LP Project suggestions required

[4real]

Hey there

Been a while, moved twice and now living in the country. Last guitar that I worked on was a blue telecaster with sustainer and phase switching and a few other unique features...including a kahler hybrid trem.

This was to have a 'sister' guitar...but with all that has been happening it was hidden under the bed half completed...so with some new musical directions and a new home (an a dose of the flu) I figured I need a new guitar...so here it is...

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Ok...so what it is is a chinese LP copy...so far fitted a kahler bridge to it but there is a bit of work to do to get things set up.

You can see that I am going for a streamlined modern look with plain matt knobs and chrome selector.

I do have however, 4 push pull pots.

The pickups are apparently fairly hot, not heard them yet, got them for the nice looking tortoiseshell bobbins I have to admit, and pretty cheap as well, but seem a decent build quality. They have shielded 4 conductor wiring.

So far, the bridge is fitted, and strings installed (though the nuct and other aspects will need to be worked on...but first it needs to make a sound!

I also have in mind a bit of an experiment, I installed under the bridge a piezo element...typical buzzer thing...presently it is installed on the wood directly under the bridge.

So...am looking for some suggestions for wiring the thing up and perhaps the piezo thing without adding further switches than necessary.

Installed already is the selector and wired back to the main cavity, pickups and the piezo element back to there...otherwise a clean slate.

For a piezo preamp, I have and had in mind using a PreCHAmp kit that is commonly available...

www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=KC5166

I used this kit quite a bit with the sustainer project stuff and seems to work well...may need a 10k pot if I want to put an on board volume control for it...I could just have a trim pot inside the guitar for a preset volume...

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The other thing is, I used to play LP's exclusively...in fact just the one for about 25 years. I recently got it out from under the bed and have renewed my admiration for the thing after many years with various fender style guitars. This is original (about 69 black custom), weighs as much as a housebrick or two and is far too valuable to take out an about...plus lacks features like a trem that I had gotten used to in a bigsby kind of way.

It does however feature two way splitting of the HBs and have always found this useful. Especially in the middle position and adjusting the mix between.

I had been thinking of it for a solo thing that I was working on, got distracted playing soul music for the last year, but now revisiting with earnest. Basically developing a 'one man band' kind of thing with fingerstyle guitar bass and melody of pop standards...so, not the most obvious choice of guitar, but the LP was originally designed as a jazz guitar after all...and it looks the part...

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I also want this thing to be as quiet as possible...don't want a lot of buzzing in the background if I play some little cafe or something.

So, looking for useful scheme for clean sounds generally, a range or useful tones but nothing too complicated. A bit of variety perhaps for the kinds of things I am intending it for, and just generally jamming about as an alternative to the tele...

The piezo thing would be a great addition...not sure how effective it would be on it's own, so had intended perhaps having it as a simple on/off thing added to the electric sounds It's mounted to the wood below the bridge and I think it should get a bit of the guitars woody vibrations from there...maybe add a bit of a jazz box kind of tone to it, if it worked well, a true acoustic thing would be nice, but not sure the sound quality will ever be there for this kind of instrument and set up. Still, would not be adverse to a separate volume or mix control for it I suppose.

So..hand it over to you guys for suggestions...

It certainly is a nice looking guitar and surprisingly well made...it has a typical flame maple 3/4" top and mahogany back, but does not weigh as much as a real one...the khaler may make it a bit brighter, but I have found these bridges do give great definition to strings...so not your typical LP will come of it I expect!

[JohnH]

This is where Ive got to with Lp schemes:

guitarnuts2.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=schem&action=display&thread=4571

Your new guitar looks nicely made. what does the headstock say?

John

[4real]

Thanks John...not sure that this scheme is going to suit...don't want extra switches on the back or special 4pdt kinds of things...I happen to have 4 push pull 500Ks so anticipate using those.

The guitar is made by "eden" who I suspect make a lot of the components for different cheap guitars. So, there is literally no name on the headstock! It is well made, the maple cap has a lovely flame and really is quite thick (not a veneer) and built well...but simply a body and neck...

The kahler is a nice if expensive addition...piezo-ing it would be a bit of a coup...

So, looking for superb and useful clean sounds...playing my real one today I'm getting a good sound on a both pickups, the bridge split with the inner coil and the full HB neck on half volume and half tone. The guitar has treble bleed caps so this works out to be quite bright for this kind of positioning. But all these combo kinds of sounds work out well.

So, not entirely sure what would be appropriate, perhaps a simple coil split on each pickup (not sure which coil to split) is a place to start. Any tips on the piezo would be cool...

thanks for the quick response, not sure what the parallel or phase options would work out for what I want to do, don't want things too complicated! cheers, pete

[JohnH]

my piezo knowledge is this:
guitarnuts2.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=schem&action=display&thread=3718
based on a buzzer from Jaycar.

I think the way to start with an unknown random piezo is just to connect it directly to something to act as a buffer, such as a Boss stompbox turned off, and have a listen to hear its raw tone and volume through an amp - then go from there, which led me to what I did.

On the LP schemes, what I did with slide switches at the back could equally be done with dpdt's on push/pull pots. Its just that I really liked the nice solid full-sized pots that I had and didn't want to change them. I find p/p pots to be a bit loose.

John

[4real]

Ok...mis read it to think it needed a 4pdt or even rotary switches...i see that the push pulls would work. They are not the greatest pots or so easy to use (I have a phase switch on my tele) but I have them and it is a clean look. I like the switches on the back selector plate as an option, but perhaps not on this guitar.

