HSS tech help...SD TB-59 with Dimarzio Area 58's

[rslongi]

Need a little technical help here. I recently had my local guitar tech replace pickups in my G&L Legacy HSS...went with the SD TB-59 in the bridge, and the Dimarzio Area 58's in the neck and middle. When I first got the guitar back, it sounded great in every position except #2 (bridge and middle)..really thin and sounded out of phase. Took it back to him for another try, and now it sounds bad in the #1 (bridge) position...thin, no girth or warmth, no balls. Sounds almost like a single coil, regardless of whether or not the coil tap is engaged. Definitely not what a '59 should sound like. I know nothing about pickup wiring, but I have read on here than combining Seymour Duncans and Dimarzios can be tricky. Anyone have any thoughts or words of wisdom that I could share with my tech when I go back for attempt #3?

Many thanks...

 

[Hank-]

Re: HSS tech help...SD TB-59 with Dimarzio Area 58's

The area pickups are not in phase with dimarzio's own humbuckers and require the wires green to be hot & red to be ground. Now I dont remember if the areas are in phase with duncan humbuckers, i forgot if the duncan & dimarzio humbuckers are in phase with each other either.

Your tech seems to have wired the 59b in parallel mode. Tell him to undo his second attempt, instead switch the red & green wires with eachother for both the middle & neck area 58s respectively, while 59b needs to be wired like it was in first attempt.

Edit:it would be better to get another tech, the present one seems a bit clumsy, if he were to wire the 59b in series mode but swap the black & green wires then it would have solved the problem in second attempt.

 

[jeremy]

Re: HSS tech help...SD TB-59 with Dimarzio Area 58's

sounds like your tech isnt that great unfortunately

both duncan and dimarzios have the screw coil as south. if the pup was out of phase he should have swapped the black and green wires

 

[rslongi]

Re: HSS tech help...SD TB-59 with Dimarzio Area 58's

Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately, I live in an area with limited resources in terms of techs...and he does do some great set-up work. I'll get these instructions to him and hope for the best!

 

[daenius]

Re: HSS tech help...SD TB-59 with Dimarzio Area 58's

Not all techs are great with electronics, especially when you're wiring 2 brands together that use different wire color codes.

Definitely in an attempt to get your position 2 in-phase he screwed up wiring the position 1.
Dimarzio pickups come with the instructions on how to fix phase in the box, as does Duncan I think. Communicate that to him and make sure he matches up the color codes correctly.

The problem actually doesn't just apply to Duncan Dimarzio mix, I've also had phase problems in the past with all 3 pickups being Dimarzio but made in very different times (vintage old Dimarzio vs new production model)