886

The Pickup Place / Re: (another) Dimarzio/Duncan polarity question

« on: July 14, 2016, 04:12:08 AM »

What I do if I don't know the phase of a pickup and want to know beforehand (say in a strat where I would have to take the pickguard off to change the connections) is the following:

Measure with a multimeter between hot and ground (on the DiMarzio red as hot and green as ground. While keeping the connections, place some needle nose pliers on top of the pickup. Now lift the pliers and watch the multimeter - does it go up or down in reading?

Now do the same with the other pickup. Any two pickups where the meter moves in the same direction are in phase with each other for the measured connections. This test is easy, accurate and saves a lot of time and aggravation.

If it's a guitar with a rear route I usually skip this test and just rewire if it's out of phase.

Cheers Stephan

887

The Pickup Place / Re: Out Of Phase Advice Needed

« on: July 11, 2016, 04:02:19 AM »

If the Humbucker from Hell has a four conductor wire, just swap the red and green wires. Does nothing on the neck pickup tone itself but when you select both, you will have the out-of-phase sound. If you don't like it just put it back like it was. It is indeed a simple operation if your neck pickup has a four conductor wire.

Now - if your neck pickup does not have a four conductor wire but a single shielded wire, then the operation is more complicated. In that case we may look at the bridge pickup for a possible out-of-phase solution.

Good luck,
Stephan

888

The Pickup Place / Re: Evolution in a Les Paul?

« on: July 08, 2016, 03:46:13 AM »

I am afraid I am not of much help here as the only pickups I played out of these are the Breeds. As far as history goes, I believe I read that Steve wanted a different sound from the Evolutions - warmer and not as much output.

Since you mentioned Andy Timmons I would recommend that you consider the AT-1, even though that would be quite a bit off from Steve Vai or John Petrucci. I have recently acquired an AT-1 and have installed it in a guitar with alder body, maple neck w/ pau ferro board, and it sounds fabulous there - enough punch in the low end, clear in the highs but nothing sharp or obnoxious, and a wonderful singing midrange without being bloaty or tubby.

I have it paired with a Bluesbucker in the neck which works really well.

Cheers Stephan

889

The Pickup Place / Re: Favorite Dimarzio humbuckers (blues to hard rock sounds)

« on: July 06, 2016, 03:58:06 AM »

2. Air Norton (B) - Bluesbucker (N): 
for classic rock/bluesy/alt styles.

Welcome and great first post.

I had this very combination also in a Les Paul and in a custom made Swamp ash guitar and was happy with the Bluesbucker in the neck, especially in the Swamp ash guitar which is a 24 fret guitar. The Air Norton in the bridge was OK but a bit too bright in the Les Paul.

The Bluesbucker is now in a alder bodied tele type guitar in the neck. Bridge pickup is an AT-1.

Cheers Stephan

890

The Pickup Place / Re: Low pickup output - Steve Morse Bridge

« on: July 04, 2016, 04:02:42 AM »

I improved solders. Now when output is low and I take out cable from input in amp and then put it there again, output becomes high again. Can this information help in some way?

If this also happens with other guitars and/or other pickups, then the amp is a (or the) problem. I would use a little contact cleaner on the tip of the guitar cord plug and plug in/out of the amp jack several times. Do that and see if the problem persists.

Good luck,
Stephan

891

The Pickup Place / Re: Green Meanie pickups?

« on: July 04, 2016, 04:00:38 AM »

Not really insights but Eat "Em and Smile" was released in July 1986. No idea when the PAF Pro was released or how long the recording sessions took but it could have been earlier. It also could be that Vai played a prototype of that pickup.

Cheers Stephan

892

The Pickup Place / Re: Pups for CU24

« on: July 04, 2016, 03:55:40 AM »

I also have a CU24 and this one and the others I played have a tendency to have a lot of center and high midrange. TZ/Air Norton could work, especially since it is a 24 fret model which may make the Air Norton a little less dark than it would be otherwise. I really liked the Bluesbucker in the neck position of a 24 fret guitar but that one is less modern sounding.
I have had mixed results with the TZ - in a bright guitar it sounded fine whereas in a Les Paul it was pure fuzz without a pedal. Breed Bridge could be a good alternative - less fizzy on the top end and a lot of low mids.

I remember a while ago that somebody asked a similar question and ended up with a Transition set. Personally I have never played them so I cannot comment.

Cheers Stephan

893

The Pickup Place / Re: Low pickup output - Steve Morse Bridge

« on: July 01, 2016, 03:31:52 AM »

Most likely a bad solder joint or a wire touching a connection where it should not.

