Semi Solid Pickups - finished with Pics

[ezas]

In for a nickle - in for a dime I always say.

Someday I'm going to learn not to tear into perfectly good guitars. (just kidding)

Went to replace the hum/hum on my Ibanez AM73B thinking maybe I would just do a cheater install, but this was as far as the pickups would pull out. So its pull the whole harness time. After looking around inside I might convert it to a master volume and move some knobs around.

Now if I could just get the knobs off - so far they are proving to be quite stubborn. So far the shoe lace and/or twisted cloth approach are not working. I'll figure something out. Worst case it will be an excuse to upgrade the pots.

 

[ezas]

Well that wasn't so  hard . . .

Now to figure out what's what in here and what changes I want to make.

 

[Rickgrxbass]

Is that non-shrunk heat shrink tubing?

I'd go with some GFS Dream 180's, or their DeArmond/TV Jones humbucker-size p'ups, if it were me. (In fact, I might do that in my own Dot, come to think of it)

 

[ezas]

Yes that is non-shrunk shrink tubing. Thats the way it all came bundled up from Ibanez.

I've already got the PU's

I got a GFS Pro series vintage output covered alnico V for the Neck and the same but uncovered Alnico II for the neck. I considered dream/mean 90's but my next project is a P90s guitar and I wanted to try vintage output/unpotted PAF style Hums to see how much it would brighten it up. If I don't like the Hums (but I think I am going to) it will probably get Mean 90s.

I'm trying to convince myself if I want to convert it to master volume with 2 tones, or even master volume/master tone while I have it's guts ripped out.

 

[line6man]

Why are the wire runs so long? Though it is usually not significant, the parasitic capacitance of shielded cable increases with length.

 

[bagman67]

Why are the wire runs so long? Though it is usually not significant, the parasitic capacitance of shielded cable increases with length.

The wire runs are probably that long to facilitate more rapid and cleaner assembly.  An extra couple pennies worth of wire is cheaper than the assembly line worker's extra few minutes to wrestle the thing into the cavity and get the pot shafts into the holes with shorter wire runs.

 

[line6man]

Why are the wire runs so long? Though it is usually not significant, the parasitic capacitance of shielded cable increases with length.

The wire runs are probably that long to facilitate more rapid and cleaner assembly.  An extra couple pennies worth of wire is cheaper than the assembly line worker's extra few minutes to wrestle the thing into the cavity and get the pot shafts into the holes with shorter wire runs.

You can do it quick or you can do it right. Looks like every wire could be two inches shorter and still be workable.

 

[ezas]

It is pretty long. The AM73B is a slightly smaller semi-solid than a 335 clone so my guess is that the pre made harnesses are the same for both body sizes. I also speculate that the length maybe to be able to route the wires around the outside of the pots for a cleaner look when you look inside the guitar. What ever the case was, when I removed the PUs there was only enough slack to raise the PU's about an inch, but I think that was the way they routed it through the tubing that kept  it that way.

Updated: added picture of wiring harness as laid out along holes in top. Run this way there is not a  lot of extra slack especially to the first Vol/tone in the run. The output jack on the other hand is heading off into space extending 6" beyond the edge of the body.

 

[ezas]

Well the wires are shorter now. Everything but the PU leads are just long enough to reach each component.

I WAS going to try the new pickups with the stock wiring, but in all my trial fitting, etc a couple of the ground braids broke free so I went with my original plan when I got the guitar to convert it to a master volume/tome ala Epi Dot Studio. I really struggled with where to put the controls but settled on this. Pots are 500K alpha I I don't know what the cap value is on the tone. But I wasn't to worried about it until I heard the pickups. I've mentioned it elsewhere but the new Pickups are GFS Pro vintage output PAF humbuckers. The Neck is Alnico V and the Bridge is Alnico II similar in idea to this set: http://www.skatterbrane.com/pickups/quiescence-branes-pickups.php

I originally got the idea from the video about the PAF humbuckers on the Stewmac site where they guy said he liked a II in the neck and V in the bridge. I went with the covered PU in the neck after watching and listening to the Bareknuckle video about covers vs uncovered PU's. I also kind of liked the idea of mixing the looks, because well, because I can.

The plugs in the holes are special audio tuned 5/16" panel plugs made from an engineered material called 'plastic'. They were very expensive, I think they cost .11 cents each. Eventually I may ditch the switch and get a blender control for one of the holes.

This was my first Humbucker wiring and my first semi-solid wiring. It was not as bad as I feared and not as easy as I hoped. Fortunately I  (sort of) thrive on things that need patience.

A few pics. There are no pics of the wiring because i'd be embarrased by the soldering . . . not my best work and my best work is still pretty beginner in quality.

Before and after:

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I love that guitar!  I played one at Guitarget a while back and it was a nice balance between a full size hollow and the sold thickness.  Really sweet sound.

While you had the giblets outta the gut, I'm surprised you didn't replace one of the bridge p/u pots with a push/push or push/pull to split the coil.

Sweet guitar any way.

 

[ezas]

Thanks

This one had a really sweet resonate tone when played un-amplified and I loved the fact that it's a little smaller than the epi dot/335 size and the neck really feels nice in my hand.

No coil tap in my future and the new bridge PU is plenty bright and cutting, enough so that I have the tone backed off a bit. I'm considering exchanging the neck for the Alnico V version, otherwise I'll fill one of those holes with a 2nd tone control.


Next up for this 'project' guitar, and top strat jack!

 

[fdesalvo]

Way cool, Ezas!  iPod set to Barney Kessel.