New pickups and a cool wiring mod.
I wasn’t gonna mess with this guitar, mostly because I was being lazy and I could make it work the way it was. Then I was talking to my buddy and telling him how much I loved the guitar, but wasn’t super keen on the pickups and wiring, but how I was also too lazy to actually do the work to do anything about it even though I had all the parts.
He said leave the guitar with him at our next gig and he’d do it for me. He’s a better tech than I am, and I’m pretty dang good, so I said sure.
Neck pickup is a DiMarzio Air Norton, bridge is a PAF Joe. And that’s the beginning of the weirdness.
The Air Norton is technically a bridge pickup, but most of the guitar world has discovered it makes a really unique and nifty neck pickup as well.
Mine is installed backwards. It’s wired correctly, but has the screws on the bridge side, and the slugs on the neck side. Brightens it up just a skosh. I also had him put one of my open top humbucker covers on it. Keeps the high E from getting hung up in the bobbin when I get feisty.
The PAF Joe is technically a neck pickup. But I dig it as a bridge pickup, too. It’s super bright and snappy. If you don’t need a lot of output, and like very bright and articulate humbuckers, I’d very much recommend it.
Replaced the volume pot with a Bourns audio taper. Just cause I had one, and I love the taper on them. Much better than factory.
Left the TBX. Because I generally dislike tone knobs, but TBX controls are the exception. They’re just so useful.
The mini toggle was originally a coil tap that worked on both pickups simultaneously. As most all coil taps do, it sounded like crap. It also made the guitar really noisy when engaged. It was pretty much totally useless.
It is now a series/parallel switch for the neck pickup. This gets a much more convincing single coil sound, and stays noiseless. I will never understand coil tapping when series/parallel is an option. The mini now gives the guitar five very distinctive sounds out of two buckers and a three way pickup switch. Throw in the TBX, and there isn’t much ground you can’t cover.
I wasn’t gonna mess with this guitar, mostly because I was being lazy and I could make it work the way it was. Then I was talking to my buddy and telling him how much I loved the guitar, but wasn’t super keen on the pickups and wiring, but how I was also too lazy to actually do the work to do anything about it even though I had all the parts.
He said leave the guitar with him at our next gig and he’d do it for me. He’s a better tech than I am, and I’m pretty dang good, so I said sure.
Neck pickup is a DiMarzio Air Norton, bridge is a PAF Joe. And that’s the beginning of the weirdness.
The Air Norton is technically a bridge pickup, but most of the guitar world has discovered it makes a really unique and nifty neck pickup as well.
Mine is installed backwards. It’s wired correctly, but has the screws on the bridge side, and the slugs on the neck side. Brightens it up just a skosh. I also had him put one of my open top humbucker covers on it. Keeps the high E from getting hung up in the bobbin when I get feisty.
The PAF Joe is technically a neck pickup. But I dig it as a bridge pickup, too. It’s super bright and snappy. If you don’t need a lot of output, and like very bright and articulate humbuckers, I’d very much recommend it.
Replaced the volume pot with a Bourns audio taper. Just cause I had one, and I love the taper on them. Much better than factory.
Left the TBX. Because I generally dislike tone knobs, but TBX controls are the exception. They’re just so useful.
The mini toggle was originally a coil tap that worked on both pickups simultaneously. As most all coil taps do, it sounded like crap. It also made the guitar really noisy when engaged. It was pretty much totally useless.
It is now a series/parallel switch for the neck pickup. This gets a much more convincing single coil sound, and stays noiseless. I will never understand coil tapping when series/parallel is an option. The mini now gives the guitar five very distinctive sounds out of two buckers and a three way pickup switch. Throw in the TBX, and there isn’t much ground you can’t cover.
