unklmickey

hi Sean, this is a classic symptom of a classic mistake. you have the connections swapped at the output jack. you have the ground connected to the tip connector, and the hot connected to the sleeve. don't feel bad, you don't have to be a newbie to make that mistake. cheers, unk

that IS right. that will maintain the same coil usage, but change the polarity of both coils. i'm not sure how i missed that one. i can't even blame it on being unfamiliar with the colors. i draw all my schemes with SD colors. cheers, unk

yep

since you already ordered the parts, i won't bother to make any recommendations. after you wire this up, post a diagram and let us know how you like it. i'll predict the tone control's effect will be much greater when the volume controls are reduced. i'm confused on why you would have a blend pot and 2 volume controls. how do you plan to use the blender?

if you do that, the only function that will work properly, will be series. to complete the change, you also need the exchange the red and white. EDIT: this statement is WRONG: this will retain the same coil in the split mode. (slug coil, black and white). as in the original SD drawing, the screw coil (red and green) will be shorted out in split mode. [rant]this is yet another another example of SD unnecessarily shunting unused coils. there's a better way to do this, but SD never bothered to spend the 5 minutes necessary to figure it out. [/rant] cheers, unk

hi Jnewman, if there's one thing i've learned, it would be: trust John's instincts, they're usually right. this time he is right, but ironically, for the wrong reason. transformers in tube amps almost always have one end grounded. so one would think that he's worrying about nothing. but this ain't no tube amp. there's a real good chance the output is from 2 complimentary/symmetry chains, neither of which are, or should be, grounded. the best course of action would be to either use a jack ......er i think the English call it a socket, that has a plastic case. or mount a regular socket on a plate attached to the cabinet, so it's not connected to the chassis. i would be cautious about just putting a cabinet in parallel with the speaker in the combo. if they have the same impedance, that means the total will be half of what it is right now. since there isn't a jack on this already, i would guess they designed around the load of that one speaker. you would probably be okay, until you drove it hard, then ................. oops -- big expensive repair bill. wire the combo speaker to a plug. plug it into the newly installed socket, and when you want to use the 4-12 or whatever, disconnect the combo speaker and plug in the cab. check the specs for the combo's speaker. use a cab that has the same or higher impedance. cheers all, unk

well a well respected colleague of mine would say for a HB, put it at the bridge. for a SC put it at the neck. i don't necessarily disagree with that. but if i were one who plays much of the time at the end of the fretboard (20th fret), i would NEVER put a SC at the neck. if you read my previous post after and try that little test, you'll understand why. (i won't tell you why, it's better if you experience it on your own.) on a related thought, just like goldilocks, i find the middle "just right". unfortunately, the place where the middle pickup resides on a strat, is exactly where i pick, so the pickup kinda gets in the way. so, i think the tonal issues, what kind of pickup, where you play on the fretboard, and where you pick, all need to be considered determining placement in a single pickup build. i know that doesn't look like it helps much. but, it's the best i can do. unk

hi Sambo, i can see you and i have been reading some of the same stuff about pickup placement, and it has colored your perception of why you are hearing differences. whaddaya say you and i take a look at a few things and see if we can distill a little truth out of this issue. IMHO the spacing of pickups relative to each other tends to a be more important factor, than issues like the "harmonic node" at the 24th fret. certainly the proximity of the bridge pickup to the bridge is a huge decision. if its too close, things get very "brittle". but when it comes to the position of the neck pickup, when used alone, i think you can debunk the importance of the harmonic node, very easily. lets look at the "theory". if we put the neck pickup exactly where the 24th fret would be, it is indeed at 1/4th the length of the string. this seems like it might be somewhat important. but, this all goes out the window, the moment you put your finger on the fretboard. let's imaging you are at the second fret. now the string length is shorter. the 1/4 length point is now where the 26th fret would be. .........hmmmm? and of course the process continues as you move along the fretboard, in the direction of the bridge. you can now see how important the real estate where the 24th fret would be, probably isn't................unless of course we only play open strings. now comes the hands on testing, if you are willing to participate: if you want to take this to extremes, next time you have a standard strat (3 SC pickups) in your hands, play some notes, open or near the head end of the fret board. then switch between Bridge, Middle, and Neck singles. (forget the 2 and 4 positions for now, that's a whole 'nuther story.) make a mental note of the different chartacter of the 3 pickups. now move to the 21st (or 22nd if ya have one) fret. play some notes, and again switch between the 3 pickups. which 2 pickups sound almost exactly alike? the answer will surprise you until you examine things closely. then it will make perfect sense. you will begin to look at pickup placement, from an entirely different perspective, than you had before. tell me what you think, after you've tried this. thanks, unk

