Series wiring for a 4003?

[mad_phingers]

I have heard lots of great things about Jazz basses wired up in series, and based on what I have read, it sounds like it just might be for me and my 4003; I have always had a little bit of a problem with the scoop and flabbiness of the middle position of my Ric. I have searched the forums here, but it looks like it has only been documented here on a bass with HB-1s.

Does anyone know if it is possible to wire a 4003 so that the middle position is series instead of parallel using the existing 3-way switch?

I have heard you need a on/off/on 3-way and I believe the 4003s have on/on/on switches...

Any advice or diagrams are much appreciated! I would also love to hear any experiences with or opinions of such a mod.

Thanks

jake

[cassius987]

This effectively gives you one humbucker with a really big aperture because it is sensing a space the size of two single coils. Except, the 4003 isn't wired RWRP, so you don't even get a humbucker out of the series wiring. I don't think the switch is a problem, it just won't do anything in series mode (except kill the signal altogether if you solo the bridge pickup). EDIT: Nope, you're right, has to be on-off-on or it will ground the signal. You are wiring it so the ground of the neck pickup meets up with the hot lead of the bridge pickup. Here is a good diagram:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/images/sup ... ***_sp.jpg

If anyone referred to series wiring of a humbucker here I believe it was only because they are wired in series stock. Doing two HB-1s "in series" would not offer much advantages I would think, but in practice it would not be much different from using two single coils if you knew which wires were supposed to be hot and which were supposed to be ground.

Now here's a good question... have you actually tried this on a Jazz Bass to know you like it? When I used to do it with my S-1 equipped Jazz, it was less than impressive. I would consider at least hooking it up to a DPDT switch (like the part used to bypass the capacitor) and not wiring it permanently.

My suggestion: if you really want to kill the "flab" on your 4003 with both pickups on either dial one of the pickups back to negate the scoop, use the 0.0047 µF cap to negate the scoop, or if that cap makes it sound "too thin" use a 0.047 µF cap which will sound a lot fuller. I really don't recommend the series wiring mod.

[jps]

I vote for the .0047µF cap in line with the bridge pickup.

[mad_phingers]

Thanks for the info. I do not have firsthand experience with this mod on a jazz, but I know that I don't like both pu's on full on a jazz and have read that wiring them in series gives a much louder, fatter, and deeper sound, more reminiscent of a P-bass. That sounds appealing to me. If it had anywhere near that effect on the Ric, it would be worth it to me to try.

I do roll one or the other pickup off the help with the scoop, but in a full-band situation, this usually just makes it sound like you are using whichever pickup hasn't been rolled off. It is too subtle, whereas I believe the series wiring would be a more noticeable change in both tone and output.

[cassius987]

Try an in-line cap first. Either like Jeff said, the trad value, or a bigger value. There is no perceivable filtering/"scoop" when one pickup has a cap in-line, but smaller caps will filter some lows out of the pickup they are in series with. If that bugs you use a bigger cap.

Also, if you like blending your pickups various ways to suit different genres or band mixes, or even just soloing one pickup at times, series wiring won't support that.