3 pickups, coil taps, series, phase and piezo excess

[Dom]

I started a post on this in 2009, two kids later I finally have the time & a little $ & gumption to make this happen to my no 1 axe. I have 2 HB1's neck & mid, a Hi Gain at the bridge and piezo under the bridge on my 370WB. I'm still relatively unexperienced in guitar wiring & creating schematics. I have modded a strat & a vantage avenger with Deaf Eddie rotaries and they now have 16 & 17 tones respectively. They aren't a ric, rotaries are a bit cumbersome & you have to remember which position does what in conjunction with the 5 way position. I want to do the Brian May deal plus the piezo but keep a stock appearance, I want it simple & intuitive to use & years later I may have figured out how to do it. Let me know if this makes sense.

I will be using the 330k push pulls on all knobs...now that I know they exist! Here is the control plan (looking at your guitar as you are playing it): stock 3 way for neck & bridge, a master vol for those & pull coil tap for the neck HB-1 on the upper front knob, vol & pull coil tap for the mid HB-1 on the upper rear, pull series/parallel & piezo vol on the 5th knob. Piezo goes to the Ric-O-Sound jack, everyone else to the standard. You only need two controls for all the out of phase options on a 3 pup guitar so pull for out of phase neck & master tone for neck & bridge on the lower front, pull for out of phase & tone for the mid on the lower rear.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about how I play & use controls. WIth this I can mix in the mid with its' volume to any combination of the 3 way & have mid alone by turning down the master for the neck & bridge. I can roll off the tone of the mid & mix it in for a blend & added growl. Coil tap for neck & mid on the uppers and out of phase on each just below seems to make sense. A master series/parallel doesn't offer every combo but I can roll off volumes to approximate that. I have no EQ on my piezo currently so no need to add it. It has no cap either, all or nothin' & the direct sound blends with the pups well.

One thing I haven't decided is if I want to pull for tap or pull for bucker, the HiGain is louder than the hb's (hence bridge position) so I wonder what to do about that.

[cassius987]

I don't think the new switches will work for a series-parallel switch. For that you may want a mini toggle, or the older version that was 500K and DPDT.

[Dom]

I don't think the new switches will work for a series-parallel switch. For that you may want a mini toggle, or the older version that was 500K and DPDT.

Hmm, I'll have to check up on that. I'm avoiding adding mini toggles. I did consider doing a whole new pickguard & 5 way or two 3 ways, 6 knobs etc but I'm trying my darndest to keep a clean stock look.

[aceonbass]

330K pots are not the optimum value for any controls on a guitar with Humbuckers, since they will take some of the brightness out of the HB1's, as will the stock .047 tone caps. 500K for volume and tone is better. Joshua's right about the new 330K push pulls in that they won't work as series parallel switches. You'll need SPST switches for that. I've done the rest of these mods on Ricks before, but the addition of series parallel and more switches is gonna be overkill I think.

[cassius987]

Since the HB-1s are going neck and mid I'd just wire them parallel full time. Series HB-1 really sounds best in the bridge position if you ask me... even more so on a guitar than a bass. This will also make them play nicer with 330k pots if you go that route.

[Dom]

330K pots are not the optimum value for any controls on a guitar with Humbuckers, since they will take some of the brightness out of the HB1's, as will the stock .047 tone caps. 500K for volume and tone is better. Joshua's right about the new 330K push pulls in that they won't work as series parallel switches. You'll need SPST switches for that. I've done the rest of these mods on Ricks before, but the addition of series parallel and more switches is gonna be overkill I think.

I had bad luck with 500K's on my HSS Vantage Avenger (Bright & piercing) so I went to 250K's but I went to 500K's on the HSS strat. I found good & bad with both so I had figured 330K's might be a good thing to stick with.

However now that you mentioned it, this could be time for a change. I've used the guitar with mostly the stock pots since adding 3 HB1's and the mid pup in '97 so that may explain why the HiGain has worked out so well at the bridge. I did have them master vol, master tone & 3 coil faders with one push pull for mid on. When the bridge pup died & I stuck the HiGain on, one of the coil faders (former blend) became the piezo volume. The guitar really growls well with the HB1's but largely I guess I've just gotten used to the way it works. I'm using the volume for going between clean & drive a lot more now than I did in the '90's.

I really do like the mood change with the series mods, but I also do like the stock pickguard. Glad I posted the idea as I want to get this one right. Time to do some more thunking...

