HSS Wiring: would Suhr's wiring method be an improvement?

[Archer250]

I'm getting a new PU wound. It's a 9.46k PAF with a roughcast A5. I'm gonna put it in my HSS guitar. Now the way I currently do it is I use 3 250k pots and wire the bridge PU to a no-load tone, effectively being no different from a bridge seeing a single 250k load. This works well enough with the singles and the AT-1 currently in the bridge.

I want the best out of my guitar, so I wonder if it would be an improvement were I to wire it Suhr's way: with a 500k volume and bridge tone pots and with 470k resistors to the single coils. This method lets the humbuckers have the 500k loads while the single coils see 250k.

Actually, I just wonder if there's a difference between a 1-250k volume-no-tone setup and a 2-500k-volume-and-tone setup. Both should theoretically have a 250k load in total, right?

[Archer250]

Re: HSS Wiring: would Suhr's wiring method be an improvement?

Guys?

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[Mincer]

Re: HSS Wiring: would Suhr's wiring method be an improvement?

I think you should also just try it with a 500k volume pot (no resistors) and see how you like it. Try it with 250k too. Pots are cheap, and some people don't like the way resistors change the taper, so experiment and come up with the best balance.

[Archer250]

Re: HSS Wiring: would Suhr's wiring method be an improvement?

I think you should also just try it with a 500k volume pot (no resistors) and see how you like it. Try it with 250k too. Pots are cheap, and some people don't like the way resistors change the taper, so experiment and come up with the best balance.

Good point. The pickup just came in the mail. I installed it on an all-250k circuit, no-load tone pot. I actually like it and may keep it this way for now since I wanna keep this taper.

[LLL]

Re: HSS Wiring: would Suhr's wiring method be an improvement?

I want the best out of my guitar, so I wonder if it would be an improvement were I to wire it Suhr's way: with a 500k volume and bridge tone pots and with 470k resistors to the single coils. This method lets the humbuckers have the 500k loads while the single coils see 250k.

Always been a fan of this concept.

[Guitaraxz]

Re: HSS Wiring: would Suhr's wiring method be an improvement?

I want the best out of my guitar, so I wonder if it would be an improvement were I to wire it Suhr's way: with a 500k volume and bridge tone pots and with 470k resistors to the single coils. This method lets the humbuckers have the 500k loads while the single coils see 250k.

Always been a fan of this concept.

Yes, I have alway liked this concept as well and will certainly try it out some day. But I don't honestly think its's necessary, ¿why? Because IMHO 500k pots sound too bright for singles in the bridge position (shrill, lack of mids). But this isn't so for the mid and neck singles, at least to my ears and amplifier. For me the mid & neck sound fine with that extra shimmer.

I think the recistor concept is a must in an SH or SHS guitar, but not totally necessary in a HSS. Although I will try it out one of these days in a Strat. Just my 2 cents.

[Teleplayer]

Re: HSS Wiring: would Suhr's wiring method be an improvement?

Using 500k volume and 500k tone pot will boost the bass/mids, over using a single 250k volume pot.


EDIT: TURNS OUT I WAS WRONG ABOUT THIS. See posts #15 and #16 below.

[Archer250]

Re: HSS Wiring: would Suhr's wiring method be an improvement?

Using 500k volume and 500k tone pot will boost the bass/mids, over using a single 250k volume pot.
There will be an electrical resonance between the pickup inductance and the tone cap.
The tone control will only reduce the frequencies above the resonance frequency.
In the case of a regular tone cap and JB humbucker, 0.022uF and 8.5H will resonate at 365Hz.

Interesting. I thought using 500k pots will boost treble instead, but now I'm intrigued. Thanks! I might actually give the method a try soon.

[frankfalbo]

Re: HSS Wiring: would Suhr's wiring method be an improvement?

Using 500k volume and 500k tone pot will boost the bass/mids, over using a single 250k volume pot.
There will be an electrical resonance between the pickup inductance and the tone cap.
The tone control will only reduce the frequencies above the resonance frequency.
In the case of a regular tone cap and JB humbucker, 0.022uF and 8.5H will resonate at 365Hz.

Maybe I'm not understanding you correctly, are you referring to what happens when a tone control is rolled all the way down? Because if not, then there have been plenty of graphs that show that at the beginning of a tone pot's taper (and wide open) the resistive load is the dominant factor, not the capacitance. This means the height of the peak (magnitude) is lowered, not the frequency center. Then, toward the bottom of the tone pot's travel the capacitance becomes dominant and the peak frequency lowers in value.

-Archer250 here's an article that might help: http://www.premierguitar.com/article...-and-pot-trade

I think you're on the right track. Using 2x250k is basically the same as a 500k/no load combo, aside from the taper. I personally like the higher pot values all the way around. Or at least on bridge and bridge/middle combo setting. If possible I would recommend leaving the resistance high on bridge and bridge/middle. As others have said, adding resistors can make people dislike the taper, but the only way to truly know if you'll like it is to do it.

[Archer250]

Re: HSS Wiring: would Suhr's wiring method be an improvement?

I think you're on the right track. Using 2x250k is basically the same as a 500k/no load combo, aside from the taper. I personally like the higher pot values all the way around. Or at least on bridge and bridge/middle combo setting. If possible I would recommend leaving the resistance high on bridge and bridge/middle. As others have said, adding resistors can make people dislike the taper, but the only way to truly know if you'll like it is to do it.

Well said. Thanks, Frank.

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: HSS Wiring: would Suhr's wiring method be an improvement?

Most of my HSS guitars have an A500k volume & A250k tone pot...the taper's fine & they sound great. I's a nice compromise that tames the brightness of the singles and gives you a nice meaty humbucker tone as well...simple & works like a charm without resisters and all that crap. To be honest, I don't really get why folk hardly ever mix pot values. CTS makes a 300K pot that will brighten the set-up a bit more (with a 500k volume pot) if needed. The final fine-tuning can be done with tone cap experimentation (0.022uf/0.044uf). I have'nt tried it with a single volume & two tone pots, but eh...it's the same principle & should work if you use a 500K volume/2 x 300k tone pots or something..

[LLL]

Re: HSS Wiring: would Suhr's wiring method be an improvement?

Because IMHO 500k pots sound too bright for singles in the bridge position (shrill, lack of mids). But this isn't so for the mid and neck singles, at least to my ears and amplifier.

He's using a HSS guitar, not a SSS.

[Archer250]

Re: HSS Wiring: would Suhr's wiring method be an improvement?

He's using a HSS guitar, not a SSS.

He's saying he prefers 500k with HSS and 250k with SSS because the neck and middle single coils benefit from the extra chime, basically.

[frankfalbo]

Re: HSS Wiring: would Suhr's wiring method be an improvement?

He's using a HSS guitar, not a SSS.

i think Guitaraxz knows this, and that's what he meant. He means that if you have an HSS guitar, then the 500k pots are ok for all three pickups; that the bridge single coil is the more crucial reason to use 250k pots in SSS guitars, not the neck/middle.

[Teleplayer]

Re: HSS Wiring: would Suhr's wiring method be an improvement?

Maybe I'm not understanding you correctly, are you referring to what happens when a tone control is rolled all the way down? Because if not, then there have been plenty of graphs that show that at the beginning of a tone pot's taper (and wide open) the resistive load is the dominant factor, not the capacitance. This means the height of the peak (magnitude) is lowered, not the frequency center. Then, toward the bottom of the tone pot's travel the capacitance becomes dominant and the peak frequency lowers in value.

I think you are right about this. With the Tone on 10 it is effectively the same as a single 250k pot. I didn't believe it until I did some investigation (spice simulation) following your post.