I would reflow all the solder joints of the bridge pickup, especially those at the switch terminals.

Good luck,
Stephan

894

The Pickup Place / Re: Low pickup output - Steve Morse Bridge

« on: June 30, 2016, 04:18:00 AM »

I guess that when you wrote "green and bare together to the volume pot" you really meant "to the back of the volume pot". These two wires need to go to ground (which the back of the pot is) - if you put these to the volume pot input you would short the pickup and killing the output. Under the assumption that you soldered green and bare to the back of the volume pot, your wiring appears to be correct.

Do you have a multimeter? If yes, put a guitar cord into the guitar's output jack, set the pickup selector to bridge, make sure that the volume pot is turned up full and measure the DC resistance between the tip and the shaft (which would be signal hot and ground respectively). You should get a reading close to the pickup's specified DC resistance, e.g. 9k to 9.5k (it will be a bit lower than the specified resistance because when it's in the circuit it is in parallel with the volume pot). If you get something wildly different from that, the pickup may be faulty.

If you don't have a multimeter, get one. They are not expensive and are IMHO indisipensible for working on guitar electronics.

If everything reads correctly we have to look for other potential problems.

Good luck,
Stephan

895

Gear Closet / Re: Atomic AmpliFire Review

« on: June 29, 2016, 11:17:19 AM »

Many thanks for the excellent review. Even though I am not in the market for such a unit at the moment I found it very interesting.

Cheers Stephan

896

The Pickup Place / Re: Partscaster Mason Style

« on: June 29, 2016, 11:13:31 AM »

I wish I could upload the picture but even a 73kB file prompts that the upload folder is full (?).

897

The Pickup Place / Partscaster Mason Style

« on: June 29, 2016, 04:12:15 AM »

I wanted to post a pic of a partscaster I put together but I have to resize it first.

The pickups are a DiMarzio Virtual Hot T in the bridge, a Virtual Vintage 54 Pro in the middle and a Lollar Firebird in the neck. 250k volume, 500k tone, 0.0022uf tone cap, regular 5-way switch to select b, b+m, m, m+n and n. The mini switch is intended to add the bridge pickup to any selection to get b+n and all three. All combinations are parallel in phase. I am not a fan of series combinations of pickups and/or out of phase combinations. I could have used a three way switch and add the middle pickup but the five way was more intuitive to me with three pickups.

Before I added the mini switch i had a third pot there to have two independent volume controls (one b+n, one m) but I scrapped this arrangement rather quickly. Apart that the controls were so close together that it was difficult to use, the blend tones were so subtly different that I decided it was not worth it.

The Virtual Hot T really shines in this guitar - it twangs, sings, screams and does whatever I ask from it. I started out with a Kinman AVn-48b but that was too bright and thin here. The VHT beefs it right up. I believe either of the Area T or Area Hot T would sound great in this guitar as well.

The VV 54 Pro by itself gets the "Sky is Crying" tone without trying too hard.

The real surprise was the combination of these two. I had played other teles with three pickups, seeking for the #2 strat quack tone but never got it - either it was not open enough or too thin. This one finally does it right. Not sure whether it's the pickups or the combination of pickups and guitar but this outquacks all my strats. 

And I got a very nice and useable neck tone as well. I am normally not too fond of the neck + middle combo but it works OK as well. I am looking forward to hear the bridge + neck combo on this one - should be great.

Cheers
Stephan

898

The Pickup Place / Re: HS-2 or Area in the middle position

« on: June 23, 2016, 03:31:09 AM »

Though tends to be darker

In that case I would also say 58.

Cheers Stephan

899

The Pickup Place / Re: HS-2 or Area in the middle position

« on: June 22, 2016, 12:09:22 PM »

I may add that if your guitar is bright sounding acoustically, the 54 would be the preferred choice.

Cheers Stephan

900

The Pickup Place / Re: HS-2 or Area in the middle position

« on: June 22, 2016, 12:06:01 PM »

Which of them do you like more? What is basic difference between them in middle position?

VV 54 Pro has a bit more low end and a little less top end than the 58. I like both - in terms of middle position sound I prefer the 54 for the extended low end which adds fullness, in terms of quack with the other two pickups I prefer the 58. Keep in mind that we are not talking about night and day differences. Both will work well - I would choose based on whether the quack in #2 and 4 was more important (then 58) or the middle position tone (then 54).

Cheers Stephan