I have done some piezo things before, so we will see how it goes. These preamps are quite good and not overly large and may be a good option for people considering adding these things and want a kit circuit...so I will use that as a basis, it has a lot of gain if required, but I suspect it won't need that much...may consider preamping the whole guitar, but I tend to prefer not to. For a paltry $9 plus a piezo, it might make a good option for people not into circuit building and designing. The circuit contains a few filters and adjustable gain that could be tweaked I suppose, but I think it will naturally take off a bit of the piezo zing and quack...well see how it goes, most guitars sound a bit different and this will be an unusual one being so "solid"

So...I'll study that stuff a little more, perhaps wire up the tone controls as pickup splitters to start with, use another switch for the piezo activation, build the basic preamp and see what the sound is out of it at that level. As I say, I anticipate only using the piezo to add a bit of a percussive edge to the magnetic sound, but if it sounds good enough, I may work out how to use it alone. I'm a little concerned about switch popping and how it will mix, but we will see how it goes, something will come out of the thing I'm sure. I attached it to the wood under the bridge to avoid spring noise from the trem, but if that isn't effective, there are other options I can see with this type of bridge...as trems go they are very smooth and quiet.

I'd then perhaps have a spare switch to play with some other functions

I know what you mean about these mini switch pots and toggles are more convenient, but I confess to wanting a particular "look" to this guitar.

I want the guitar to be versatile but specifically for this project and direction musically. A classic look, a clean sound...all adds to the 'illusion' of the one man and a guitar shtick. A range of useful sounds may make a big difference as an evening of just guitar can get a little tiring on the ears without a bit of a change...it is also a 'style' that people associate more with acoustic finger-style guys, so turning up with a yellow LP sets it apart I suppose. I like the thicker sustainy gibson sound for these kinds of things, but a bit of a percussive edge would help and make it a bit more 'acceptable' to some of the more acoustic oriented people.

So, who knows, be woodsheding through winter then try my hand at a few local festivals (I'm living on philip island now) and then see where it takes me...well see...but this guitar is to be a kind of a 'trademark" for the 'project'.

Anyway, hope to get started on this this week, dragged out a few of the parts and the guitar...but having just moved home, I need to search through boxes for the odd cap or whatever.

Once I get some sound out of it, I can get on with the set up and such...there's quite a bit to do, but anticipate my own name on the headstock and a bit more touches of tortoiseshell.

Amp is a clean fender hot rod with an old ibanez analog echo and reverb...but might add in a few effects such as tremolo and chorus and perhaps a digital delay...but basically wanting to keep things simple with the tonal changes from the guitar itself.


Anyway...thanks for the input john...cheers, pete

[4real]

Ok...so the piezo thing didn't work out to well...built a preamp and the sound is nothing like up to spec for my purposes. I thing the main problem really is the location and mounting of the piezo...so I might come back to this...

So...I had better wire this up to a working guitar so that I can move on to the setup and such so at least it is a player...this guitar came literally as a body neck, so that nut is just sitting there and uncut and the bridge not adjusted, etc...

So...been staring and searching till my eyes are turning read/red....the flu isn't helping with the thought processes...

Seen various versions of the JP mod including a passive JHJP about...certainly a lot of options, but not sure if that's exactly the kind of thing...any opinions on it?

How about local parallel on the HB's...or splitting each coil so choice of inside and outside?

I have on my real 'paul two 3 way switches that selects both or either single splits on either side. I've found this kind of thing to be really useful over they years. It sounds as if a parallel HB might be a similar effect but humcancelling?

Otherwise, there is the borsanova and JH versions of the JP...pros and cons? Is the 2007 Mk1 JHJP passive diagram up to date?...



The "HumTronix" Mod has lost it's diagrams...hmmm

So, basically looking for variety without getting to wacky...anything that is good with clean sounds, perhaps things with an acoustic like quality. OOP on my tele and in general is really a 'special effect' but perhaps in some of these combinations and HB's they will sound a little more useful.

Otherwise settling on the JHJP at the present time...unless of course there is a clearer wiring diagram for a 4p/p dpdt implementation of the LPmax passive...the JHJP seems to have all that a JP has without dead spots. I think my pickups are more gibson colours...the green and white are joined...so in my fuddled mind, could someone kindly give me a heads up on the color swaps

cheers

[4real]

Still researching options....



This kind of coil swap thing sounds interesting...I do like the different combinations that you can get from the single coils of two HB's in combination...though I also like the sound of one split and the other not...so not sure if this is the right track or something new here...

www.seymourduncan.com/forum/showthread.php?t=134474

I'm not sure if there are any diagrams about, I've not seen one...but I do like the convenience of a master volume and for volume swells and such...is it possible with 500K pots say (or suggest a value) to have both or three volumes...both pickup vols say and a master volume and tone...or is this a bit too weird?

Otherwise, the series parallel coil swap idea...that seems to go to this kind of version does sound interesting...

When the coil swapper is activated, you get two new virtual humbuckers.
The first one is made with the Neck inside coil in series with the bridge outside coil and the other, with the neck outside coil in series with the bridge inside coil.
So, you have 2 outputs (N-IC & B-OC) and (B-IC & N-OC). If you use then a 3-way switch, you have:

pos 1 = N-IC & B-OC //instead of N-IC & N-OC (default neck HB)
pos 2 = (N-IC & B-OC) + (N-OC & B-IC) //instead of (N-IC & N-OC) + (B-IC & B-OC)
pos 3 = N-OC & B-IC//instead of B-IC & B-OC (default bridge HB).

