HSS for pacifica 112V inc taps

[atemporal]

Hey folks, trying to find a good pairing of bridge f-spaced humbucker with single coils for HSS upgrade to a Pacifica 112V.

I would just have stayed stock, but sadly not an option. The previous owner swapped the stock bridge humbucker for a wilkinson neck humbucker (thanks for that) and I just managed to write off the original neck pickup trying to swap a new cable to it (the base plastic melted quicker than the solder so the mount came out, snapping the coil wire:jo). Seriously Yamaha's soldering (or whoever last meddled with this thing) left it needing a solder iron temp of 350C to melt it. Who does that? (interestingly the stock neck is 52mm pole spacing while the strings need 50mm!)

Anyway now it's pickup shopping time. The guitar has a few wiring mods so it can handle 3-lead single coils and also 4 lead humbuckers (to toggle between series, parallel, and each single coil by itself on the bridge). There are other mods too but that not that will affect pickup selection.

My office/man-cave is a bit noisy with EMI so I was quite tempted by noiseless pickups, like the stk-s4 or failing that tonerider surfaris for a more wallet-friendly option. However I've just snapped up a trio of SSL1s at a bargain price that I couldn't say no to. Even my wife said I should do it when she saw the usual price history.

so now, what bridge pickup?

the custom hybrid TB-16 seemed like a good fit to me but struggling to find one in stock in UK!? I can get the TB-14 but a bit worried about the degree of scoop? The 612 pairs the SSL1s with the TB14. I toyed with maybe the P-rails SDPR-1T but then a few reviews say it's a bit meh compared to others. Then I start trying to look at matching DCR and resonant peaks and my head just pops a bit. Tonerider claim they make f-spaced ones but i can't find them anywhere, Amazon's listing detail is inadequate as usual and they'd be £40. I can get a TB14 for £81, or a TB16 for £111 and a lot longer wait. Is the TB16 worth the extra?

I'm after something that does clean and bright with good sustain but which can also throw out a nice warm saturated OD and crisp distortion without getting all muddy. I'm not a shredder so super hot pickups are probably not the thing for me.

Any suggestions?

 

[atemporal]

Re: HSS for pacifica 112V inc taps

Well I've spent all day listening to clips and videos on SD website and you tube. Sounds like most of them would be fine tbh, but I'll focus on any of custom 5 (TB-14), custom TB5, JB-TB4, TB16. It's hard to tell from such short clips. It will depend what I can find for what price I guess.

Unless of course there are cheaper brands I should be considering.

 

[Mincer]

Re: HSS for pacifica 112V inc taps

I love either a Hybrid (be patient to find one used or order outside of the country), or a Custom Custom, which tends to restore some of the mids missing in bolt-on/trem designs.

 

[Teleplayer]

Re: HSS for pacifica 112V inc taps

Does the Yamaha 612V use 500k volume and 250k tone controls to combine the TB-14 and single coils? If so, I would personally prefer to add an extra 510k load resistor for the SSL-1s, but I doubt Yamaha would do that in a mid-price guitar. Alternatively just roll off the tone control to suit. If you want to swap the neck pickup for a cool rails, that would work pretty well with a mix of 500k and 250k controls, and also match the level of the humbucker better.

If you intend to use a set of three 250k controls, you might be better off with a Pearly Gates in the bridge - possibly a metal covered one for warmer tone. That would balance the level of the SSL-1 single coils better.

 

[atemporal]

Re: HSS for pacifica 112V inc taps

Does the Yamaha 612V use 500k volume and 250k tone controls to combine the TB-14 and single coils? If so, I would personally prefer to add an extra 510k load resistor for the SSL-1s, but I doubt Yamaha would do that in a mid-price guitar. Alternatively just roll off the tone control to suit. If you want to swap the neck pickup for a cool rails, that would work pretty well with a mix of 500k and 250k controls, and also match the level of the humbucker better.

If you intend to use a set of three 250k controls, you might be better off with a Pearly Gates in the bridge - possibly a metal covered one for warmer tone. That would balance the level of the SSL-1 single coils better.

yes, it does SFAIK. The 112V certainly does (500k vol, 1No 250k tone pot). I think Yamaha's logic has been to approximately balance the single coil settings (6.5k) with the humbucker split engaged, then run the bridge humbucker flat out by itself only. Their wiring prevents anything else - the coil split is always active in position 4. (unless you want to cut/desolder one wire inside whereby you can manually override that problem).

 

[Teleplayer]

Re: HSS for pacifica 112V inc taps

Is it correct to say you were happy with the stock single coils? If so, it will be interesting to know how SSL1 will work with the control pots already in the guitar. They might be brighter, but I'm only guessing.

Regarding the soldering iron temp, 350deg c is not too high. Its more on the low side IMO. To avoid overheating the components, you simply need to work quickly. Have a clean solder iron tip and fresh solder obviously, and you will get faster with practice.

 

[atemporal]

Re: HSS for pacifica 112V inc taps

Is it correct to say you were happy with the stock single coils? If so, it will be interesting to know how SSL1 will work with the control pots already in the guitar. They might be brighter, but I'm only guessing.

Regarding the soldering iron temp, 350deg c is not too high. Its more on the low side IMO. To avoid overheating the components, you simply need to work quickly. Have a clean solder iron tip and fresh solder obviously, and you will get faster with practice.

Yeah, it will be interesting to see. I thought it was ok, but didn't like the bridge much (now I realise it had been changed out that kind of makes sense).
My biggest gripes were 1 the hum (hence originally I wanted Stk-s4s but the price is too much) 2 that at anything below vol10 the fuzz and OD tones sounded awful. I presumed it was due to treble loss but it's possible they used a pot with a break. Be surprised though for a budget instrument.
I didn't like the OD tones nearly as much as my H-H Eggle which has a pearly gates and a 59 (or possibly 59-custom, I need to find the spec list again to confirm - and to check which one is the neck vs bridge). The 112 clean sounds were nice however. I know the SSL1 might be a bit of a punt but the price was so good it was worth the gamble. If I have to sell them then meh. At least I can do my own tests before deciding which to keep. The online clips are just too short and the levels on the recording playback don't seem to be normalised, though that might just be me.

 

[atemporal]

Re: HSS for pacifica 112V inc taps

Is it correct to say you were happy with the stock single coils? If so, it will be interesting to know how SSL1 will work with the control pots already in the guitar. They might be brighter, but I'm only guessing.

Regarding the soldering iron temp, 350deg c is not too high. Its more on the low side IMO. To avoid overheating the components, you simply need to work quickly. Have a clean solder iron tip and fresh solder obviously, and you will get faster with practice.

You're not wrong. 1 week on and much more efficient already! 290-310C seems to be a good spot for lead free solder - though according to the temp probe on my multimeter that is actually 250-270C. Reading low for some reason on the "comes calibrated" solder station.

 

[atemporal]

Re: HSS for pacifica 112V inc taps

just went to look up whether the SSL1s should have shipped with springs (they don't). Price has gone up 25% since I got them!! That really was a good deal.