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The Pickup Place / Re: Positions 2 and 4 with H S H.

« on: January 31, 2019, 10:05:05 PM »

BONUS!  Just fixed one of the nasty phase issues at #2 on one of my guitars!   But here is where it get super interesting!  This is an HSH guitar with 2 conductor humbuckers at bridge and neck and a true single middle. 

The bridge pickup had red wire to switch and bare to ground.  I put the freaking BARE WIRE! to switch and red to ground and by golly shucky darn dag nabbit tarnation almighty it fixed the issue!  I have never in all my years or wiring EVER put a bare wire to a switch!  YOWZA.  good golly miss molly booyah.

17

The Pickup Place / Re: Positions 2 and 4 with H S H.

« on: January 31, 2019, 07:47:45 PM »

Stephan!  OK we are onto something here, my friend!!  It was not until I DID it that it makes sense.  I've just come from workbench after playing with 3 test subjects.  Let me tell you my findings and tell me what this means and what I've proven by doing the cool needle nose plier trick?

Note I used a DMM so it's not a needle that is moving but very obvious the numbers go UP or DOWN. 

Pickup #1.  Duncan EVH Frankenstein.
Red/White soldered together, not used in test.
Black test lead to black wire, red test lead to green wire, METER GOES DOWN
Black test lead to green wire, red test lead to black wire, METER GOES UP

Pickup #2.  Garbage Ibanez S1 true single coil.
black lead to white, red lead to red, meter goes up
black lead to red, red lead to white, mtere goes down

Pickup #3.  Delicious Dimarzio Heavy Blues 2
Black/white soldered and taped off, not used in test.
black lead to green, red lead to red, meter goes down
black to red, read to green, meter goes up

What I have I learned about these pickups and how can this help me with my 2 and 4 toggle spots when setting up more HSH guitars with 5 ways?

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The Pickup Place / Re: Positions 2 and 4 with H S H.

« on: January 30, 2019, 07:53:16 PM »

Thanks for the replies and feedback.  I do have a good DMM and an extra Alnico8 magnet and even a compass that I bought to help with magnet swaps.  I will try the needle nose plier trick.

It sounds like i need to learn exactly what is going on with the Gibson pickups and the middle single coil in the guitar that sounds great in all positions except position 2 where its just super weak and nasal.  Sounds like a phase AND a polarity issue.

Assuming I am a dimarzio fanatic and will always have some form of dimarzio humbuckers in neck and bridge, is there any super cheap alternative middle single coil that is known to be quiet in 2 and 4 when mixed with the dimarzios?  I never use position 3 on its own so i don't need a 'nice sounding' pickup there.  =)

as for this:

"Phase testing: connect the pickup leads to your DMM. Make sure that you always note which wire you are testing. Put the needle nose pliers on the pickup. Watch the ohms reading of the pickup. Now pull away the pliers and note whether the reading went up or down. To have an in-phase combination of coils, the readings must go both up or both down. One up and one down means out-of-phase."

Pretend i have a paf pro on the bench and I'm trying this trick.  How do I test the PAF PRO phase in relation to whatever middle single coil I am using?

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The Pickup Place / Positions 2 and 4 with H S H.

« on: January 30, 2019, 12:01:18 AM »

New to forum, hello. 

I have been totally hit or miss on this and would love to hear from the collective knowledge of the forum to help me understand this phenomenon and why sometimes I win and sometimes I lose.

GUITAR:

Any HSH guitar with a 5 way toggle (NOT super switch, only CRL USA or OAK 5 way blade 8 lug) and humbuckers in neck and bridge and a true single coil in middle.

ISSUE:  Sometimes 2 and 4 are no noise.  Sometimes 2 and 4 are pure noise.  Sometimes only 2 is noisy  and 4 sounds good, sometimes 2 is quiet and weak and 4 is good, etc.  Clearly there has to be a match with middle single coil and the humbuckers and I am struggling to nail this formula?

I have ONE GUITAR that works perfectly and its a 1990 RG550 with a PAF PRO neck, ISCV2 middle and Megadrive bridge wired to a 5 way CRL USA using a diagram from amazing tech staff of dimarzio. 

I have another guitar that has AIR NORTON bridge and neck and some "guitar fetish" single coil and only position 2 is hum free while position 4 is noise.

I have another guitar with Gibson pickups in neck and bridge and some other random true single coil  in middle and the position 2 is super weak and thin but number 4 sounds good.

Is an 'RWRP' pickup needed in the middle in order to make 2 and 4 quiet?  What is the "formula" and does anyone know of an inexpensive single coil wired the right way from factory to stick into the middle of my guitars that have issues in 2 or 4 or both?

Please help me to understand this formula and what I am doing wrong with the dang middle single coils?  I never use the pickup by itself, i just love the 2 and 4 sounds under mega high gain.  thanks, sorry for long post

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The Trading Post / Re: WTB: DiMarzio Heavy Blues 2 DP409

« on: January 29, 2019, 11:42:51 PM »

i have one. what did you wish to pay for it good sir?