Inflames626
New member
Good news. Finally success with the LTD LP I'd been struggling with. Thanks to everyone who has helped. I'd list you all but I think the forum only lets me @ one person per post (also, to Mincer, I get a lot of 403 errors after trying to submit edited posts, but I digress).
Since I'd carried on some questions across multiple threads I decided to consolidate things here.
I went with unshielded cloth pushback wire, two Triple Shots, phase push/pull on the neck--all my usual save the killswitch which I save for Floyded guitars. A2PN in nickel at the neck and Custom 5 trem spaced at the bridge in usual black. The A2PN was an old trade from here on the forums so that is why they are not matched. I went from just the guitar body to totally finished in probably 3-4 hours.
I think the issue with the shielded wiring is I wasn't heating the pots enough to get a good ground connection. The connections were on there and shiny, but because I prefer to use a pencil tip and that steel wool-like shielding can be pretty thick, I don't think I was getting truly good solder joints. I was concerned about burning up pots so I wasn't heating them long enough. I've found with a 40 watt pencil tip it may take 20-30 seconds to get a good connection and another 20-30 cool down time. I will probably move to a 60 watt pencil tip as that's a long time to keep a wire in place.
By comparison this was easy. No ball of shielding wool near the switch ground, and no tedious freeing of the hot wire from the shield to ground to each pot. I've used shielded wire before just from the pickup and don't find it to be a problem, but doing a whole guitar with it seems like a chore.
I also used a new bridge volume pot which was not caked in solder. All grounds were connected to it. So I think my previous issue of no output was just a grounding problem created by an elusive cold solder joint.
On to the questions/concerns:
1) I have each volume knob independently wired like a Jazz bass, so the hot is going to the middle. The bridge pickup works fine. However, the neck volume pot works backwards.
I know this usually happens when people put the ground on the wrong tab, but as far as I can tell I have the neck and bridge hooked up identically. On the neck pot, I have a wire running from the ground tab to the pot body. The black and bare wires of the Triple Shot are soldered to the ground tab.
I have heard of pots for lefties, and it seems like a lot of Asian pots I am getting these days are working in reverse. However they weren't labelled as such. I thought it might be more likely that I overlooked something.
2) Would the A2PN be seriously overpowered by the Custom 5? Going back and forth between the pickups I found there to be such a volume difference that I thought something might be wrong with the wiring.
Usually I set my pickups as close to the strings as possible for the best tone, usually by fretting at 22nd/24th fret, raising the pickup until it touches the strings, then backing it down just barely. If I have a Floyd, I raise the strings fully sharp at the bridge until they touch the bridge pickup, then back down just slightly until the strings have clearance.
The A2PN is already raised pretty high, so I'm thinking I'm going to need to lower the Custom 5 a lot to make the pickups sound better matched. If that doesn't work, I may use an A2PB in the neck and see if that works. I have more experience with Gibsons, so I assume the A2PN will be more like the 57 and the A2PB may be like the 57+, assuming the Slash set doesn't already cover the 57+.
I noticed when checking the Triple Shots that the A2PN was about 8k and the Custom 5 was 14-15k. I thought, "Uh oh," but I didn't expect this much difference.
3) Does using a trem spaced pickup as an LP bridge pickup degrade the sound that much by being off center on the pole pieces?
The LTD's trem spacing was right on or just over the 2mm mark I think. I assumed it was slightly wider than Gibson's to avoid lawsuits. I thought it better safe than sorry and used the trembucker Custom 5. I originally had it in a Floyded guitar, but it was such a good mid scooped chugging pickup that I wanted to put it in a fixed bridge so I could change tunings quickly for rhythm guitar work.
It's kind of a moot point as I've started using a lot of bridge pickups in the neck. I thought I'd let the chips fall where they may instead of bothering with new pickups.
This is my first time experimenting with the A2P family. As I think I've said I find the 59s somewhat bland, so I'm continuing to explore SD's PAF offerings.
Thanks again.
Since I'd carried on some questions across multiple threads I decided to consolidate things here.
I went with unshielded cloth pushback wire, two Triple Shots, phase push/pull on the neck--all my usual save the killswitch which I save for Floyded guitars. A2PN in nickel at the neck and Custom 5 trem spaced at the bridge in usual black. The A2PN was an old trade from here on the forums so that is why they are not matched. I went from just the guitar body to totally finished in probably 3-4 hours.
I think the issue with the shielded wiring is I wasn't heating the pots enough to get a good ground connection. The connections were on there and shiny, but because I prefer to use a pencil tip and that steel wool-like shielding can be pretty thick, I don't think I was getting truly good solder joints. I was concerned about burning up pots so I wasn't heating them long enough. I've found with a 40 watt pencil tip it may take 20-30 seconds to get a good connection and another 20-30 cool down time. I will probably move to a 60 watt pencil tip as that's a long time to keep a wire in place.
By comparison this was easy. No ball of shielding wool near the switch ground, and no tedious freeing of the hot wire from the shield to ground to each pot. I've used shielded wire before just from the pickup and don't find it to be a problem, but doing a whole guitar with it seems like a chore.
I also used a new bridge volume pot which was not caked in solder. All grounds were connected to it. So I think my previous issue of no output was just a grounding problem created by an elusive cold solder joint.
On to the questions/concerns:
1) I have each volume knob independently wired like a Jazz bass, so the hot is going to the middle. The bridge pickup works fine. However, the neck volume pot works backwards.
I know this usually happens when people put the ground on the wrong tab, but as far as I can tell I have the neck and bridge hooked up identically. On the neck pot, I have a wire running from the ground tab to the pot body. The black and bare wires of the Triple Shot are soldered to the ground tab.
I have heard of pots for lefties, and it seems like a lot of Asian pots I am getting these days are working in reverse. However they weren't labelled as such. I thought it might be more likely that I overlooked something.
2) Would the A2PN be seriously overpowered by the Custom 5? Going back and forth between the pickups I found there to be such a volume difference that I thought something might be wrong with the wiring.
Usually I set my pickups as close to the strings as possible for the best tone, usually by fretting at 22nd/24th fret, raising the pickup until it touches the strings, then backing it down just barely. If I have a Floyd, I raise the strings fully sharp at the bridge until they touch the bridge pickup, then back down just slightly until the strings have clearance.
The A2PN is already raised pretty high, so I'm thinking I'm going to need to lower the Custom 5 a lot to make the pickups sound better matched. If that doesn't work, I may use an A2PB in the neck and see if that works. I have more experience with Gibsons, so I assume the A2PN will be more like the 57 and the A2PB may be like the 57+, assuming the Slash set doesn't already cover the 57+.
I noticed when checking the Triple Shots that the A2PN was about 8k and the Custom 5 was 14-15k. I thought, "Uh oh," but I didn't expect this much difference.
3) Does using a trem spaced pickup as an LP bridge pickup degrade the sound that much by being off center on the pole pieces?
The LTD's trem spacing was right on or just over the 2mm mark I think. I assumed it was slightly wider than Gibson's to avoid lawsuits. I thought it better safe than sorry and used the trembucker Custom 5. I originally had it in a Floyded guitar, but it was such a good mid scooped chugging pickup that I wanted to put it in a fixed bridge so I could change tunings quickly for rhythm guitar work.
It's kind of a moot point as I've started using a lot of bridge pickups in the neck. I thought I'd let the chips fall where they may instead of bothering with new pickups.
This is my first time experimenting with the A2P family. As I think I've said I find the 59s somewhat bland, so I'm continuing to explore SD's PAF offerings.
Thanks again.