But, If the splitter is active then, both humbuckers are splitted to inside coil and the swapper has no effect.
So, you have the following combos in same positions by combining those switches:

pos 1: N-HB // N-IC // (N-IC & B-OC)
pos 2: (N-HB + B-HB) // N-IC + B-IC // (N-IC & B-OC) + (N-OC & B-IC)
pos 3: B-HB // B-IC // (N-OC & B-IC)

9 different and useful combos, 6 are hum cancelling

at least for the cleaner tones I am interested in...a bit more stratish perhaps? Not sure that i've seen anything of this nature at GN2....

Not sure if anyone can suggest anything further than the JHJP...I think I really just need to stop looking and just solder some stuff up...

[newey]

4Real-

First off, while the diagram was not copyrighted (and thus OK to repost here), we still should give credit where credit is due. For the record, the above diagrams are courtesy of ArtieToo at the SD forums.

Second, you previously said:

don't want extra switches on the back or special 4pdt kinds of things...I happen to have 4 push pull 500Ks so anticipate using those.

As ArtieToo notes in that thread, the "full" diagram anticipates the use of not one, but 2, 4PDT switches. Although he shows the 2 halves of each 4PDT separately on the diagram for clarity's sake, note his color-coding of the switches- both of the light blue switches are in reality the 2 halves of a single 4PDT, as are the light green ones.

He notes that using separate DPDT switches for those rather than a single 4PDT will result in dead positions if parallel coils are selected on one HB and the "coil swap" switch is set to swap the coils.

So, unless you can live with the possibility of selecting a dead setting, this scheme may not be the best for 4 p/ps.

With all the coil swapping between HBs going on, I think a master V and T are your best bet. I foresee problems trying to use individual volumes with the "coil swap" idea; in the "swap" mode, you'd have both volumes loading the "virtual HB".

It sounds as if a parallel HB might be a similar effect but humcancelling?

I love the parallel HB sound, and yes, it's humcancelling. I wouldn't compare it to the sound of one coil of the HB, it is a different animal.

As far as splitting/shunting the individual coils of a HB, we've discussed before that being able to choose either slug or screw coils is more useful at the bridge position. At the neck, and assuming the coils are identical as in most HBs, there won't be much difference in splitting the screw coil vs. the slug coil. Usually, the only real reason to have the either/or option at the neck is to be able to select the right coil for maintaining humcancelling, not for the difference in tone between the 2 coils, which is minimal. Whether or not the either/or option is needed for maintaining humcancelling depends on what else is going on in the scheme.

To keep a stock look, and using p/p pots, you could implement the second version of this, with a p/p for the coil swap, a second for the coil cut/shunting, and a third for the phasing. It's only with the series/parallel switch where he gets into the 4PDT things.

You might be able to use a 4th p/p to give you the option of series/parallel on one or the other of the HBs, but not both, although I'm not sure how that would work out in terms of a dead spot.

[JohnH]

Hi Pete

Borsanovas JP and my JHJP arrived here about the same time. His adds the possibility of series/parallel on the bridge pickup, depending what you do with the neck pickup. Very clever - though for me I found it a bit too much fiddle. Recently I redrew Borsanovas design however on another thread, since he has not been around:



On the JHJP. its a bit more standard, (no local parallel though) except that as drawn, I shifted the knobs around to what I thought was a more logical layout. But for anyone who is used to a classic LP, I probably did a bad thing there!

I think Wolf also has a good JP diagram on his site.

On coil cuts, my own LP has a covered neck pickup, and there I definitely wanted the adjustable coils as the ones to cut to, they have much more life than the covered slug coil.

One more thought, whatever scheme you use. On coil cuts, instead of fully shunting one coil, give it a go shunting a coil via a cap of about 47nF. It makes the bridge coil-cut sound much more powerful, but still zingy and single coil-like.

Also, I would worry about having both separate and master volume controls on a passive guitar - too much chance to sap tone IMO.

Sad about your piezo. Did it give some output? Maybe it needs some custom EQ, as mine did. One thought I had for fitting them to an axe with a tunamatic bridge, such as an LP, is to get two of them, drill a hole in each and get them sandwiched onto the two bridge studs so that the pressure of the strings and all vibration to the body has to be transferred through them. I think that would catch the full output, and the two piezos would collect upper and lower strings each.

cheers
John

[4real]

Thanks guys...

Sorry if credit wasn't proper...I did post a link directly to the originator and it's development which I though might suffice...

Yes, the idea seems quite good...but then, 4pdt, I have them and it's almost tempting...just hadn't seen those kinds of options fully explored here, the JP is ok, but not for everyone I expect.

...

John...yes it did make a sound!

The guitar is pretty solid, the piezo is mounted to the wood at the bottom of the trem cavity right up where the bridge studs are. I could play with that, even add another. The preamp maybe needs more gain and perhaps some tone shaping as you suggest. Perhaps even the whole guitar buffered for a proper mix which would likely sound better...