you're welcome. no need to apologize, just remember these boards run hot and cold. sometimes there is lots of activity, sometimes not so much. i haven't seen all that much of the guys that know how to help on something like this, in the past couple of weeks. ('cept for the sustainer guys, but they're so focused on that, you'd need a spokesmodel to get their attention.) Robert must be busy lately, and i was surprised to see Southpa posted while i was writing. so if you don't get a reply in a day or 2, bumping is okay. but getting down about it isn't. hey, if you find it a bit too noisy, or the fact that you can't have a volume control at zero causes you grief, then you can always come up with a different plan later, and rewire.

sheesh, less than 24 hours from the original post, and already we're feeling neglected. anyway here's some Right Guard for ya. you didn't say what brand of pickups you are using, so i can't verify your color codes, other than to say it resembles SD. if it is SD, your parallel connection is just going to short out each coil, and leave the output open. not good. having a middle off position on the switches isn't great, it will leave unused coils hanging from hot. this will be a bit noisier than disconnection them. but if you are determined to do that, so be it. go here, and use diagram d. http://guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.c...ge=1#1157994747 with a DPDT on-on-on it will be a series/split/parallel, with a DPDT on-off-on it will do what you were trying to do series/off/parallel (and leave a coil hanging from hot, when off), with a DPDT on/on it will be series/parallel. so i see no tone control, so i won't bother discussing any possibilities there. i see one volume control, then the output. so what happens with the other HB? does it's volume control just connect at the output jack the same way this one does? that will work, but remember, if you turn either of the 2 volume controls to zero, you will get NO SOUND. it won't matter if the pickup connected to the zeroed volume pot is on or off. for single volume controls, audio taper is best. for multiple controls, linear is much easier to get adjust the mix of the 2 pickups. audio taper pots will drop in volume very quickly when connected this way. so as best as i can guess what you intend to do, it looks like you want linear taper volume controls. and next time be patient. you know, Archie bunker says :"Patience is a virgin."

Hamer Scarab II = 1 volume, 1 tone. BTW, he doesn't want to fix it. he wants to make his other guitars like this.

hi Crafty, you might very well be right, but unless you know the exact intention of the person using something like this, it can be hard to say what is "best". i think conversations that meander about like this one, offer a lot of fodder for the imagination, regardless of what ends up being the best way for the person asking the question. cheers, unk

i think putting the stereo output directly into a switch is a missed opportunity. if you break that out into 2 separate outputs, they can be connected to an A/B box. if all you want to do is switch pickups this might seem like extra hardware, BUT............. if you plug the HB output into a distortion pedal, then into the A/B box, you don't need to shut off the pedal. its always ready for the HB, when the HB "channel" is selected. like wise, if you have a real pretty chorus pedal on the neck clean side, that will get bypassed automatically when the HB channel is selected. basically you can have 2 separate chains that you have preset before the start of the song. then all you do is step on ONE switch to toggle between the sounds. cheers, unk

the first part impressed me as thinking like a GuitarNut! ............................. but then you lost me. think separate outputs, with the neck and middle being controlled by the 5-way, having their own volume and tone control. the bridge HB has it's own volume control on the guitar, but the output is send through the extra connection on a STEREO shielded cable. both signals travel separately down the same cable to a box where they are split. from there to separate effects chains, the 2 chains joined by a A/B box, then to the amp. one stomp on the A/B switch and you switch from normal to lead.

interesting choice of terms! Jimi used one of the absolute worst P.O.S. cords imaginable......one of those coily ones that looked like telephone handset cord. MASSIVE amounts of capacitance that decimated his treble. exactly the opposite of what we covet today. one of many secrets to Jimi's tone(s). cheers, unk

post a link, PLEASE. i'd like to see how that is done.

