.edu (8.7.1/8.7.1) with ESMTP id NAA12172 for ; Mon, 30 Oct 1995 13:35:15 -0500 (EST)
Received: from europe.std.com (europe.std.com [192.74.137.10]) by zip.eecs.umich.edu (8.7.1/8.7.1) with SMTP id NAA19317 for ; Mon, 30 Oct 1995 13:33:37 -0500 (EST)
Received: from world.std.com by europe.std.com (8.6.12/Spike-8-1.0)
id NAA13660; Mon, 30 Oct 1995 13:34:53 -0500
Received: by world.std.com (5.65c/Spike-2.0)
id AA08623; Mon, 30 Oct 1995 13:34:53 -0500
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 13:34:52 +0001 (EST)
From: William R Rodrick
Subject: Re: Strat - Phasing mid p/u? help....
To: "Timothy J. Stanley"
In-Reply-To: <199510301732.MAA11844@smaug.eecs.umich.edu>
Message-Id:
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
> This is a cool idea that I have never heard of. I *rarely* hear/learn
> new things about rewiring anymore... :-(
>
> I have added your post verbatim to my rewiring faq/digest on my www
> page. Thanks for the tip.
Tim,
I'm glad the tip was useful. Yes, this is something you never hear about,
for some reason. Just for completeness' sake, here's something I posted a
long time ago regarding the JD Tele wiring:
JERRY DONAHUE TELECASTER WIRING
===============================
According to the Fender schematic for the U.S. Jerry Donahue model,
this is how the pickups are connected to achieve a "Strat-like" sound
(when the 5-position switch is in position #4 or second from Bridge-end).
Note that the two pickups are wired out of phase.
+ _________________ .01 uf/100 V
--------| Neck Pickup |------||-------|
| ----------------- |
| \
| / 6.2k
Ground \
| /
| |
| _________________ + 6.2k |
--------| Bridge Pickup |-----/\/\/\------> Volume
-----------------
I suppose the two resistor values could be tweaked in order to
balance the relative levels of each pickup, depending on what kind
of pickups you're using. I have tried these same values (actually
5.6k for the resistors) in my Tele, which has a Duncan Broadcaster
bridge pickup and a Rio Grande Strat PU in the neck
position, which sounds very similar to a stock "vintage" Strat PU but
has a higher output. I don't think using the stock Tele neck PU would
give very good results, but I may be wrong.
The sound is quite similar to a vintage Strat in the bridge+middle
"in-between" position, but of course not exactly like it, so that if you
have a choice and it's really the Strat sound you want, you will want to
use the Strat. But if you only want to bring one guitar along, the Tele
with this configuration will do a pretty good job. Besides, the sound
is nice in its own right. It's basically the sound heard in "King Arthur's
Dream" on the first Hellecasters CD. It's interesting to compare it to the
same song on JD's album "Telecasting", where I'm 99% sure he used a Strat.
------------
I think this will clarify the matter. BTW, the resistors don't seem to be
necessary, or have minimal effect.
Good luck,
Bill