Ebaneezocaster Mod

[lpf3]

Hi guys, happy Saturday. I'm getting ready to put my newly blonde Ibanez Artstar back together in the next week or 3 and a possible mod comes to mind. 2 HB's with a white and black wire coming out of the pickup, the black, along with a bare ground are soldered to the baseplate, the white & the bare ground then go to the controls. Can I treat this the same as a 2-conductor pup (like a tele, for example?) and do a series link + phase using push/ pull pots? Also it's got a box type toggle switch which I plan to replace with a plain ol' LP type toggle. Also is there a 4-pos. toggle of this type that will give me that series link? And would it benefit me to replace that bare ground with an insulated wire? Thanks, lpf3.......oh, I almost forgot, that bare ground is not an external bare shield, it runs thru the plastic insulation alongside the white wire.

[newey]

Hey lpf-

newly blonde

But does she have black roots? ;D (rimshot)

Can I treat this the same as a 2-conductor pup (like a tele, for example?)

Yes, in fact, you don't really have a choice in the matter, since it's a two conductor pup. No coil splitting is possible without dismembering and coil tapping these, which you probably don't want to get into.

And would it benefit me to replace that bare ground with an insulated wire?

No, that's the shield and it should attach to the bridge ground, unless you're also doing a shielding job? (Which may not be necessary w/ 2 Hbs.)

and do a series link + phase using push/ pull pots? Also it's got a box type toggle switch which I plan to replace with a plain ol' LP type toggle. Also is there a 4-pos. toggle of this type that will give me that series link?

First of all, your HBs may already be in series, so check that out- if so, then you'll be wanting both in parallel. And you won't need all that switching to accomplish this. 2 push/pull pots could handle, respectively, series/parallel and in/out of phase, with a standard Gibby SPDT toggle for the pickup selection. Or, you could keep the pots and pickup selector swich as is, and add a DP4T switch to give you: Series in phase/parallel in phase/Series OOP/Parallel OOP. This switch would only be "active" with the pickup selector in the middle, 2 pup, position.

I briefly looked for an example of such a switch and didn't come up with one, but they're out there- you may have to do some hunting on the Links page (which I just finished updating, so I couldn't resist the self-pat-on-the-back )

Space issues may dictate which way you go with the mod, all the abstract schemes in the world can be brought to their knees by a pesky too-small cavity.

[JohnH]

If you are thinking of puting one pup in series with or out of phase with the other, then you should seperate that black wire from the ground baseplate, and run it seperately through a new shielded wire. Then you can do the coil switching with the black and white wires. All of the bare shields (the old one which is on the base plate and the new shield for this new wire) go to ground.

What all that does is it stops the pickup cover getting connected to hot instead of ground (if you do a phase mod), and makes sure all wires have a grounded shield for low noise no mater how teh coils are connected.

The wiring within each pup would remain as a standrd series connection between the two coils. As newey says, if you want to do other changes such as single coil cuts, then you'd have to break into the pickups and install seperate wires from each end of each coil. Actually its not too hard, just a bit scary - Ive had 2 out of 2 successes with that. If you wanted to try it then further advice can be offered.

cheers

John

[lpf3]

newey, ;D can't fool you . I'm glad I did the whole guitar so at least the carpet matches the drapes ( open hi-hat) ;D That's the answer I was hoping for , I guess I'm basically doin' a T-RIFFIC mod w/ push-pull pots & HB's; only active with both pups on. I'm gonna forget about that 4-pos. switch & go with a gibby. This a hollow body archtop so I've got acres to work with & I took all the electronics out intact so this should be an easy one. Thanks for the tip on that shield , in this case goes to the tailpiece via the back of the pots. I just needed a second opinion about that 2-conductor thingie.......I got no idea what this is gonna sound like but as long as I got it apart, as they say. Thanks-lpf3

[lpf3]

Hi John-thanks for the welcome. Ok- this new shielded wire-are you talking about the braided shield with a wire running thru it, like I've seen on other HB's? In my mind I've always called this 1-conductor : No internal mods yet( this is my 1st try ) but after my next project I'm gonna have an extra HB that I can afford to take a chance on - then I'll ask about adding conductors . Thanks-lpf3

[newey]

Lpf-

This a hollow body archtop so I've got acres to work with & I took all the electronics out intact so this should be an easy one.

Didn't realize this was a hollow body. You've done the easier part- getting the pups and harness out intact. But putting one of these back together is a bit frustrating, particularly if you've never done one before.

Two tips: Switches and pots are best pulled into position with a piece of string through the body, only good way I've ever found. Also, an auto repair shop can sell you one of those "magnet on a stick" gizmos which help you to hold the pups in position while you screw them in. Still, it's one of those jobs that makes you wish for a 3rd hand.

And a pair of small hands can help- oh, wait, that's three tips.

[lpf3]

I might be am stumped I'll spare y'all the gory details but let's just say I screwed up the original Ibanez pups & replaced them with Stew Mac golden age HB's. ( Yes, ChrisK they're shiny ;D ). They also have 2 conductors ; red & white plus a bare ground .The specs show the red & bare as starts & white as finishes. what I want to do is get series/parallel plus phase with each other, (not internally ). This guitar has seperate V + T controls for each pup & I'm using push pull pots at the tone. Can do? How? BTW, I don't want to take these pups apart, too Thanks-lpf3

[lpf3]

Oooooh-k. A check with the multimeter shows the same reading (8.0K ) if I touch the red wire & the ground, or the red wire & the baseplate .Maybe I have a firm grasp of the obvious but does that tell me the ground is connected to the baseplate? It may be that I'm right back where I started ( less $113 ). I think I'm going to install the pups & leave the pots external & just start tryin'stuff. After all, the way I found this site is just by clickin' on stuff ;D. Seriously, any & all tips are appreciated. Thanks-lpf3

[lpf3]

Well, maybe I gave up too easy, but I went for the coil taps on both pups. I reread the advice I got from newey & JohnH, plus revisited John Atchley's article & it seems like anything else requires surgery.

I haven't finished the wiring yet but I do have the guitar back together with the pup wires coming out the f-holes - I'm actually playing it again & love it!

I think I'll be finished soon & I'll be sure to post pics.

-lpf3

BTW , did ya notice who's learning to type? ;D