However, the guitar does become a little "live" and perhaps subject to a bit of handling noise and I am starting to suspect that in the end it might produce only more troubles and so get little use, compared to the pain of developing it on this guitar. I ahve had success with neck pocket versions on strats that pick up a lot of vibrations and actually sound quite 'woody' but, you can start to hear the thump of your fingers on the fretboard as you fret higher up the neck...not the greatest idea.

Not completely given up on the idea, but I think it will have to be postponed in the circumstances. I need the thing wired up so I can set it up to be a real player and assess it's potential

...

I did get to hear the HB's for the first time...they sound surprisingly good. Both coils have slugs and they seem to be quite powerful so should suit splitting well. Very full and rich in character...so that's a good thing.

I have the thing wired up to the pots now, so pretty much set to go once settled on a diagram. This flu is not helping my concentration much though...

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I think the master vol is a bit silly...more tonal range in haveing tone controls and mixing the pickups.

I have heard of the split with a cap idea...DGB studio seem to be keen on this idea, especially as a kind of spin-a-split thing...I'm interested...

So...to do that you'd insert that cap at say S3 on the above diagram, going from the joined coil wires to ground instead of just a link?

It's tricky to see the functions on the local series parrallel switch...it's loca parallel for the bridge PUP, but how does it interact with the "split".

Ideally, I'd like to be able to combine the split with a full HB and mix or with the parallel for a quieter option.

The split I tend to use most of the real LP is the innermost coil of the bridge pickup...brightens out the boom of the neck in combination and not so brittle as the coil nearest the bridge.

...

Yes, I think I would kind of prefer the splits on the volumes than the tones...or do you set your guitars up with both volume on the top layer of the 4?

Really, not sure that there is a "sensible" layout for 4 knob guitars, it's kind of convention. I would be nice to be able to reach down and adjust the volume easily as you can with my tele or strat, but that's the price you pay for having the mixing options I guess.

Anyway, I just moved house, so I have been going roughly through boxes just to find all the bits and soldering station and all...I seriously don't want to move again with guitars like this unplayable!

Thanks again guys, it is appreciated...perhaps tomorrow I will have a go!

[wolf]

John H
I think Wolf also has a good JP diagram on his site.

Thanks John - and here's the link:
www.1728.com/guitar9.htm

[4real]

Thanks Wolf...I saw those, great site by the way...

Again, another variation of the JP mod without the advantages of these two...there are no dead spots in the series parallel mode for instance.

So...too much fussing, not enough doing...so setting to work on the Borsanovas JP Dual 20 version that John has kindly done a superb diagram for...thanks john. In addition to the above it also features the local parrallel bridge thing, though from what I ahve been reading, they do much the same as the JP without the dead spot...

So...forward ho...

Have been taking a few picks along the way...so far got all the wiring on the cardboard template done, short the treble bleed things...was tempted to leave them out, but I'n not going to want to take this apart once it's in there, so taking my time and being careful...and just spent a fair while searching through boxes of loos parts and may have found those components too...just in the nick of time!

However, just noticed a hiccup...it says in fine print, to reverse the magnet on the bridge pickup

Ok...so. I assume this is for some humcancelling properties or something...

so...these pickups are a little unusual...they have 4conductor wiring, red and black...plus green and white joined together...plus shielding cable.

The also have all slug poles...no screws. They are fairly hot and warm and I think this may be a part of the qualities of them...I just like the look of the things for this project I must admit...tortoiseshell bobbin tops...

anyway...

# Why the magnet reversal?
# As an alternative, could I just spin the bridge pickup...would this not have the same effect as spinning the magnet around...supposing I can wire them correctly to compensate?

Having a bit of a problem getting my head around the pickup wire colour conversions.

The pickups indicated are red and white joined...on mine it's green and white.
So...am I to suppose to just substitute green for red wires...

if so, they both connect to S3 and are so hard wired together...this would seem to indicate that these wires on my pups should be green and white, the wires factory joined...or am I missing something here?

Yes, certainly fiddly...

Oh...and i have wired it outside the guitar...but now I am wondering ar these push pulls drawn so as the poles closer to the pots wiper connection are the bottom...eg, S4's link across the top is at the top of the PP switch?

[JohnH]

Pete – the way I drew the pp switches is the end nearest the pot body on the pic is the end nearest the body in real life, I just graphically showed the switch attached to the side instead of the back, to make it easier to see the lugs. In terms of wiring, magnets etc, with that drawing we were trying to get the adjustable coils to each pup be one north and one south for hum cancelling, on a particular pair of pups that were being rewired. You wonldn’t need to do that, but please could you report on which wire colours go to what coil, and are both pups the same in terms of magnetic polarity (eg if you place them face to face, like bobbin with like, do they try to repel – or if they are now built in, test with a fridge magnet or compass needle). If you pups were normally wired as humbuckers, which two colours would be joined?

Then I can try to translate the colours.

John

[4real]

THANK YOU JOHN AND GN2...appears to work!!!! ;D

Thanks, that diagram was very easy to understand...it is a tricky wiring thing, but if you go through it methodically...and spend an entire day on it...it seems to be working first time! Well, almost...

...

Unusually for this guitar, and generally for me, this is not a "mod" but a new instrument...so, while it has got strings on it, it isn't a player...I needed the electronics happening to do the set up and the extensive other work required...

However, with the proper procedures...cardboard template, methodically wiring the harness and checking twice...I was able to attach wires from all the harness points and attach them to all the selector, pickup and output cables and star ground everything back to the selector grounds...

