Humbucker Installation

[AR999]

Hello all,

I just purchased a 1995 330 recently and decided to give the HB-1 a shot, I normally do all my own work on my guitars, but as a kind of Christmas gesture, my wife had me take it to a local tech to do the work for me. Here's where my question starts, in almost every thread I found, it suggested I swap out the stock pots for 500K ones, so I purchased those.. Well, I get my guitar back today and the tech had not switched the pots, but said that it was correct to install the Humbucker with the original 330K pots.. So I have the guitar, and while it sounds fine, I'm wondering what the correct answer is? Can anyone please help me with this? In every other guitar I own with a Humbucker I've always used a 500K, why would the Rick be different? So to summarize, which is correct the 330K or the 500K for the best performance out of the humbucker?

Thanks!

Allan

[AR999]

/and just as a reference point, if it even matters, I play distorted rock through a Marshall with the guitar..

[jps]

/and just as a reference point, if it even matters, I play distorted rock through a Marshall with the guitar..

You can't do that with a Rick..................

[jps]

...suggested I swap out the stock pots for 500K ones, so I purchased those.. Well, I get my guitar back today and the tech had not switched the pots, but said that it was correct to install the Humbucker with the original 330K pots.. So I have the guitar, and while it sounds fine, I'm wondering what the correct answer is?

If it sounds fine to you than it is correct. Higher value pot(s) will just get you more brightness, or possibly, harshness, do you want that?

[AR999]

No not looking for harshness.. Maybe I am just being a little (maybe a lot) OCD about hearing any darkness or "mushy-ness" that seems to get mentioned when replacing the humbuckers without also replacing the pots.. I've only spent a couple hours with the guitar since getting it back, but I was just wondering if there was an actual firm answer to the question, that's all.. But again, harshness no, brightness, well even though I play rock, I still have an affinity for treble... But that's probably from hearing loss!

[jps]

What was that, I missed some of those consonants?

[loverickbass]

I did what you did once, and I ended up with 500k pots. Wasn't clear enough in the highs.

[AR999]

Hello Cole,

I wondered if you were going to read this, I did buy the 500K CTS pots as you and others suggested but was very surprised when he said that Rickenbacker said that the HB-1s were meant to be direct drop ins for a high gain. I still haven't found where he got his information ( for the record, this is guy is very experienced) he also said that if I didn't like keeping the stock pots he would wire the 500Ks in free of charge, I'm in an apartment and it's getting late so the volume I can play at isn't discernible enough to tell anything, but from the VERY limited playing time, with the 330Ks, I'm thinking of getting the 500s installed. But, luckily there's no rush so, anyone else with an opinion is welcome.

[AR999]

Well, a bout of insomnia kicked in after my 4 month old woke up, and so I just decided to go ahead dive into a project and put the 500Ks in myself... Wow, what a difference, Cole you were absolutely right, they changed the tone of the pickup dramatically.. It went from an alright sounding mid-rangey humbucker to sounding like a High Gain just without all the noise. It was clearly evident playing at even whisper volumes.. So lesson learned..

And now what to do about the Guitar tech that recommended keeping the 330K's in? He did install the pickup and move some wiring around so I guess just lost a few dollars there for work I ended up finishing.. Should have just done it myself from the start.

[jps]

And now what to do about the Guitar tech that recommended keeping the 330K's in? He did install the pickup and move some wiring around so I guess just lost a few dollars there for work I ended up finishing.. Should have just done it myself from the start.

I wouldn't feel too bad about that, after all, there are a bunch of folks here that take their instruments to a tech just to put new strings on! I have yet to figure that one out, why pay someone for something as simple (except for Rick 12 string models) as that.

[AR999]

Now I'm dealing with the age old universal problem that the guitar makes a little noise when I'm not touching the strings or any chrome... I'm thinking it's bad power here at the old apartment as the amp already produces hum on it's own, because to the best of my knowledge everything in the guitar is wired and grounded correctly, unless there's some secret I don't know about..

[iiipopes]

If the HB-1's were installed correctly, then there should be less noise rather than more. Have you played the guitar and amp in other locations?

[AR999]

Oh, there is A LOT less noise, it's installed correctly, I think what it comes down to is that the pickup is brighter than all my other guitars (which are all humbucker equipped Gibsons) so I noticed it more with the Rick. After checking, it actually happens with all my guitars (it's just not nearly as loud) so I'm pretty sure it's dirty power and simply the fact it's a distorted tube amp.
After looking into it further, I'm probably correct about the ****** power / overdriven amp being the culprit being that it happens with every guitar (and I even use a nice isolated power strip) and that it's louder with the Rick because the 13.5 Ohm pickup in a semi-hollow body seriously has a lot more high end gain than a 10 pound Les Paul with a vintage PAF..

Consensus with all the other guitar geek forums has been that a little hum/buzz is something we all deal with at some point, and just play on..

[jps]

Consensus with all the other guitar geek forums has been that a little hum/buzz is something we all deal with at some point, and just play on..

This.

[aceonbass]

Allan.....Since HB1 pickups are reversed phase from RIC single coil pickups, I'd be willing to bet your "tech" wired it out of phase by soldering the red wire to hot. When mixing these pickups with single coil pickups, the red wire goes to ground, and the blue wire goes to hot. While I don't know if this has anything to do with the hum you're experiencing, the fact that your tech didn't install the 500K pots you gave him because he thought the stock electronics were fine based on the pickup's physical interchangeability, makes me think your tech overlooked that very important fact. You should also change out the stock .047uF tone cap for a .022uF cap.