Thanks, I've taken it out and it looks like the switch is ok. When the switch is in the center both metal pieces are in contact. As to the wiring it looks like the three wires red white and yellow are connected ok. However, the wire behind them connecting to the other side of the switch looks very messy and is exposed. Not sure if that would be it though, because it still looks connected. Any ideas? Thanks hi Rdtyphn, that's not good enough. get an ohmmeter and measure the resistance between the lugs in all 3 positions. cheers, unk

i think Mike has taken some (mostly) correct information, and extrapolated a less correct conclusion. yes, the capacitance has a lower reactance at the the range of frequencies he mentioned than the resistance of the tone pot. but, it is still not zero. more importantly, there are other effects from a purely resistive load, that occur below the resonant peak, where the the capacitive reactance is higher than the resistance of the tone pot. so, i think his analysis is too simplistic to be completely accurate. cheers, unk

i can help illuminate here. 1 - with a normal volume control, if your cable has high capacitance, it darkens the tone the farther you reduce the volume. 2 - in 2-volume wiring, you adjust the mixing of the pickups, when both pickups are selected. 3 - in 2-volume "reverse" wiring (so when only one volume is at zero, the signal won't be killed), when you turn the volume(s) down, the pickup(s) are heavily loaded, darkening the tone. in regards to the tone control: on a Strat, when you turn the tone down, 1/2 way it darkens the tone a bit. but when you turn it to minimum, it returns some of the brightness, with a shift in the peak, because the cap is directly in parallel with the pickup. (i like this setting!) you can do the same thing with a HB, but you need an even smaller cap. on a Strat the cap is 22 nF. for a HB you would want about 5~10 nF to get the same effect. i'll respectfully disagree. when the tone control is at maximum, the 500k of the tone pot is also in series with the tone cap, so it is quite different than being directly in parallel with the volume control. cheers, unk

hi LeftyLug, welcome newbie! can you post an image of your wiring diagram? or the link to an image of it? i have never seen anyone connect a 3-way between the pickups and volume controls, in a 2-volume arrangement. i'm interested in how you did that. thanks, unk

absolutely correct Pete. but in the interest of completeness, i'll add: AND connected in-phase. OR they can be of like polarity and winding direction, and connected OutOfPhase..........this will also hum cancel.

i'd say it HAS been a while since you looked at them. look again, if for no other reason, but to see how much they've added.

Not really...it will be harder to move and be far too close to the pickups...these are just as much electromagnetic devices as the string drivers so they can not be mounted too close to pickups...if anything, they put out more EMI.... thanks Pete, that clears up a lot. i didn't know that much about the Sustainiac system before. but, substantially more, after your post. one would think that if we're capable of making a properly sheilded loudspeaker, that can be placed right next to a CRT, then Sustainiac could have taken reasonable measures to limit the EMI from their transducer, but apparently not. whether using a piezo, or a properly shielded dynamic unit, IMHO a pressure unit (sandwiched between structure in a cavity, in the tail of an LP) would still seem a logical approach. first of all, there is much unused real-estate available there. second, you wouldn't need to have all that nasty mess of cables going to the headstock (who actually would sign on to that?) third, as i mentioned before, since the bridge end termination doesn't move, the correct amount of energy (just a bit more than equal to the string losses) to return to the system, would remain fairly constant. Flick, that sounds like a great salesmanship job on the part of Sustainiac. i'll speculate with the tranducer at the headstock, if one WERE to set the amplitude "just right" with the Sustainiac C (rather than rediculous overkill level), then some notes wouldn't sustain, some would sustain (but remain as fundamentals), and others would sustain (but break into harmonics). but i'll re-iterate, that's just speculation. i'll wait for Pete or one of the other sustain experts to illuminate further. cheers, unk

actually, that would be $60 for a pair of HBs. (or $30 for a pair w/ ceramic magnets from the clearance section.) they're made in China, nothing fancy at all, about the way they are packaged. but, they look good, and work well. great value per $. SD charges what they do..........................because they CAN. as long as people continue to pay what SD wants, they will continue to price them that way.

you might be inviting more problems than you need to here. first, you'll need to get the signal TO the neck or headstock. (of course it CAN be done, but it does add complexity to the construction of the neck.) second, the relationship between the origin of the mechanical energy and the string will change, depending on where the string is fretted, or if it is open. that will how well the system is coupled. i THINK you will be better off, having your mechanical system return the energy near the bridge end of the string. cheers, unk