The end result, even though only the two E's only really play without sounding like a sitar, and the bridge pickup is far from the strings...is a huge variety or tones that should sound pretty useful.

Plus, the volume pots with the treble bleeds attached at the last minute work well, and the tones have a lovely wah effect in the low numbers that's kind of cool.

It also seems to be a fairly intuitive control layout...standard controls, coil taps on the tones, special function on the volumes.

That's the upside...however...

Tapping the coils, it would appear that with the neck split pulled, I get the inner coil of the neck and the outer of the bridge, closest to the bridge...I wonder if it wouldn't be a better sound if it were not the two inner coils however.

Is it the intention of the neck tone split function to split both pups?

I suspect not, because without the split, it does the same thing...bridge outer (full neck)

Pulling the bridge tone activates both coils on that pickup (full on the neck)...I am assuming in local parallel as it is pretty bright. It is a better sound than the split, but that may simply because of the outer coil thing...it is as loud or slightly louder than the split and of course dead quiet.

The phase thing is better than I thought...with the different options there are a bunch of different effects that just the hollowed out tone I've had on the fenders...it does that scratchy funky sound, but this is going to be the least used control. Others might consider swapping the location to the bridge volume instead...

The system phase seems to work out ok too...no dead spots, same regardless of position...a generally thick powerful sound, yet as well, with other functions like the phasing and coil splitting, it gives new colours without the losses to these sounds. Some are a bit fender-y which I didn't expect.

All these are tempered of course by this slight malfunction with the bridge pickup...quite likely a simple short when taping the connections up as I didn't notice it when testing the harness before installing it.

So...will fiddle around with it a bit more...untape the bridge pickup connections and move a few wires around and see if that fixes the split thing ...

...

Hahaha, just doing it now as I type...that's all it was, taped the wires hard enough to push the connection together and short something...so...

for some reason it now splits to the inner coil (so both inners on both pickups in splits)...which if i had planned it, that's what I would have tried first. Now I have also heard what the bridge outer coil sounds like ( a bit too bright and treble-y...some would say tele-like, but I don't think so!)

...

Ok...so, except for a little over enthusiasm with the PVC tape there...it might just yet hare worked out perfectly first time!!!

...

Right, back from an unwrap and double re-wrap...yep, a sharp join sticking through the PVC joins...better now...

Again. weird not being able to play a chord or anything...still enough to get a feel for the thing.

Ok...full shielded cable throughout seems to help...at least as quiet as my old gibson when split...dead quiet when in HB mode. That local parallel thing is going to be worth while as an option to splitting I feel as well and sounds somewhat similar anyway....would be kind of nice to have that option on the neck pickup as an alternative to a split, nothing like as underpowered as I had been lead to believe a local parallel might be, and of course silent to noise.

There are a huge rang of tones to be discovered with these tone controls it seems as well...mixing pickups and settings and tones...the sky is the limit...

So...as far as I can tell...the diagram is perfect and not so hard, though it did take hours...best part of the day in fact.

I almost left the treble bleeds out through lack of parts...so that took a bit of poking around for, but I am glad I did it. My gibson has these and it helps to de-muddy the thing when turned down a bit. I didn't put it into my tele as the thing is already a bit bright (it would almost be an idea to tone the thing down a little some days)

...

So, again thanks a lot...got a lot more work to do on this thing to get it playable.

It will be a unique instrument for sure and I've had some special touches planned for the project that should set it apart. The Khaler bridge is tricky, and unfortunately mislaid the tiny allen keys needed to adjust it in the move (hence the sitar effect on most strings)...but the nut end is going to need some "innovation".

The gibson headstock splays to the side a fair bit for the 3+3 tuners. This headstock is a little longer than a real gibson and the tuners a little closer together for some reason. The result is that there is a straight string pull pretty much on the low and high e strings across the nut. I have been thinking of making a special truss rod cover that incorporates small rollers (made from the ball end of strings) that will guide those strings straight across the nut. I'm hoping this will help with tuning stability and avoid the need to use the locking nut. Apart from just not liking the things, I do occasionally use behind the nut bends which this wont allow. It might be nice to be able to tune down the low e occasionally too.

Some other stuff will be largely cosmetic I suppose and I will need to order some parts for it. I'm hoping to match the pickups tortoise shell look on the headstock and possibly the back plates.

But, I should be able to do enough work on it to give a bit more of a test of what things sound like and the effectiveness of the wiring scheme in the next week perhaps.

I took a bunch of photos as well, so it can be a guide to others who might be contemplating this kind of thing.

So, yet again thanks to John for the diagram which was invaluable. Thanks to Borsanova for the original scheme and thanks to GN2 for the fabulous support once again and putting up with my flustering about over things. Should have just trusted in the diagram in the first place of course!!!!

Cheers, pete

[4real]

Hmmm...interesting...

According to the design notes in the reference section...Borsanova says...that in the global series mode, (bridge vol pulled) this applies to the bridge selection...but it would appear to put this on regardless of selection in what I have built.

This is not a "bad thing"...could be a good thing in fact. But with that observation, I realize that the original JP had a dead position on the selector in that mode...and you know...this creates an instant kill switch effect like townsend and page used to use LP's for...I wonder if that wasn't intentional in the original design...

When I played in bands in the 80's I used my LP for everything...and I'd often have the neck pickup on zero so I could switch to "off" between songs...it was kind a neat feature of the things.

