Drill holes marked (no worries, I have seen the incorrect ones and will correct it!)
Ok, installed the PUs at their final position. The best position for the neck/middle PUs is really close to the bridge - just like Spector Bantam 4.
It sounds very fat, but also very controlled.
Spector seems to know what they are doing
Everything is dirty and full of dust and finger prints, but I wanted to see what the pickguard would look like, so I just dremeled a hole for the middle/neck PU in the old pickguard and used black tape to close the gaps.
Unfortunately there are some thick cables on the EMG PUs and even more stuff on the pots, so I need more space under the control plate. Will dremel that tomorrow.
Sooo … how does it sound?
Whoooaaaaaw!
That’s some very fat and dominating tone that comes out of it. Just as I hoped. Two Humbuckers are really in yer face, yay!
I also tested the single coil modes, and funny thing: don’t know why, but it sounds very ok.
I will call the dual single coil mode “MikeC” mode
One cool feature is that you could select which single coil is active - for both pickups individually.
In fact you can change the Jazz pickup position on the fly - very cool!
Currently, I need to jumper it, but it would be nice to have some kind of selector switch per PU (@Wombat-metal ? @Al1885 ?).
For anyone who likes it dirty:
Nice work @Whying_Dutchman
Jumper? Not sure what you mean by that but you can add switches to the VUPF pot but have to check your diagram of what function you want it to do that’s appropriate for bass.
Ah, that might be a German word.
What I mean ist that you can bridge header positions on the volume knob with a shunt and select the active single coil, at least I remember reading that somewhere. So you can either select the higher or the lower single coil - which is in fact like selecting a physical location … and that should have influence on the tone in MikeC mode…
Need to find out, which header positions are relevant - and than find a diagram for two switches so I can select the active single coil per PU.
Can’t think about it now. This was a busy day, and I need to clean up before my girlfriend arrives and kicks my @ss cause it is all chaos and dirt here
Clearly, the information I got is incorrect. Pity, but don’t care.
This diagram shows that you can only select one fixed single coil position per PU, not either of them:
Would have been nice, but also confusing for my simple mind.
And: the current single coil mode is really not bad at all! I quite enjoy it - but it’s nothing compared to double Humbucker, of course
Ok, dremeled the cavity under the control plate a little wider. Now the f#cking large EMG pots fit perfectly!
Still have the DIY Pickguard with black tape … until I find the time and patience to create my own pickguard and control plate. That will be fun!
Also I need to create a frame for the bridge PU. As I don’t have a 3d printer and want the frame made of the same material as the pickguard and the control plate I will need to cut that from the raw pickguard. That will be even more fun!
I am still impressed by the sound, though I need to setup properly (did a quick setup only).
In English, at least American English, these are jumpers
What you said is very correct, but this is what came to my mind.
What is it that someone said? English and America are one people separated by a common language
Ah, it’s the same in German! In the EMG manual those are called “shunts”
I learn something every day.
Next step: learning how to make a pickguard and a PU frame - using a dremel - without destroying it (especially the one with brushed aluminium)
EDIT @Al1885: I have one 35TWX and an active EMG precision pickup that are not installed. yet.
As I will remove the EMG GZR from my fretless Minty-Minty-Mint and make it active, I have two choices: give Minty the active EMG P/J and Pink’s Hot the 35TWX and and active EMG precision pickup (P/H) - or the other way around.
Question is: would the fretless benefit from P/H or is that overkill? Pink’s Hot is my main bass, so I’d rather make that a P/H, to give it some flexibility.
But I am open to suggestions…
Prolly not. I have the MM on my stingray short scale and it sounds great.
So: P/H for fretless Minty, P/J for Pink’s Hot?
Both will work well, not the same but good on both. It’s pretty difficult to mess up the traditional configuration. Unless you plan to put a mudbucker by the neck heel,
I will route no more after the P/H conversion, no worries.
It’s not that I don’t want to, but:
- Making a new pickguard s#cks! I am really not looking forward to that!
- I will have a fretted HH (in fact: HH, HJ, JH and JJ), a P/J and a P/H (in fact a P/H and P/J). Undecided what (fretless vs fretted) will get what, but it should cover quite a lot of ground
in my opinion you should consider single coils on the fretless
I hate single coils! Ok, on Ronin it sounds really ok now … but otherwise don’t like it!
If I would do that, I would use something like dual 35TWX (cause I can switch) - but I have that already on Ronin.
I also won’t rout the neck/middle position anymore, so that remains precision.
So it’s just a choice for P/J or P/H for fretless Minty or fretted Pink’s Hot…
Then P/J on the fretless and P/H on the fretted one.
Can I make a heart here?
Like: <3
That’s what I was heading for. Just wanted to get other opinions, just to make sure!
David Gilmore said you can make a single coil sound like your own, a humbucker just sounds like everyone else.
That’s why I think if I’m ever tone chasing anything in particular I just hit the motherload.
3 single coils with phantom coils
Series/ parallel
Active/passive
4 band EQ
What is a “Phantom Coil”?
Also: don’t get it! Not from a technical point of view nor anything else.
I guess that single coil (as in Jazz) is more popular than Humbuckers, so that cannot be it. Everybody plays single coil - at least it’s … Big in Japan (like the song :-))
And: I can toggle my Humbucker to single coil AND dual coil. What can Gilmore do with his single coil?
Also known as ghost coil, it just a fake coil to convert a one way winding to a reverse winding to counter act the 60 cycles hum.
I guess what he meant was single coils with all its flaws offers more character than a well manner robust humbucker.
Here’s an example, the Seymour Duncan Stinger. It’s a single coil 51 P pickup, with a second coil reverse wound and the two coils are stacked on top of one another. This is one way to do this and eliminate hum.
And yes it’s a humbucker. A stacked humbucker.
the top coil gets wired into the controls for the bass, the bottom coil goes to ground. Sting and Dusty Hill use this pickup.