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Wiring for a 2-way toggle Mod [series/parallel] into HSH +1-vol/1-tone/5-way blade?

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  • #16
    I would personally choose the SSL-5 over the L59.
    Originally Posted by IanBallard
    Rule of thumb... the more pot you have, the better your tone.

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    • #17
      Hello again, everyone!
      I wanted to post here again to update on this project for anyone interested.

      Today I finally got delivered the last item (copper tape) i was missing to start modding my guitar, but since this is my first time doing soldering and also because I couldn't wait to try them I've already installed the pickups on the guitar, so I could practice some more soldering before installing the new pieces and try out the sound of the pickups. I also did some very needed cleaning.

      Here's a picture of how it's looking now:
      Click image for larger version  Name:	WhatsApp Image 2020-09-24 at 11.11.20 (8).jpeg Views:	0 Size:	38.4 KB ID:	6018982
      The sound of the pickups is just amazing, really bright, clear and crisp. I was pretty amazed at how much of a difference it made from the stock pickups, it really feels like a different guitar. Also the difference in output was another thing that inmediately caught my attention, I used to simply lose sound at below 30% of the volume before.

      I really loved the sound, though the neck and middle pickups have some buzz even when slightly distorted, but the bridge pickup doesn't have any. I first thought that since I'm still learning how to solder properly, it could've been that the ground solder into the volume pot for the new pickups wasn't that good, so I redid the soldering, but the noise was still there. I also tried lowering the pickup height but the sound started losing too much sustain before there was a noticeable change in the buzz.

      So now I'm thinking that since these pickups have higher output than the old ones, maybe the old electronics can't handle them or they pick more interference from wifi or cellphone signals here in my apartment. I hope the copper shielding will solve it.

      Also, for anyone interested, those old Headhunter Seymour Duncans had 3 wires (black, red and yellow) and I couldn't find that color code anywhere, it took me a while but I figured out that red was north and south finish (red and white), yellow was the hot output (black) and black was ground (green and bare) in the current 5-wire color code.

      I was also wondering if anyone could help me figure out how to do phase switching for the humbuckers with push/pull pots. I was thinking of somehow adding that into the previous wiring diagram I posted.
      Last edited by Deim0s; 09-24-2020, 07:36 PM.

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      • #18
        Congrats on the most excellent looking guitar! As far as phase switching goes, are you looking for one of the humbuckers to have a phase switch? That could be in a push-pull before the pickup goes to the 5 way switch. You could then have it in phase or out of phase with any of the 2 other pickups. As far as the noise, did you end up with the SSL-5? That pickup will certainly hum, being a single coil pickup. It is a loud single coil pickup, so the hum would be louder. The Jazz, however, should be as quiet as the other humbucker.
        Administrator of the SDUGF

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        • #19
          Thanks Mincer! I'm really excited about this project, and I'm really happy with the improvement so far. By the way, I took some pictures of the pickup installation and cleaning of the guitar, so I wanted to share them here. The SSL-5 really packs a punch, I didn't expect a single coil to be so loud, but to me it sounds really good mixed with the other two pickups. All the 5 positions in the switch are strikingly different from eachother, for example, it was interesting to me that the 4th position (neck split + single coil) gives a really "acoustic" sound, it almost sounds like a piezo but with less attack on the strings. The Jazz model does have a some noise and I'm not sure where is coming from. I'm hoping it goes away when I use new parts for the wiring. Also, I hope the copper shielding will help a bit with the SSL-5 noise too.

          I was thinking of using two push-pull pots (vol and tone), could it be possible to use each for the humbuckers so they both could be out of phase with the rest? Or maybe I'm just confused on how phase switching works. Would it make any difference using two push-pulls? Or one would be enough? Also, Should the output of the pickups go first into the series/split/parallel switch and then into the push/pull phase switching?

          One last thing I wanted to ask Mincer, when you mentioned swapping out the TB-5 magnet on a previous post, did you mean changing the ceramic magnet for an alnico V? What would that do to the sound of the pickup?
          Attached Files

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          • #20
            Swapping the magnet on a Custom with an A5 gets you a Custom 5 (less mids, tight bass and treble) or swap with an A2 gets you a Custom Custom, which has a lot of mids, less bass and treble (a really great sound, too).
            As far as phase switching, you'd only need 1 switch on 1 pickup, usually just the middle, so when used in combo with another in-phase pickup, you get the thin & hollow out-of-phase sound. I'd use it on the middle pickup if anything, but it isn't a popular sound. Worth trying, though, if you are curious.
            A pickup is out of phase with other pickups, not with itself.
            Administrator of the SDUGF

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            • #21
              Thanks for clarifying Mincer,

              It does make sense to use the middle pickup for an out-of-phase mod, but I was wondering if it's relevant to consider than the SSL-5 is RwRp (Reverse winding, Reverse Polarity) when using it to get an out-of-phase sound and just for wiring in general.

              Also, the wiring diagram I'm going to use has an extra 2-way switch for the bridge pickup being active at any time, so if I had the N+B pickups active (on position 1 + bridge switch active) I couldn't have them out of phase, right?. That's why I was thinking of using a phase switch for both humbuckers. Maybe it would be better to have the middle and bridge pickups being able to change their phase.

              I'm mostly interested in experimenting with the out-of-phase sound for Brian May's sound in some solos and maybe funk guitar rhythm.

              For the bridge pickup I mostly want easy pinch harmonics and less mids (for a more "aggressive" sound), so I guess I could swap it for an Alnico 5, but would it be better than its current ceramic magnet?

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              • #22
                RW/RP isn't really for an out of phase sound- it is for hum cancelling with a non-RW/RP single coil pickup.
                Administrator of the SDUGF

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