Help for new guitarist

[Newguitar]

I've been reading a lot and am about half way to getting where I want to be. I'm a newer guitarist and want to mod a Godin freeway classic I have (right now HSH with a 5 way, 1 tone, 1 volume) so I can choose between series/parallel on the humbuckers, get the coil taps for the bridge and neck, and have the option to go for the bridge and neck humbuckers only (basically have all the stock pickup combinations with the options of choosing series/parallel and coil tapping in all stock combos). I understand I'll have to put in a few switches, swap out to push pull pots, and go for a superswitch or something to get this done. My goal is to get a guitar where I can experiment with as many combinations as possible so I can learn the difference between each setup. Any help would be appreciated.

I've been on 1728, checked out guitarnuts, gear page, the DiMarzio site, and of course google and this site. Like I said I can come up with about half the wiring myself, but short of hooking the pickups to a computer I'm not sure how to get this done. I'm a little concerned about cavity shielding and having some ground plane issues once it's done, so if there are any electrical engineers that could point me in the right direction that would also be helpful.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Help for new guitarist

It's usually better to start with simpler wirings that use few "tricks" to get the tone you want. That's for two main reasons: if you have a jack of all trades as your first guitar it's harder to understand if it's not a sound you like because of the wiring or just it doesn't work well with that guitar. Secondly, if you try to do this it usually requires a really complicated wiring scheme that you will have to either make yourself or ask someone else to do. And people generally would rather play a guitar than draw a diagram. You'd also either have to wire it yourself or pay someone else to do it. Which requires either skill or paying someone for long and complex work.

Not to be harsh, but in your opening post you mention that you want both parallel and coil cutting. Us who have been at it a while know if we prefer coil splitting or parallel, and for the most part stick to one of them because tonally they are similar. The major difference is hum. You have not yet reached this point as it must be reached by experience and not just reading.

If you really want to get good at guitar modding, it's best to do it over time. I'd start with finding out what pickups you want and learning how to swap magnets. Magnets are a huge part of a guitars tone and can be changed easily. After you find which magnets you like best you can move on to modding your wiring one component at a time. If you don't yet know how to solder it would be best to practice on something that's not a guitar first. I don't know how your HSH is wired, but converting it to auto-split wiring would be a good way to introduce yourself to both coil splitting and super switches. Then you can move on to other things like finding if you like treble bleeds, what cap values you prefer, or maybe adjust the pot values if you find the unit as a whole too dark or bright.

You can then experiment from here by maybe switching the middle position from the middle to pickup to both humbuckers split in series, or both humbuckers out of phase. Or maybe at this point you want to try out a bass cut hard wired onto the neck pickup because it's too boost.

In short, it's best to start off slow. And also don't think that a soldering iron will turn a bad guitar into a good one. They can make them fun to play or quirky, but they won't change the quality of what's already there.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Help for new guitarist

The Godin is a fine guitar already, and although there is truth in that answer about not making things too complex, I think his goal is to find out what he likes best by having all those options available.
Newguitar, I think you might be well served to install triple shot rings on your humbuckers. That will give you series, parallel, and split options without totally replacing the entire wiring harness on your guitar. You can experiment with a wide variety of sounds that way.
Personally, I do think that new guitarists tend to gravitate toward overly complicated schemes. It really is better to find a couple sounds you really like and develop from there.

 

[VinceT]

Re: Help for new guitarist

+1 on using Triple Shots up front. They’ll give you a great sense of the sounds within each pickup/combination.


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[B2D]

Re: Help for new guitarist

Hello Newguitar! Welcome to the forum!

I think that Triple shots will be an excellent tool for you to determine what sounds and wiring you do like for the pickups. Once you figure that out, you can experiment to determine HOW you like to switch those sounds.

For instance, I prefer series/parallel over coil splitting, and my main guitar (a T-style) has two humbuckers. I switch between the pickups with a 3-way Les Paul style toggle, and I switch between series and parallel using a mini-toggle located between the volume and tone pots. I have a hi-pass filter in the volume as well.

This gives me 6 sounds from 2 pickups, which is plenty, and I do use them all, though I tend to use the series/parallel toggle more in the studio than live.

Getting what you need (no more, no less) from your guitar can be challenging, but you learn a lot along the way. As Dave said, it's easy to overcomplicate things when you're new because you're not sure what you like yet. But have fun and try everything at least once.

 

[VinceT]

Re: Help for new guitarist

Great points here. I would add that, for me, “try it” means more than just “listen then change” - it can take weeks of playing to reveal what works/doesn’t work in fresh guitar mods (unless it’s painfully awful). This journey through tone is a ultra-marathon not a sprint.


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[Mincer]

Re: Help for new guitarist

I agree with getting Triple Shots- it is the most elegant, headache-free way of doing what you want. Cool guitar! (btw, do you mean 'split' rather than 'tap'? they mean very different things, so i just want to clarify).

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Help for new guitarist

+1 for Triple Shots.

"Split" means to cut out one complete coil of a humbucker (I'm sure this is what you meant).
"Tap" means to cut out just a small part (usually about a third) of one of the coils by means of an additional wire connected in the coil winding itself.

It may take many weeks or months to decide which combinations and tone you actually like from all the options available with Triple Shots. Don't rush. Get to know what your guitar can do and what you will actually use.