How versatile is the HD/Emerald combo + HD bridge question.

[darkbluemurder]

As regards output, all of the suggested combinations will have a bridge pickup that is as hot or hotter than the PAF Pro, and neck pickups that are lower in output than the PAF Pro. They all should have more articulation than the PAF Pro, even though the PAF Pro is a decent pickup IMHO. For a Floyd equipped guitar I would go Crawler bridge and Emerald neck (even though I still have not one of the latter).

As regards the Crawler bridge split: I have it set up with the 5-way rotary selector in the PRS which only gives me combinations of the split Crawler with the split VHII neck but not the split Crawler by itself. But it works very well in all positions of the 5-way and provides excellent results in any switch position.

Cheers Stephan

[Lucas]

Kiichi, many thanks for making the whole thing clear and sorry for replaying so late, but I was away for last few days and had limited access to the internet.

It sounds simple and according to what you say it certainly does an amazing job. But does it only apply to guitars with 2 separaded and dedicated to each pickup TONE pots?
How does that situation looks like when you have 2 pups and 1 volume and 1 tone pot?

Basically I`ll be putting Crawler/Emerald combo into custom Warmoth telecaster, but the reason I brought the PRS 24 custom up is that it will have similar specs as PRS and what`s more I was looking for Slarti to explain the whole thing as he has that combo in one of his PRS.

And that Tele (once it will be built :)) will have Crawler bridge/Emerald neck and 1 volume and 1 tone control. And the pickup which will be split as we already discussed is Crawler bridge. Does it change anything?

Thanks again for help,
Best regards,

[Kiichi]

Kiichi, many thanks for making the whole thing clear and sorry for replaying so late, but I was away for last few days and had limited access to the internet.

It sounds simple and according to what you say it certainly does an amazing job. But does it only apply to guitars with 2 separaded and dedicated to each pickup TONE pots?
How does that situation looks like when you have 2 pups and 1 volume and 1 tone pot?

Basically I`ll be putting Crawler/Emerald combo into custom Warmoth telecaster, but the reason I brought the PRS 24 custom up is that it will have similar specs as PRS and what`s more I was looking for Slarti to explain the whole thing as he has that combo in one of his PRS.

And that Tele (once it will be built :)) will have Crawler bridge/Emerald neck and 1 volume and 1 tone control. And the pickup which will be split as we already discussed is Crawler bridge. Does it change anything?

Thanks again for help,
Best regards,

Pleasure! Spreading the good word. ;)
Having written it out like that may tempt me to copy and paste at future occasions.

Now again, I am not an expert myself, but when I think about it, it seems rather easy. So we have 2 HBs, 1 tone, 1 vol and a 3 way (I guess). In that case the easiest and most versatile thing to do would probably be to make either the tone or the volume a push pull. Let us say you put it on the tone. In that case you could just follow this diagram https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/downloads/schematics/general/humbuckers/2_hum_1vol_push_pull_coilsplit_tone_3_way_switch.pdf with the difference that between the ends of that green and white wire pair and the poti you put the resistors.
If you were to also care to split the Emerald, cause why not (in my mind) you would then use 1k for the neck and 2k for the bridge (or at least start there) and have with the poti pulled splits in all positions with the middle being the Petrucci style combo of two split HBs. Should make for a total of 6 distinct and usable positions for what you play.

If you really only wanne split the Crawler just keep the neck wires taped together and just do the 2k for the bridge to the poti.

[Lucas]

Pleasure! Spreading the good word. ;)
Having written it out like that may tempt me to copy and paste at future occasions.

Make sure to do it, it solves all mysteries and confusions! Great job indeed.

So basically if I want to split both pups I have to apply that diagram to both of them following the same principle? Resistors on both paths?
And what kind of resistors would you recommend, I mean quality-wise. I suppose they are not that expensive so I would want to go with the best quality ones.

cheers.

[Kiichi]

Pleasure! Spreading the good word. ;)
Having written it out like that may tempt me to copy and paste at future occasions.

Make sure to do it, it solves all mysteries and confusions! Great job indeed.

