931

The Pickup Place / Re: Just ordered 4 DiMarzios - what am I in for?

« on: March 23, 2016, 05:11:40 AM »

No idea on the proposed pickup combinations but that color is wickedly good. Looking forward to the finished project.

Cheers Stephan

932

The Pickup Place / Re: My journey with Dimarzio pickups - from X2N to lower output for metal.

« on: March 23, 2016, 05:10:26 AM »

Indeed a very cool first post, thanks for sharing.

Cheers Stephan

933

The Pickup Place / Re: Ibanez RG470AHZ Pickup Replacement with Super Distortion

« on: March 23, 2016, 05:06:07 AM »

Good - this means that the pickup should work correctly.

You need to establish now to where the red wire has to go to. First of all, you need to find the common output of the switch. Measure with your multimeter between any connection and the hot connection of the output jack - the one that shows zero ohms wherever you set the pickup selector is the common output. You can also measure between the connections and the volume pot input (if the guitar only has one volume pot).

Next, set the pickup selector to the bridge only position. Then measure with your multimeter between the hot (tip) of the output jack. You should get zero ohms. If you move the selector to say the neck position you should get infinite ohms. Connect the red wire to that terminal.

Finally you need to determine where the black+white needs to go. Insofar it is important to know that the black+white will be disconnected when the selector is set to bridge only but will be grounded when the selector is set to bridge + middle. You will therefore need to identify which terminal on the switch is grounded only when the switch is in the bridge+middle position. Do the same measuring routine as before and you will find it. This is where black+white should be connected.

Good luck,
Stephan

934

The Pickup Place / Re: Air Norton in the neck is too boomy, hot, round, and tubular

« on: March 23, 2016, 04:56:42 AM »

I have only heard the PAF (older model), Air Norton and Bluesbucker in the neck, and of those three I would recommend the Bluesbucker.

Cheers Stephan

935

The Pickup Place / Re: Need Thoughts from you Dimarzio experts...

« on: March 22, 2016, 01:57:55 PM »

In the neck position brightness is always welcome.

Cheers Stephan

936

The Pickup Place / Re: Ibanez RG470AHZ Pickup Replacement with Super Distortion

« on: March 22, 2016, 04:39:23 AM »

Yes, one should read 14k but only if black and white are soldered together. If you have all wires separated and disconnected from anything in the circuitry the maximum reading you will get is for one coil (i.e. 7k).

Try the following: desolder everything except green and bare (you can leave them connected to ground). Connect black and white together. Now if you measure red to ground (which is the same as red to green) you should get about 14k. If you measure red to black/white you should get about 7k.

Good luck,
Stephan

937

The Pickup Place / Re: Ibanez RG470AHZ Pickup Replacement with Super Distortion

« on: March 21, 2016, 11:59:12 AM »

Try changing the red and the black+white connections and see whether the problem persists.

Good luck,
Stephan

938

The Pickup Place / Re: Strat Project! (DP-218s) bridge

« on: March 21, 2016, 11:51:54 AM »

I am familiar with the regular sized Super Distortion but not with the single coil sized equivalents but I am sure the DP 218 in the bridge will make for a killer hard rockin' guitar.

No experience with the Pro Track but going by specs it may sound a bit dark in the neck position. I would consider the Chopper instead - also for the middle.

Cheers Stephan

939

The Pickup Place / Re: VHPAF and VPAF in Epiphone dot?

« on: March 21, 2016, 11:44:21 AM »

That guitar looks absolutely beautiful. If it sounds only half as good it must be killing.

Have fun with that axe,
Stephan

940

The Pickup Place / Re: DiMarzios equivalent to Seymour Duncan Custom/Jazz

« on: March 17, 2016, 05:29:02 AM »

With that amp I would stay away from high output pickups as it has bucket loads of gain.

Cheers Stephan

941

The Pickup Place / Re: EJ custom bridge in neck position(?)

« on: March 16, 2016, 04:33:01 AM »

yeah back in the old days neck and bridge HB's had the same specs and strat pups were all the same output.

This is correct.

There is no rule that says you cannot use a bridge pickup in the neck position. Being a "bridge" pickup first of all implies that it was designed to be used in the bridge position. The only thing to keep in mind is that the string vibration is greater in the neck position so you can use a lower output pickup there to get a more balanced sound with the bridge pickup. Insofar AT-1 in the bridge an EJ bridge in the neck should work well.

But a "balanced" sound insofar is most relevant if you tend to use both pickups with the same amp settings. For people who use the neck pickup for cleans only and the bridge for distorted only the balance of the set may be totally irrelevant. Same thing for people that use the neck pickup only for leads in the upper registers of the fretboard and the bridge for rhythm tones - with that goal in mind you could use a PAF in the bridge and e.g. a Super Distortion in the neck. So the most important thing is "what do I want to get out of this guitar that my current set up does not give me?"

Cheers Stephan

942

The Pickup Place / Re: Want my Tele to have a SH-4 JB sound

« on: March 14, 2016, 10:28:55 AM »

As regards the tonal choice I think the Chopper T is a solid one.

As regards the blades - no idea to be honest. I would not recommend it. You will definitely lose the warranty on a new pickup by doing this.

Cheers Stephan

943

The Pickup Place / Re: AT-1 + Chopper + Chopper Wiring Recommendations

« on: March 14, 2016, 05:37:22 AM »

Now if you use the Push/pull switches you could stratify the guitar even more, but I have no idea how good the Choppers split...

I don't either but I do know that they sound good in parallel.

Cheers Stephan

944

The Pickup Place / Re: DiMarzios equivalent to Seymour Duncan Custom/Jazz

« on: March 14, 2016, 05:35:32 AM »

If you are set on the Duncan Custom and Jazz combo you could ask their custom shop whether they can make you a set with short leg base plates.

I played a Custom once but it did not sound like any DiMarzio humbucker I tried. Maybe the Norton but (i) I never played that one and (ii) its specs are different from the Custom (different magnet and probably different wire as well).

No idea what would be close to the Jazz.

Cheers Stephan

945

The Pickup Place / Re: Stratocaster pickup question

« on: March 03, 2016, 04:29:06 AM »

Going from bridge to neck, 61-58-67 is indeed one of the most vintage set ups you can get with the DiMarzio Areas. I had this set up for a while in one of my strats. I now have Virtual Solo-58-67, and this works better for me with the bridge tones and still gives me a good bridge plus middle combination. The Virtual Solo will definitely do better at Blackmore/Healey/SRV.

If the guitar is bright acoustically I would consider Virtual Solo-58-61 or Virtual Solo-58-VV 54 Pro for a fatter neck tone, especially since you are coming from the humbucker camp.

You may wonder why I did not suggest to put the 67 in the middle. Although the 67 is the brightest strat pickup of the Area series I did not like it as much in the middle position as I liked it in the neck position. In the neck it is great for both Blackmore and Hendrix tones.

If you want something with more output so that you do not have to make as many adjustments when going from a humbucker guitar to the strat, the Injector neck has a bit more output and a bit more modern tone to it. I think these would also pair well with a Virtual Solo in the bridge but I have not tried that combination (I use the Injector neck in the middle plus the Virtual Vintage Heavy Blues 2 together with a British made humbucker styled after the JB in the bridge of a HSS strat).

Finally, if the Virtual Solo's output is not quite enough, the Chopper would be the next step up.

Cheers Stephan