Replacing P/Us on my AmSpecial; anything I need to know about the control wiring?

[TeleKato]

Hello again. So I'm going to take my American Special in to get new pickups. I decided on the Rio Grande Tallboys. These will replace the Fender "Texas-Special" in the bridge and a Seymour Duncan Quarterpounder in the neck (which replaced a failed Fender TS).

I looked at the control assembly and ... well, that's different. I've attached a diagram from Fender below (HW1 Texas which I'm sure is the same -- and it looked like what I saw).

So what's puzzling me is those two caps down on the Tone pot; 16 & 17 in the diagram and the 'resistor metal film' #18. The exact descriptions from the manual:

16: Capacitor Ceramic Disk .100uf, 50V IC
17: Capacitor Ceramic Disk .02uf, 50V IC
18: Resistor Metal Film 4.7kohm, 1/4 watt

So .... question .... can I just swap in the pickups, or is there going to need to be any wiring/cap changes?

[donh]

It's up to you, it being your guitar and all.

I refer to rethink the whole circuitry when I change out a pickup, but I'm crazy that way.

[TeleKato]

Originally Posted by donh

It's up to you, it being your guitar and all.

I refer to rethink the whole circuitry when I change out a pickup, but I'm crazy that way.

I've come to be Ed-ye-acted..... So are you saying you'd go to "standard" wiring with the change?

My EE classes are 35 years behind me so I guess aside from good practical advice (as provided ... Thanks!) what are those caps and that resistor doin' in there in the first place??

[sjtalon]

I would just swap the pups.

All that jazz on the tone pot is the greasebucket circuit and some like it.

It allows you to dump highs to ground ( like the tone control is suppose to) with out getting too muddy.

[TeleKato]

Originally Posted by sjtalon

I would just swap the pups.

All that jazz on the tone pot is the greasebucket circuit and some like it.

It allows you to dump highs to ground ( like the tone control is suppose to) with out getting too muddy.

*slap forehead* .... roger that; now I get it. Thanks!

[donh]

TeleKato,

I'd try it with and without the greasebucket thing, change away from the disc caps (ick, nasty) to almost anything else (I prefer paper in oil), and mess with the cap values to see how it feels.

We have found that small cap-value changes can enhance the tonal range of the pickup in positive ways. Given the wonderfully wide range of pickup winds these days, the standard values oftimes fail to be the best fit.

[sjtalon]

now u b Ed-ye-acted



The cap on the tone pot has more to do with HOW the tone control functions from about 5 to 0 than having any effect with it wide open.

[TeleKato]

Great info guys thanks. Now I'm smarter than a 5th grader!

I'm gonna have to learn how (and practice on junk not my babies) to solder so I can do this myself. Tim my guitar tech is not only get tired of me bringing my stuff in to rewire, he's also gonna own me for all the stuff I buy when I go in!!!