Downside is, weighed as much as two house bricks!!! I think this new one will be a lot lighter and I'm not going to have heart attacks everytime it leaves the house! If you have expensive guitars, you got to watch that...mine is itemized so is not insured if it leaves, the other ones are up to $1000 each.

A few people have asked me why I have been playing and doing up squiers in recent years...this kind of thing pretty much sums it up, it is a risk and there are plenty off good budget guitars about, a little work in the hardware department and such, and they are fantastic...and not so precious that you wouldn't be prepared to modify the things!

[JohnH]

Pete - that's great that it is working. I still would recommend a careful check to see what coils are doing what and whether its all as in or out of phase as it should be. Working through each setting ans tapping pickup poles wil identify which coils are active (noting that there may be still some signal from an adjacent inactive coil on an Hb). Also checking phase of your output for each setting - as in this thread:

guitarnuts2.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=reference&action=display&thread=4938

Also, if all is working well, all of the combos of two single coils should be hum cancelling - whether they are in or out of phase.

Im suggesting this just in case, since my diagram was a tweaked version of SD colours, and you have different pups. You may have back-figured all the right connections, and it sounds like maybe you have, but just if you want to be sure of what is happening.

cheers

John

[Runewalker]

4Real you may be already down the road on a commitment to a JP style config. Also, Your criteria on acceptable switching was not completely clear to me. I saw:

"...I don't want extra switches on the back or special 4pdt kinds of things...I happen to have 4 push pull 500Ks so anticipate using those...."


But do not know if that precludes 2 unubtrusive mini toggles on the Front.... albeit they are 4pdts, but that little soldiers array of lugs wont show if they are in the cavity.


So if 2 mini toggles and hidden 4pdt are acceptable, may I describe my experience contrasting JP style wiring and an alternative I will point to in a sec.

Ok, I'll I take that silence as permission to march on.

I too am massively fond of LPs, and have a '68 standard, which is I think the first year Gibby brought them back after LP the man made them take his names off the SGs. my best girl ... that LP, but I did not want to mod her after she became so valuable.

So I too started picking up LP style Asian chassis and modding them. Felt much as you did .... dialed in the action and fret dress and intonation, then put it quality electronics and schemes, then could play with abandon because it was not worth as much as a small car.

I have a JP mod and this mod in LP style chassis.

guitarnuts2.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=nutzoid&action=display&thread=3778

I like the JP, but find it kind of fiddly live, although Jimmy seemed to have no probs. Plus there are dead spots (no sound), at least in the original LP mod. John and Borsova may have fixed those in their versions, I seem to recall JH mentioning that.

The HBD mod, has a logic that is more visual than the LP mod and I find easy to manage into different configs live, and seems to have a wider range of really usable tones For example inner/inner with Sys Seris gives a phantom third (middle) humbucker with mixable bass or treble with the vols, and the same coil config gives a credible strat style quack with the geometry of the inner/inner. Outer/Outer gives a more open sense of the Tele style spread with the additional option of System Series.

There are a compendium of other examples, but the main thing is it has completely changed the way I approach an LP style guitar, and is my absolute fav of tons of builds.

Just a notion .... even though it appears like blatant self promotion, it is not because the bulk of the credit for the design goes to John H.

I also have other LP fiends who prefer this design to the JP type.

RW

[newey]

Here's the link to Runewalker's HBD thread. His link was non- functional, and I tried to edit it to correct it, but still couldn't get it to work, so I'm reposting it:

guitarnuts2.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=nutzoid&action=display&thread=3778

Rune, the fact that your link didn't work is entirely my fault (that's why I had to try to fix it!). Long story, going back to when I foolishly reorganized the Schematics section without paying close enough attention to what I was doing . . .

[JohnH]

newey - i just fixed it too!
Pete - the HDB mod was the ultimate destination of do-everything 2xHb mods, and RW and one or two others have it built. In addition to the JP options, you get full control of local series or parallel, plus each single coil. But it needs room for two extra 4 pole toggles.

John

[4real]

Thanks guys...

Well, you are right, although it seems to be working much as it should, untill I get around to really digging ito things like polarity and such of teh pickups, it is a little tricky to tell by ear. Tapping teh pickups tells you whats on, but the sound also gives some thing of a clue, even if only on one string at this stage. There may well be some tweaking required.

My original 69 black beauty was moddedd by me in the 70's...well, I ahd it done professionally at the height of the "brass era" and the start of guitar modding...so it has these two 3 way coil selection switches between the knobs...

So. perhaps I might try some additional mods...I was going nuts trying to decide a scheme for the thing...sometimes your wish list just grows.

I've backed off modding guitars for the last year, been exploring playing the things a bit more, and been playing a tle until recently.

The new project is a kind of one man band thing, though I am jamming with a bass player today that I regularly do on soul and pop stuff, little bit of jazz too (in fact he has just bought a double bass).

So, it's a style perhaps most associated with finger pickers or jazz guys I suppose, and it's taking a lot of work...but it's like a puzzle, the same kind of thrill many get out of working out the logic of these wiring schemes I guess, and it is kind of impressive to be able to play a complete song, much like a piano player can do to entertain people...and something to see if you know how tricky it is to do the same kind of thing on the guitar.

Also, I used the old LP in every kind of context. It is in fact a great sounding jazz guitar clean for instance...there really is no need to play hollowbody other than the "look"...it was actually what the thing was designed originally to do. I've been liking the Khaler, it can lock of course to a fixed bridge, but it is nice for the occasional little bigsby like wiggle and to have quite good tuners at your finger tips too. It's a neat bridge as it can adjust for string spacing which is kind of cool...so I can get it just a touch wider.

