Recent Posts

91

Pickups / Re: HSH wiring and narrow SC baseplates question

« Last post by Piplodocus on October 22, 2024, 02:02:40 PM »

Back again!

Actually, I would like an answer to question 1 after all. I'd come to the conclusion it was probably going to be very tricky. But Guthrie Govan's Charvel does it, so maybe it's not that hard: https://www.charvel.com/gear/shape/san-dimas/style-1/guthrie-govan-signature-mj-san-dimas-sd24-cm/2925414588

I was looking at that "pickup switching tab" and the mini-toggle switch seems to still use the full humbuckers in position 1 & 5, but does "single coil simulation". Anyone got any idea what that is? Clearly seems to be showing the full pickup being on, so is that a weird way to put some kind of series/parallel switching or is it probably switching in a tone circuit or something? I'm curious because it's pointing towards what I was thinking of: 5-way auto-coil split, but with middle being both outer pickups (albeit those are split), and instead of whatever "single coil simulation" he was going for with his single mini-toggle, I was going to have 2 separate mini toggles to coil split each of the HBs.

92

Pickups / Polypaf info..Tim/Nolly

« Last post by skolphy on October 22, 2024, 02:03:38 AM »

Gents,
Have enjoyed many guitars with BKPs over the years...my favorites are the Abomb bridge and the Emerald nexk...although my new guitar with Peacemakers is chipping away at the Abomb.

Can you provide some insight on a comparison of the new Polypaf with the Black Dog and Peacemaker?

Thanks!

93

Pickups / BKP/CTS Pot Tapers

« Last post by Piplodocus on October 21, 2024, 12:28:04 PM »

So it's rewiring and hence pot choosing time...

I'm not clear with the descriptions given of Taper A being "fast roll-off", vs J's "more control". More control lower down so you can get more variation of low gain when your amp is cranked, or more control in the highest gain bit so there's a load of fine tuning of high gain, but you're unlikely to get much variation of low gain sounds before it suddenly disappears to nothing?

Also, I don't remember there being different tapers available before. So how do these compare to the old BKP 550k pots I already have in various other guitars of mine? Which is the closest taper?

Volume
So am I right in thinking with a high gain amp setting:
Taper A/Fast/10%: Gain drops quickly to medium gain, but then you get a lot of lower gain variation
Taper J/Slow/30%: Gain slowly drops to medium gain, but then will quickly disappear to nothing
(BD is somewhere in the middle)

Or have I misunderstood and that's the other way around (fast = fast roll-off from the middle to nothing/slow=more control of higher gain area)?

Tone
What about using them for tone pots? (in my brain I'm thinking it may be the other way around if using the other half of the pot wiper)

Does A mean it gets dark quick with a lot of variation of dark, vs J is lots of brighter variations with it only getting dark at the end? Or is that the other way around?

Any experience of each and why you prefer what?

Thanks.

94

Pickups / Re: HSH wiring and narrow SC baseplates question

« Last post by Piplodocus on October 21, 2024, 02:19:52 AM »

Over the course of the weekend I’ve been playing some of my other HSS guitars and come to the conclusion I’m probably better off with just middle single coil in the middle position (and I should probably use just the middle mothers milk by itself more often sometimes)! So you can ignore the first question.

I’m still pondering the second question though and what options I have for a tab-less single coil with different wire attachment. Seems a lot of the 90s HSH Jacksons have middle single coils without the triangular baseplate, so I can't be the only one.

Equally if anyone knows much about the 90s Jackson "J-130" single coil, let me know. Maybe it's not bad. The wiring is a bit dodgy and the neck pickup is bust, so I'm fixing it up, putting Silos in, and figured since it was a great guitar but with more budget hardware, it's probably not great and there is probably something a lot better (if I can make it fit).

95

Pickups / HSH wiring and narrow SC baseplates question

« Last post by Piplodocus on October 18, 2024, 06:45:25 PM »

2 questions in one post...

*** UPDATE: ignore Q1, I changed my mind (although mildly curious if there is still an answer), but Q2 still valid *****

Q1.
New pickups imminent, and gonna rewire it so was thinking up wiring plans. Never rewired an HSH before so was pondering possible schemes...

Anyone know if you can wire an HSH set so you get:
1. Bridge HB
2. Bridge split with middle SC
3. Bridge HB & Neck HB*
4. Neck Split with with middle SC
5. Neck HB

* = I can't think how to do it with a standard 2-sided switch as the "standard" HSH wiring always has just the middle SC here. Any way to do it with a fancy switch or something I haven't thought of? If it's nigh on impossible, I'll probably just do it the normal way, but thought both HBs might be nice.

