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Guitar Lounge / Re: Out of phase, half-out of phase, power-out of phase

« Last post by darkbluemurder on July 07, 2023, 04:39:12 AM »

I think as guitarists we tend to gravitate toward the tones which were recorded from yesteryear. If it weren’t for Peter Green I would never appreciate the sound of out of phase humbuckers. I read that it happened by accident.

This is true but there is conflicting information as to what exactly happened.

Story no. 1: The magnet was put in the "wrong way" from the factory.
Story no. 2: The neck pickup was broken and rewound with Formvar wire but in the "wrong direction". In a futile attempt to put it in phase with the bridge pickup, the pickup was flipped so that the screw coil faced the bridge.

Based on an interview with Jol Dantzig, story no. 1 appears to be more likely as he allegedly tested the magnetic orientation with a compass which confirmed the reversed magnetic polarity. He also said that the solder joints were untouched and the cover did not seem to have ever been removed from the neck pickup. And that was at a time when Gary Moore owned the guitar, i.e. if story no. 2 were true, the reversed magnet and reversed winding direction should have put the pickup in phase with the bridge pickup. 

The 3-pickup Les Paul Customs were originally wired with the middle pickup out of phase combined with the bridge pickup in the middle position. This wasn’t my bag so I put mine in phase and lowered it. The middle pickup is the stock T-Top with a Duncan Custom in the bridge. It makes for a nice clean tone without much quack as it’s mostly loading down the Duncan. This was a bit of a departure as the original bridge pickup was also a T-Top. As an aside I’ll also mention that with the stock wiring you don’t have the ability to blend controls as the middle position uses the same volume and tone as the bridge position and the neck position gets the other pair of controls. This never bothered me so I didn’t change it.

Indeed that stock wiring was unique as unlike the two pickup models there was no setting where all controls were engaged. I never played such a beast but I like what you did - more power in the bridge, better overall balance and a nice clean tone in the middle toggle position.

Cheers Stephan

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The Pickup Place / Re: The Area Hot T and EJ Custom Neck

« Last post by darkbluemurder on July 07, 2023, 04:18:54 AM »

Many thanks for the write up.

So you are saying that the EJ neck is brighter than the minibucker neck?

The Area Hot T is indeed very bright with a 500k volume pot. With a 250k pot it sounds like a fatter tele - more in broadcaster territory than tele territory.

Cheers Stephan

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The Pickup Place / The Area Hot T and EJ Custom Neck

« Last post by gregr on July 06, 2023, 01:43:14 PM »

This is my third topic on my Telecaster experience, apologies. I could have added this to either of the other discussions but I believe it warrants its own subject line.

This all started with me purchasing an Area Hot T for a friend which I had paired with a Vintage Minibucker Bridge in the neck of a $200 Squier. The Hot T sounded thin and the output was slightly low relative to the minibucker, but I could tell it was a great pickup. We ended up replacing the Area with a Chopper T and also replaced the die-cast saddles with steel ones. A set of 500k pots and we called it a day. He’s happy.

I was so impressed with the Area Hot T that I bought a Mexican Telecaster to put it in. It was initially paired with a Vintage Minibucker Neck but it didn’t cut enough. I exchanged the Minibucker for an EJ Custom Neck and am quite satisfied.

The volume control is 500k with a treble bleed. The tone is a dual 250k/500k concentric pot. The neck and middle position are using the 500k portion of the control while the bridge position is using the 250k portion.

With the tone rolled back a bit on the Area and after some minor height adjustments which include adjusting the fillisters on the EJ, the tonal balance and relative output between the two pickups are right on the money.

The EJ is indeed very lean and bright, but it still sounds best with 500k controls. With an additional capacitor and two resistors on the tone control I can warm it up nicely with it rolled back. With this modified control the EJ is very useable for jazz.

Between the treble bleed and the larger value volume control the Area Hot has more than enough Tele snap and spank. I opted for the dual control because the Area has so much bite that the EJ can’t keep up unless the tone on the Area is rolled back as I already mentioned. This would likely still be the case even if the Area were using 250k controls. I think this has more to do with pickup location than anything and is exacerbated by the fact that I have the Area up fairly high. I know I can load down the Area with a resistor, but with a separate tone control there’s no point; besides, it’s better to have too much than not enough.

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Guitar Lounge / Re: Out of phase, half-out of phase, power-out of phase

« Last post by gregr on July 06, 2023, 12:38:54 PM »

I think as guitarists we tend to gravitate toward the tones which were recorded from yesteryear. If it weren’t for Peter Green I would never appreciate the sound of out of phase humbuckers. I read that it happened by accident.

The 3-pickup Les Paul Customs were originally wired with the middle pickup out of phase combined with the bridge pickup in the middle position. This wasn’t my bag so I put mine in phase and lowered it. The middle pickup is the stock T-Top with a Duncan Custom in the bridge. It makes for a nice clean tone without much quack as it’s mostly loading down the Duncan. This was a bit of a departure as the original bridge pickup was also a T-Top. As an aside I’ll also mention that with the stock wiring you don’t have the ability to blend controls as the middle position uses the same volume and tone as the bridge position and the neck position gets the other pair of controls. This never bothered me so I didn’t change it.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that 6.2 is a standard value in the 10% series along with 1,1, 1.3, 1.6, 2.0, 2.4, 3.0, 3.6, 4.3, 5.1, 7.5 and 9.1, in addition to the values in the 20% series. The values used in the Kinman treble bypass are 1nF and 130k IIRC. A 10% change in components is audio circuits is normally noticeable so I recommend getting them.

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Guitar Lounge / Re: Out of phase, half-out of phase, power-out of phase

« Last post by darkbluemurder on July 06, 2023, 03:23:48 AM »

Further experimentation shows that it is best for the PG tone to not have any treble bypass circuits on the volume control.

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The Pickup Place / Re: New Jake Bowen Signature Mirage Pickups

« Last post by DarthPhineas on June 28, 2023, 07:16:12 PM »

Mine arrived today.  Installed them with a 5-way super switch to get the Jake Bowen configuration shows in the wiring diagram

Only ran them for a few minutes to confirm proper installation, so not long enough to commit to a definite commentary.  But I am liking what I'm hearing so far, especially with the super switch options

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The Pickup Place / Re: Any experience with Dimarzio's Occult Classic 7-String Set?

« Last post by DarthPhineas on June 28, 2023, 07:14:07 PM »

My set showed up today.

Will probably install them tomorrow

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The Pickup Place / Re: Which Pickup Features Which Technique

« Last post by darkbluemurder on June 19, 2023, 04:17:42 AM »

Updated for the Virtual P90 (source was an old catalogue) and Gravity Storm set (source was an older sales ad from a webstite store).

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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: The Bluesbucker

« Last post by gregr on June 15, 2023, 09:18:41 AM »

I’ve always liked the idea of a Lace Sensor Purple/Emerald Dually in the neck position.

There isn’t much in the way of demos of the humbucker-sized Fantom P90, but based on one by Phillip McKnight it sounds really good. The spec suggests it’s a bit hot but if the sole reason is to get a noiseless P90, I think it might be the better option.

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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: The Bluesbucker

« Last post by darkbluemurder on June 15, 2023, 04:22:22 AM »

The Bluesbucker's biggest asset IMHO is its split tone which I really really like, even though it is - by nature - not humcancelling. It really adds versatility to any guitar with a full size humbucker route in the neck spot as the single coil tone is not weak but really useable.