50's wiring and the C8

[merkaba22]

I have been using the C8 in my Gibson SG w/ a factory floyd with 50's wiring so I can back off the volume to clean up, etc. -- lot's of interesting tonal possibilities just in adjusting height and screw positions -- there's a single coil in the fingerboard position as a well as a coil tap push-pull on a 500K tone control for the C8....

I have a 500K pot on the volume too and find within a narrow range, say, between 7 ~ 9, a dramatic change in nuance in the 50's wiring effect ...

I spoke to MJ the other day and mentioned this in passing, I thought she agreed that a 250 pot would make that narrow band broader, say, 4~9, to cover the same range of tonal nuances, etc. -- did I get tis right?

Anybody here using s C8 like this that can offer experiences?

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: 50's wiring and the C8

Whether it's audio taper or linear taper will have a greater impact on the range of useful change.

 

[AlexR]

Re: 50's wiring and the C8

And is it a volume change, or a tonal change that you are talking about.

 

[merkaba22]

Re: 50's wiring and the C8

since I use 50's wiring to control OD characteristics from the volume control, the goal is to increase the apparent turning range of the volume knob controlling one of the C8's preferred sweet spots" on my guitar ...

 

[iamthesuck]

Re: 50's wiring and the C8

If you want a broader range of usefulness then get a 500k linear pot (or 250 but that may go to far)

 

[merkaba22]

Re: 50's wiring and the C8

If you want a broader range of usefulness then get a 500k linear pot (or 250 but that may go to far)

"go too far" in what way?

 

[iamthesuck]

Re: 50's wiring and the C8

It may reduce the overall range. I haven't done a 250k volume swap before but my friend did and complained there was reduced output overall.

 

[iamthesuck]

Re: 50's wiring and the C8

But to be clear he's not an engineer or anything, and I wouldn't trust him 100%

 

[merkaba22]

Re: 50's wiring and the C8

hey checking in ....

My C8 is double screw and last week I put 5-40's on each side of the three bass positions and heard that it did help to clear up the bottom end and help to sort out some "coherency" issues with harmonics with some pedals -- I still had to drop the bass side a bit and re-adjust the screws to match the fingerboard radius -- this is a wonderfully sensitive pickup to adjust.

I still wasn't satisfied with the result so, today, I installed the 250K for volume -- the rest of the setup is: three-position toggle switch, 500K tone [coil tap -- push/pull on the C8] and a STK6S single coil in the bridge position.

So, to my ears, there is no volume loss and ... not only is the clean-to-mean 50's wiring curve exceptional across the range of the volume knob but it smoothed out the overall feel of the instrument -- the bass is closer to piano like, there is much less-cross talk so each note is easier to articulate etc, the "bark" is far more manageable and musical, so there is a much much improved tone overall -- a very nicely surprising result, especially given fun the C8 is to begin with.

Given this change is responsiveness, are there any suggestions as to a better match in the fingerboard position than the STK6S is to the CB in a guitar like this?

 

[merkaba22]

Re: 50's wiring and the C8

I ended up putting a 250K tone pot and it totally did the trick -- 50's wiring, 22_ cap, 250k V & T w/ 5-40's on the bass side [cap screws so the heads fit within the bobbin], very close to the strings - sings, split coil cuts in a different way ...