Problem with my Mustaine's.

[Artie]

I just got my Dave Mustaines installed in my Schecter C-1 Platinum. Running it direct into a Bogner Alchemist. With my passive guitars, if I run the volume at 9 or 10, I would need to be home alone in order not to blast my wife out of the house. With the DM's on 12, think semi-hollow, unplugged, strummed lightly. Clearly not right.

Simple wiring: 2 Mustaines, 1 vol, 1 tone. New alkaline battery. Reads 9.6 volts unplugged, and 9.5 plugged in. Current draw 0.3 ma. (That's 0.0003 amps.) So everything looks good there.

I snipped off one end of the cap in case it was internally shorted. No change. Brand new 100k pots.

I've had these DM's for a long time. Maybe a decade or so. Is there any chance the early one's were ever 18-volt? I know a lot of early Livewires were. I think the sticker is more modern. I can take one out and double check if I need to.

It's also both pups. I could see having one bad one, but two seems doubtful. Although, they were bought used from a forum bro.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

This diagram. Pretty simple.

https://www.seymourduncan.com/images/wiring-diagrams/2Dave_Mustaine_3G_1V_1T.pdf

 

[misterwhizzy]

Did you swap the pots too? Usually actives take 25k, but these look like they want 100k.

 

[Artie]

Yup. Brand new 100k's.

 

[Artie]

Just talked to Chris in tech support. There never was an 18-volt Mustaine, so I'm going to try his suggestion of each pup, direct to the output jack. Then, depending on how that turns out, a complete rewire.

 

[Artie]

I cannot believe I let conductive paint bite me in the ass again! It doesn't look like conductive paint. But I stuck my meter on it, and sure enough, low ohms. The place for the volume pot is bored out a bit deeper than the rest of the cavity to accommodate standard length bushings, so the pot sits a little deeper than the tone pot. The middle lug, (output lug), of the volume pot was just touching the wood/paint. I took some needle-nose and bent it slightly back.

Now she sings like a bird. Loud and proud. The Mustaine's have some serious attack, and are super clean, (in a good way). I can't get over the "snap" these have. Even the neck pup. They definitely like doing lead more than chords. (Which is what they were designed for, I suppose.) They're the active JB / Jazz set.

I couldn't be happier. And the black nickel covers match the C-1 Platinum cosmetics perfectly. I love this set way more than the EMG 81/85 set that it came with. Not knocking the EMG's, just these jive with me better.

The knobs are just "place holders." The originals were made for Alpha's. Now it has CTS. I'll fix that ASAP.

Anyway, love this thang!




​

 

[switchman]

Oooh darn shielding. Glad you figured it out. Guitar looks great with the black nickel and overall.
I can't say much on active pickups but some things are universal. I've had the same thing happen in rear control and jack routs with shielding paint. A few times I added electrical tape to insulate just to be 100% sure. Not the prettiest but it works

 

[Artie]

Thanks. Kapton tape works even better. A little pricey, but a small roll will last a lifetime in guitar work.

 

[Mincer]

Hey, I've had the exact same thing happen to me...more than once. Easy to overlook and then spend 4 days doing a mountain of research realizing it was right in front of me. Cool guitar, though!

 

[Artie]

Thanks. She's a looker, even with my (lack of), photography skills.

 

[NotDemanic]

Glad that it was an easy fix. I hate diagnosing problems like that. So many variables.

 

[Artie]

Yeah. The funny thing is, conductive paint usually has a distinctive look to it. Kinda thick and plastic-ky. This paint just looks like thin black paint. You can see the wood grain through it.

 

[switchman]

Thanks. Kapton tape works even better. A little pricey, but a small roll will last a lifetime in guitar work.

That's a great idea. I've seen it inside computer gear so many times. I never thought to use it in anywhere else.

 

[Artie]

Sorry if I seem a little "gushing" over these, but I can't get over the snap and attack of these. While a passive pup is somewhat "softened" by the load of the vol/tone pots, and whatever the load of what you plug into, these, with the built-in buffer, are immune. The string dang near plays, before you hit it. You have to be in control of what you're doing. They are unforgiving. If you make a mistake, they scream it out loud.

I have to actually think before I hit any note. I wish I had these 40 years ago.

Now I gotta get those Livewire Classic II's into something, to compare.

I'm really starting to dig active pups. Oddly, the Livewires in my Strat don't have quite this attack. They just play like really excellent single coils. Pure Stratocaster tone. But these Mustaine's bite back. I love 'em.

 

[JamesPaul]

Regarding the conductive paint...

A bit OT but when Tom put the new neck on my mutt Lead II, he emailed telling me it would be ready to for pickup at the end of day. An hour later he emailed back, writing that he must have shaken something loose in the electronics as the sound would drop in and out when he was play testing it. This on-and-off again lasted a couple days. Finally he decided he had a bad guitar cable. I picked it up and it played normally there, but when I got it home the dropouts started again. I called him and he wanted me to bring it back in. I was about to do that when it occurred to me the cable I played it with at his shop had a right angle plug. I was using a straight plug. Switched to a right angle plug and it was fine. The jack is in the pickguard and the torque on the straight plug moved the jack into contact with the cavity wall. The right angle plug does not do that. I did not confirm it until the next time I changed strings, but a previous owner had painted the cavity with conductive paint.

When I rescued the guitar I dropped it right at his shop and he told me the original neck was warped and irreparable. I brought it home and it was a couple years later when I found a neck and got the X-1 installed. I missed the conductive paint at this point. Tom wouldn't have known about the conductive paint as he never opened it up; only installed the neck.

Most of the time, issues are like the Air Disasters TV Show. It's never one thing goes wrong, and the plane falls out of the sky. It's 3 to 5 different things occurring, which align, and then the plane falls out of the sky.​

 

[Artie]

Regarding the conductive paint...

A bit OT but . . .

Actually, that's right on topic. This thread is more about those kind of mistakes than the Mustaine pickups themselves. I should have started a new thread about how the Mustaine's sound and play.

 

[Juanhanglo]

Sorry if I seem a little "gushing" over these, but I can't get over the snap and attack of these. While a passive pup is somewhat "softened" by the load of the vol/tone pots, and whatever the load of what you plug into, these, with the built-in buffer, are immune. The string dang near plays, before you hit it. You have to be in control of what you're doing. They are unforgiving. If you make a mistake, they scream it out loud.

I have to actually think before I hit any note. I wish I had these 40 years ago.

Now I gotta get those Livewire Classic II's into something, to compare.

I'm really starting to dig active pups. Oddly, the Livewires in my Strat don't have quite this attack. They just play like really excellent single coils. Pure Stratocaster tone. But these Mustaine's bite back. I love 'em.

I put a set of emg 57/66tws in my last build that were an eye opener for me as well. They're pretty much a hot rod set like the jb/59.

The response and clarity is what also stands out to me. I miss it when I play my passives.

I didnt think id like them as much as I do.

I have 2 sets now, amd am going to swap the lace grails out of my strat for SLVs


mind if I PM you for more info on the mustaines?
I promise I'll read every gushing word.....

 

[Artie]

Sure. No problem.