So...a whole heap of different tones to explore and possibly enough. I need things to be pretty quiet. Am hoping to go perhaps to cafes and restaurants and festivals perhaps in summer...this kind of thing does need a quiet guitar and this certainly fits the bill, even the splits are pretty quiet...but you never know what kind of power interference problems you might encounter.

The thing about this kind of venture is that a whole evening of a very similar sound can be a bit much, some things require a more percussive edge (hence the interest in the piezo thing) to them, some can be as smooth as all get out...working up an arrangement of cry me a river for instance last night that loves the big sustain-y sound of an LP.

I quite liken this 'style' to a bit of magic trick, the Lp is such an "icon" but can be a classy looking thing and 'acceptable' if only that is a bit more guitar shaped perhaps. But, the illusion is that a lot of things that seem hard to play or a bit unusual are often included to make playing things easier...while the simplest phrases are the hardest to accomplish. So, you know, don't want the 'equipment' to spoil the illusion by perhaps feeding the suggestion that somehow it is a "special guitar" doing the work for me.

It's an interesting experiment though, worth a bit of a dabble in for any player. popular with the ladies...lol! I had started doing it a bit a while back, but after moving down here, I hooked up with a bass player and drum machine thing with a potential view to getting a "band" together...but really that is so much work and restrictive on what yo0u can do, and I'm getting a bit old for that. Not ruling it out, still fun to play with other musicians. But, for ultimate gigging coolness, finding little gigs, maybe selling a CD, turning up simply with a amp and a guitar but able to perform recognizable songs while people eat dinner or whatever...it does have it's appeals...plus if there is any money to be made...it's only split one way!!!

So, while the real LP is great and a much better guitar, not the kind of thing that I want to be hawking around anymore. This one will be able to do a lot more and it's striking flamed maple color is certainty eye candy.

...

So, quite a bit of work to do yet...it's working enough to get on with the playability side of things and then test to see what's really going on with the sounds, but on face value, it seems that I just about got it right. But I will fully explore things further for sure and report back when it's more of a player (the nut is way high and just sitting there for instance!)

I wouldn't rule out further wiring mods, but I'd have to see what this thing lacks. I was surprised by the effectiveness of the local parallel and have not really tried that before because it is so often maligned. Perhaps I could be tempted into adding some discrete toggles to achieve more.

However, it needs to be simple...I have to juggle a lot of things in my head to play like this, there's no real time to pause to switch between settings as the music must go on. Still, even wacky things like the phase switch might be cool to add a bit of lo-fi or drobo like passages here and there.

I'm probably going to be doing "wish you were here" for instance in which this effect is prominent and easily achieved with the present wiring scheme (neck vol pot) and as John kind of intimated in his scheme, the global series thing does make an interesting thick "jazz sound" potentially.

Mainly though, with this kind of approach, I can see things sounding a little same-y...don't know, piano players don't worry so much about such things...so it is a nice idea to have a bit of variety in the guitar sound, without having to resort to an array of "effects" and such. I had at one stage contemplated doing some kind of looping thing, and this kind of variety of tones would be great for that too, but those things can sound a little weird for most people...a few can pull it off, but generally it can sound like you are just playing against a tape of yourself...tricky to do right I will grant you, but from an audience perspective, not always the most appealing.

I guess too that the 'primary' sound will be the LP. I originally conceived this as a sister to my blue telecaster (with the sustainer on it) for this project. It's a great guitar, but the jangly stuff can get a bit taxing after a while on it's own and in this context and it is harder to play. The LP and HB tone can hold notes for as long as you like and can be very smooth if you don't want to offend anyone. But I amy have it all wrong, maybe people out here will reject my material and be requesting bluegrass or something.

The other thing is that I have recently dropped the pick again, so this can create quite a different and big variety of tones in itself. So, bit of string popping, pulling to brushing and more classical kind of styles, harmonics and other tricks. One of the 'tricks' to developing this thing is to leave 'space'...been working on "choir girl" for instance, so there is a more classical kind of picking that emulates the piano part, then some sliding sixths and such from the guitar fills...you have to do it in such a way that you don't notice that the "piano" falls away and the bass is so basic behind it...in reality, I've found that if the song is really well known, the mind kind of sings along in the audience, and if you get the mix right and don't try and play everything at once, you can actually get a lot on there...

Anyway, major digression...

Will check out what's going on in the near future, but I suspect I "lucked out" with considerable help from you guys and the resources here. I did it in pretty textbook fashion, and I think I got a few photos to illustrate how it isn't so hard if done in a methodical and neat way, and always checking.

There is still room for a battery and preamp affair should I explore the piezo thing...but I suspect there is going to be some issues there for a bit.

There are a few interesting fendery sounds though...not quite 'quacking' but certainly getting a bit of that straty flavour...have to look into doing some dire straits, but then, each song I seem to choose as suitable and possible (say, brothers in arms) is played on a LP...lol! I remember a later solo era knophler interview where he was asking, why did no one tell me how good these gibsons can sound!~

Hopefully I will be able to do some kind of recording too, to illustrate what the sounds are like for people contemplating this or similar mods.

oh...and there are no dead spots, but still a little perplexed as to why the global series is in all selector positions...not a flaw or perhaps I missed something, but not quite as described.