So basically if I want to split both pups I have to apply that diagram to both of them following the same principle? Resistors on both paths?
And what kind of resistors would you recommend, I mean quality-wise. I suppose they are not that expensive so I would want to go with the best quality ones.

cheers.

Yes, resistors on both paths. That is because you generally want different values for neck and bridge. The bridge can do with more bottom end, thus the higher value, which results in the coil stayin on more.

To elaborate slightly further on the concept of this (sorry if I am overdoing it here):
You see the wire pair coming from each of the PUs in that diagram and how they lead to the side of that push pull pot. Now this shows how the push pull function operates http://www.smitspickups.com/coilta18.gif
When you now follow the path of the signal in you head you can see that when the pot is in the signal has nowhere to go, so it is just like they are taped off at the side you like they would be for normal operation. When the pot is pulled they are send to ground (notice that where that bridge is there is a ground connection).
The goal is now to place a resistor somewhere  between the wire pairs and the ground to keep some of the signal from disappearing there. You could just put one between that bridge and the ground, as signal from both PUs goes through there, but then the same value would be applied to both, which for the reasons stated above you do not want. One resistor for each PU between wire and pot and you are set.

Resistors are really, really cheap and there are hardly any quality things to look for. When we look at potis (variable resistors) we can look for things like taper, build quality, sturdiness, how smooth they rotate, size, tolerance, etc. With resistors most of those are not of importance. Here we mostly concern our selfs with how much current they can take and tolerance. In this case the current is super low, so now worries there. Since it is a static thing there really is not much to look out for except tolerance. This is expressed in % and tells you how far off the stated value this resistor can be. The closer, as always, the better, but not even that matters much in this application.
Resistors are pretty clean parts and have such low tolerance that it is hard to go wrong. Of all the usual building parts, these are the least mojo of all.
A german online shop Juansolo once recommended to me sells ones with 0,6w rating, 1% tolerance, metalfilm style for 6 cents a piece. I use those for pedal building and all things and they just work.
Really, just get some and if you have the choice go for low tolerance.

[Lucas]

Cheers!

Last question.
Once I would be splitting both pups do I have to have 2 push/pull pots (in that case both VOLUME and TONE)? One would be for neck and the other one for bridge splitting?
Or one push/pull would be enough and splitting particular pickup would depend on position of the 3 way toggle?

And by the way, has anyone ever split Emerald neck? As far as I know it`s quite bright pickup (neck not as much as bridge but anyway...). How does it sound in SC mode?

Thanks a million!

[Kiichi]

Cheers!

Last question.
Once I would be splitting both pups do I have to have 2 push/pull pots (in that case both VOLUME and TONE)? One would be for neck and the other one for bridge splitting?
Or one push/pull would be enough and splitting particular pickup would depend on position of the 3 way toggle?

And by the way, has anyone ever split Emerald neck? As far as I know it`s quite bright pickup (neck not as much as bridge but anyway...). How does it sound in SC mode?

Thanks a million!

The selector switch works as normal, just that the selected PUs are not fully on anymore, only a little more than half of them.
You can do with only one push pull. Then you would have the following positions in push: neck / neck & bridge / bridge
and in pull: neck split / neck and bridge splits / bridge split
If you were to go for one push pull for each PU you would have 2 more positions: neck normal + bridge split / neck split + bridge normal
You choice. Personally I would say the one pot solutions is enough for most players and easier to handle.

If I recall the Emerald neck is actually not that bright, it is refered to as a more natural fit for the HD bridge. It certainly is darker and fuller than the HD neck, but has a certain cut from the wire used. Therefore you get a nice musically smooth and warm sound with cut.
I would certainly think it is worth trying the split (if you donīt like it you can always just disconnect it and just use the bridge split). I suspect it could be nice for clean and low gain sounds to have that single coil neck flavour, plus the middle position also gives a nice sound with both PUs split.
Plus since the neck always has more bass it is also easier to get a neck split to work nicely than a bridge, as that position is brighter from the get go.

[Lucas]

Thanks Kiichi for truly great help! Due to the fact that`s custom Warmoth, it`ll take them ages to build it, then take ages to ship to the UK and then it will take me ages to assemble the whole thing but I bet it`ll be worth it.

thanks again.