Full disclosure: I was going to put a pair of toggles in too which ground the coil-split short-to-grounds on the 2nd side of the switch in standard HSH wiring, so I can choose to have position 1 and 5 be SC mode on one, the other or both), so it's actually:
1. Bridge HB (or SC with toggle 1 on)
2. Bridge split with middle SC
3. Bridge & Neck (with HB or SC modes dependant on toggles)
4. Neck Split with with middle SC
5. Neck HB (or SC with toggle 2 on)

If it's impossible though I can no doubt survive with just middle in the middle. Which brings me to Q2, as I now have the Silo set for humbuckers, but only the original middle...

Q2.
Pretty much all the single coils I see have the kinda triangular baseplate. The current one in there just has straight sides. Any way to easily mod triangular baseplate ones rather than rout out the guitar body? Or do I need specifically straight-sided ones made that way in the first place? If so, who makes good ones of those that would go nice combined with a pair of Silos?

If I can get a nice SC to fit maybe I'll be more tempted to just have middle in the middle anyway in Q1.

Thanks! :)

96

Pickups / BKP92 equivalent

« Last post by PanicStation on October 17, 2024, 11:31:08 AM »

Hi all, i've got an old BKP92 that I really like.  Unfortunately they're no longer made and I can't seem to find anything that's equivalent in the current offerings. 
Does anyone know if it's wound with 42 or 43 AWG wire because its a lot darker than the BKP91?

97

Pickups / Re: Pickup recommendation for ash body

« Last post by MongolianBarbeque on October 12, 2024, 11:03:55 PM »

Thanks Tim!

I will be going with the ragnarok for this build!

98

Pickups / Re: Pickup recommendation for ash body

« Last post by timmy_b on October 10, 2024, 09:57:19 AM »

I really like both the ceramic Warpig and the Ragnarok for this kind of application - plenty of big, muscular low mids, but a nice tight and controlled feel from the ceramic magnets.

99

Pickups / Pickup recommendation for ash body

« Last post by MongolianBarbeque on October 09, 2024, 07:36:39 AM »

Hi!
Im currently planning a custom 6 string build and can’t decide which bridge pickup to put in. This guitar will be build to play deathcore/hardcore in drop A#, Im looking for crushing tight brutal rhythm tone, with fast attack and big oomph on the palm mutes. Something that sounds big but not muddy.

Specs
Body: Ash
Neck: Maple/walnut
Scale: 26.5

I've been looking at Aftermath, Juggernaut, Ragnarok and Warpig. Pretty sure all of them will get me in that ballpark, but not sure which will give me the best result in an ash body.

100

Pickups / Re: Pickup recommendations for Mayones Regius

« Last post by RobAbrams84 on October 07, 2024, 08:31:33 PM »

One last update for posterity or in case anyone is having a similar issue with their Regius, but...I never could get this guitar to sound right.  I tried a few different Suhr pickups also, but was never happy (except with the SSV neck pickup).  I was never quite happy with the Bare Knuckles I tried, either.  I went through honeymoon phases with all of them, they all did some things well and not other things, etc. 

Anyway I almost sold the guitar, but this past summer I listened to this little voice in my head that I've had forever telling me to try Black Dogs.  I got a set of used Black Dogs, and oh my God, I almost cried!  After about three years of loving how the guitar played but not liking the sound very much, these are it.  They're just fantastic pickups to me.  The neck is actually very similar to the Suhr SSV that I love so much, but honestly I might like the Black Dog neck better.  The bridge Black Dog is just fantastic in the Regius, it's got a great EQ, I don't feel like anything is missing or any frequency range is too prominent, nothing like that.  The cleans are beautiful and it gains up incredibly well.  When I play Alice in Chains (say, Man in the Box), there is this "hum" or "waahm" kind of sound as you hover your hands near the muted strings that I need to have, it's a little hard to explain, but it always means that palm muts or harmonics are going to sound great. 

I don't want to write too much, but after years of frustration I genuinely nearly cried when trying the Black Dogs, they are that good to me!

I don't know why it took me so long to try them.  Looking back, I guess I thought that I needed a higher output pickup, even though I'm really used to PAF-types in Les Paul.  Maybe because I didn't love the Suhr SSV or SSV+ bridge pickups I didn't think that an A5 pickup in this output range would work, but the Black Dog just nails it for me.  Extremely versatile, cleans are about as good as any Les Paul and the distortion just growls beautifully and articulately.  A similar EQ to the Holy Diver maybe, but hardly compressed and with more highs.  Surprisingly I find the Black Dog to be different than the True Grit bridge, the TG is kind of raspy/grainy/gritty to me (kind of like the Nailbomb) whereas the Black Dog just sounds like a damn good, hard rocking Les Paul.  I finally got that "modernized, beefed up" Les Paul type of sound that I was after originally. 

Anyway cheers all!  I wish that it wasn't so hard to get the right pickups sometime, but when you do the result can be amazing.