Author Topic: Riff Raff + Stormy Monday = Yum! (Read 9010 times)

TwilightOdyssey · « **on:** October 22, 2006, 08:25:01 PM »

When I arrived at Phil's house for the NYC Chapter jam & drink, my Agile AL-2800 was finally ready with the new BKs installed: Riff Raff bridge, Stormy Monday neck. It sounds amazing! I will be posting comparative clips of the pups soon. (Tonight?)

I gutted most of the controls off of the LP and replaced them with mini switches, which I will explain later, when I post the clips up. Stay tuned!

Guitarzan · « **Reply #1 on:** October 22, 2006, 08:49:56 PM »

Sounds like fun TO! I'm interested to hear about how you wired it up, I'm in the process of stripping a guitar and I think I'll try some wacky wiring. Plus I need a LP style guitar, and the Agiles look sweet!

Can't wait for the clips!

TwilightOdyssey · « **Reply #2 on:** October 22, 2006, 09:09:32 PM »

Well, I had 5 minutes, so I made this quick clip. It's solo guitar, clean, so there is minimal damage done by converting it to mp3.

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=4580565&q=hi

The clip is:

Riff Raff - Series
Riff Raff - Parallel
Stormy Monday - Series
Stormy Monday - Parallel

3 of the 4 volume and tone pots were replaced by mini switches. 2 of the switches take each pickup from series to parallel wiring. As you can hear, parallel really cleans up the sound, but the volume goes down a bit as a result. There is one master volume control now. Where the original pickup selector was, that toggle now has 3 different levels of high frequency roll off.

Pics to follow!

foster · « **Reply #3 on:** October 22, 2006, 10:01:55 PM »

really loved the sound of the SM!

Sounds really bluesy without any of that muddyness, can't wait to hear some more stuff.

dave_mc · « **Reply #4 on:** October 22, 2006, 10:25:34 PM »

Quote from: TwilightOdyssey

Well, I had 5 minutes, so I made this quick clip. It's solo guitar, clean, so there is minimal damage done by converting it to mp3.

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=4580565&q=hi

The clip is:

Riff Raff - Series
Riff Raff - Parallel
Stormy Monday - Series
Stormy Monday - Parallel

3 of the 4 volume and tone pots were replaced by mini switches. 2 of the switches take each pickup from series to parallel wiring. As you can hear, parallel really cleans up the sound, but the volume goes down a bit as a result. There is one master volume control now. Where the original pickup selector was, that toggle now has 3 different levels of high frequency roll off.

Pics to follow!

you went with "manly wiring" then? :lol:

The SM (er... :oops: ) sounds great though. Nice and jazzy. The riff raff sounds great too, a bit crunchier though.

I was impressed with the serial/parallel difference too- as you said (actually, it was probably phil who said it) in my previous thread, it sounds different, but as good- whereas coli splitting can sometimes sound a little worse than the full humbucker (basically because humbuckers aren't really meant to be split).

:drink:

EDIT: was that through the quick rod?

_tom_ · « **Reply #5 on:** October 22, 2006, 10:30:06 PM »

What exactly is the difference between series and parallel wiring? I'm guessing series is just the full humbucker sound, and parallel is what exactly?

Clip sounds great btw, the SM neck sounds really nice.

dave_mc · « **Reply #6 on:** October 22, 2006, 11:18:38 PM »

^ i'm guessing (totally guessing) it's like the difference in wiring two light bulbs in serial or parallel, like the way you used to do in physics class.

Could be totally different, though.

_tom_ · « **Reply #7 on:** October 22, 2006, 11:19:18 PM »

I dont actually remember doing that :lol:

PhilKing · « **Reply #8 on:** October 22, 2006, 11:24:51 PM »

Very brief outline, if you think of 4 wires where A & B are the start and end of one coil and C & D are the start and end of the other

Series is both coils but the end of one is the start of the other. So it is A to live, B & D connect and C goes to ground (the circuit through each coil is in the opposite direction).

Parallel is A and D to live, B and C to ground. Still humbucking, coils still go in the opposite direction. It is the same connection as Fender make when they hace 2 pickups on at the same time in a Strat or Tele.

When I wired Ben's Agile, I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the pots and switches in it. So much so that I used one of the original pots and the original PU selector as the tone switch. The only thing other than the pickups that I changed was to replace most of the connecting wire with good quality screened wire.

The other mini toggle that replaced a pot is the pickup selector.

TwilightOdyssey · « **Reply #9 on:** October 23, 2006, 03:38:24 AM »

Quote from: dave_mc

EDIT: was that through the quick rod?

No, my QR is in storage, and only comes out for gigs, until the elevator in my bldg is finished being replaced. My rig is too big to carry down (and then back up) 7 stories!

That clip is my VG-88, set for the plexi setting.

TwilightOdyssey · « **Reply #10 on:** October 23, 2006, 03:57:14 AM »

Very quick pic:

Eric · « **Reply #11 on:** October 23, 2006, 05:57:39 AM »

Very cool clip Ben. It was very interesting to hear some humbuckers in parallel. It's also nice to hear those Agile guitars are of decent quality. I'm kicking around buying a 7 string off of them.

TwilightOdyssey · « **Reply #12 on:** October 23, 2006, 06:35:27 PM »

Here's a quick jam I just tracked, all improvised, so don't expect anything spectacular! It goes Stormy Monday/Riff Raff melody/Riff Raff solo/Riff Raff melody/Stormy Monday solo

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=4583926&q=hi

Shag101 · « **Reply #13 on:** October 23, 2006, 07:06:42 PM »

Quote from: TwilightOdyssey

Here's a quick jam I just tracked, all improvised, so don't expect anything spectacular! It goes Stormy Monday/Riff Raff melody/Riff Raff solo/Riff Raff melody/Stormy Monday solo

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=4583926&q=hi

Sounds amazing! Love the whole vibe of the song. Very nice!!!

TwilightOdyssey · « **Reply #14 on:** October 23, 2006, 07:25:29 PM »

Thanx, Shag ...

The whole point of this guitar was to get a 70s rock monster!