[Dom]

The more thinking I do the more the HiGain has to go. I'll be looking for another HB1 for this sucker. So now it will be 3 HB1's with taps & phase switching for the neck & mid. With the mid on it's own volume & neck & bridge on their own volume switched by the 3 way I'll have 7 pickup options not counting the taps & phase. The series mod was too much...as if this project isn't too much already.

I'll likely use the original HiGains for a res o glas kit project. I've been jonesing to build one of the single cut Supro Belmont/Sahara style guitars with a combo 800 inspired pickguard, RIC bridge & lefty vibrato for slide work. Just have to sell some other gear first before that can happen.

BTW this is the '88 370WB that will have the insane tonal palate. The fretboard is now de-glossed and oiled. I may have to start calling it "Il Mostro Rosso".

[Dom]

The saga of the Dom mod continues. I have decided that a series/parallel switch is a must even though I wanted it to look stock. It will go right where the small phase switch resides on the John Kay model. I ditched the HiGain and picked up another HB-1 for the bridge from Dane who's been discussing the project with me. I have yet to change any wiring or pots. Going to remove the coil fader from the neck pickup since I think it is actually eating my tone and replace the master volume with a 500K and audition caps this week.

I put toaster covers on the HB-1's which I had originally bought for housing Tiesco pickups on another project. Looks great, even though the fitment as others have found is not perfect. Looking at those six black bars got me thinking about the coils...now I have another detail to work out. When I use the neck coil tap I want to have the coil closest the neck active and for the bridge tap I want the coil closest the bridge active in order to cancel hum. I don't know if I should have the middle tap select the neck side or bridge side coil. I think the bridge side coil might be best for the middle for strat like tones with neck & mid. I am also leaning this way because years ago my bridge HB-1 called it quits and before I installed the HiGain I actually used just the mid pickup for leads.

Caps: Dane suggested using .022 caps. I currently have the stock .047 caps and on this guitar I only use the tone rolled down with an octave pedal when doing bass lines. I will have a master volume & tone for neck & bridge & volume and tone for middle. The middle pickup is kindof in a sweet spot so I'm wondering if I should use a lower value .010 cap for that mid pickup alone. Clapton did that and when he turned the tone knob all the way down he got the Woman tone as you see in the chart in the link below. Anyone here ever use caps that low with an HB-1?

I find this comparison of caps for humbuckers particularly interesting. http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/tonefre ... -info.html

[aceonbass]

Dom....While I've never used a .01uf cap by itself with an HB1, it was part of the circuit in my recent 4002 wiring project that I tested on my 4003 with HB1's. In the 4002, the .01 cap is used like the .0047 cap in a vintage RIC. It's essentially a bass cut cap, so I while I don't know what it sounded like by itself, it should give an HB1 a harsher, brighter tone.

[Dom]

Cool project Dane, I've always wondered what the 4002 sounded like. I found a bunch of 500K's and some .022's in my parts drawer so I'm going to put those on tonight & see how that unlocks those HB-1's.

[aceonbass]

Be sure to test those 500K's on a multi meter Dom. I've seen a bunch lately that are in the 375K range, and totally unacceptable.

[Dom]

Be sure to test those 500K's on a multi meter Dom. I've seen a bunch lately that are in the 375K range, and totally unacceptable.

Unfortunately my multi meter bit the dust recently but these pots & caps are old 70's Matsumoku parts from when they made better Gibsons than Gibson! As a plan B I also have some 500k's that I pulled off a guitar because it was waaay too bright.

[Dom]

Changed out the master volume pot, big difference, but the rest have to get changed too. Everything in there is a bit of a nightmare...once I have the cash it all gets replaced. For this testing phase I'm just going to run it with just a master volume & master tone so I can try out the caps tonight. I may also install a switch temporarily where the coil fader was installed so I can try out the series or phase mods. Can't wait to get it done for real.

[Dom]

The .010 cap is great with the HB-1, total woman tone with OD & glassy with clean. More of a "nature" change than tone shift. Very nice with the slide. Hum disappears completely with it rolled on.

[Dom]

Does anyone have a guitar that has a blend knob as opposed to a 3 way? One that would switch between the pickups completely rather than add the neck pup like a standard blend RIC setup. If so how do you like it? One thing about 3 ways on any guitar I've had is the noticeable click when switching. With a pot in place of the 3 way I can do the series/parallel mod on a push pull. I'd have to go without the upper guard or make a lower guard with the selector hole moved back a mm or two. I'm really looking at every switching & sound option on this guitar. I use it to play everything from blues, pop to as close to metal as I can manage, so an enhanced tonal palate is really the goal. I've used this guitar on almost every recording I've done since 1996 and every live show I've played but one since 1994.