[JohnH]

I can appreciate the direction you are taking with the playing. I play mostly finger style, and for myself, I like to try to distill a song to combine the most minimal versions of the main chords and riffs from bass, and guitars, into a single playable guitar part – faking it as much as needed! With the band – I conentrate more on just rhythm however.

On the series switch – it works that way ‘cos its intended to! With the usual JP mods, if you want series, you not only have to pull the S/P selector but also put the main togle into a certain spot, or else it doesn’t work. This way, you can set up your standard tone with the toggle, then leave it where it is and override it with a single pull of the S/P switch to get series mode.

[4real]

As I say though, the description says...

According to the design notes in the reference section...Borsanova says...that in the global series mode, (bridge vol pulled) this applies to the bridge selection...but it would appear to put this on regardless of selection in what I have built.

But I prefer at as you suggest and it appears to function, to be a one pull global function. I suspect there are a lot of cool tones in there as well, combining all kinds of splitting and phasing to temper that thick sound...can't wait to mess with it (well, actually, not in the mood to be cutting nuts and such today)...

...

I can appreciate the direction you are taking with the playing. I play mostly finger style, and for myself, I like to try to distill a song to combine the most minimal versions of the main chords and riffs from bass, and guitars, into a single playable guitar part – faking it as much as needed! With the band – I conentrate more on just rhythm however.

...

Well, good to see I am not the only one exploring this side of playing. I used to be a "lead" player, but of course, that is a bit of a misnomer as you end up playing a lot of rhythm in a band thing. In recent times, and playing yesterday for instance, far more a groove, rhythm player and my tele has been ideal for that.

There is a bit of "faking" required, and some ingenuity, but it can be fun puzzling it out and finding a way, and the more I've been looking at others approaches, the more fascinating it can become...some people really do have a way with these kinds of things for sure....hard for me to 'memorize things' though, so I really need to get 'inside the tunes' and have differing ways to navigate through it without getting lost...

Some of the players I have been looking into are guys like
Adam Rafferty...seems to have a real joy in doing this, check out say 'billie jean' (acoustic)
Dan Holloway...almost classical in approach, some wonderful arrangements "brother's in arms" is particularly nice (acoustic)
Rick Ruskin...technically brilliant...check out his thing on "Rikki don't lose that number"...particularly how he is able to play the whole original solo note for note with all those bends and slides while keeping enough backing to play against. If you wanted to learn the solo alone, it's worth checking out for that (acoustic)
Michael Chapdelaine ...quite influential, using his version of "california dreaming", particularly the great intro, as a starting point for my own version
jake reichbart...has some nice stuff...bit more jazz in approach, keeps a constant percussion too...I think he may have a piezo on that guitar...like the above acoustic guys he seems to use that to get that percussive sound...turning the piezo's sensitivity into a positive effect. (electric)
Joe Livoti...I like this guy too, more approachable and cool arrangements than many, few pretensions in them and a range of material. (electric)

Just a few of the "unknowns" from YouYube in looking for inspiration. There are the more known guys like Tuck Andress who is amazing in his ability and ingenuity or perhaps Adrian Legg with his banjo key tuners and alternate tuning (something I tend to avoid getting into), tommy emmanuel of course, the old chet atkins and in more recent times, though not unaccompanied, Johhny A who has had remarkable success and a signature gibson made for him.

...

I have found that you need material that is fairly well known, highlight the important parts, and that the songs have a pretty strong melody and harmonic progression...not something that you find in that many rock songs unfortunately that work in a different way.

I suddenly realized I need a lot more material to work on, and some things don't work out as well as I'd hoped, some I just can't seem to be able to play!. I'm making a book of stuff, so far working on about a dozen in particular that seem to be working ok, but it is a tricky process.

Any other suggestions of material or players and appraoches to explore is always welcome...

BTW...a cool 'trick' can be to take a midi file of something, load it into a program like guitar pro...then you can strip back the parts you don't want, and edit it into something that is perhaps "playable"...there are countless Elton John Midi files on offer for instance, and it is cool to get the piano parts down to something playable on the guitar...playing them of course can be tricky...but it is a short cut...

...

There is no reason not to use a solid body electric though for this kind of thing. A clean LP is often neglected, but a fantastic guitar with a lot of potential. I'm hoping this one will provide some inspiration and be practical and it seems to hold a lot of promise.

[JohnH]

My playng is pretty basic, but persuing this idea...occasionally I get called on to render, on my own, songs that we have done in the band. A good clue is where someone has done an acoustic solo version of an electric rock song - such as much of Neil Youngs Crazy Horse stuff, which he also does solo. Or music by Trios (or 3 + singer) such as Free, Stray Cats also and also some Police. My thought is, if you do a reasonably well known song, you can sketch it lightly, and the audiences memory will fill it in

John

[4real]

Absolutely...these things build from the basics...todays is "what's going on" by marvin Gaye...

But did do "Roxanne" roughly the other night which works out pretty well. I'd love to do 'bring on the night" but I suspect that might be tricky.

Free's tricky...perhaps "my brother Jake"...

someone does a version of "crazy little thing called love" somewhere

Also did some of "wish you were here" this morning...playing octaves to get the 12 string effect and the sliding fourths. You have to be careful to try and distinguish one chorus from the next, taking it up an octave or something...tricky stuff.

I just checked out rafferty's "she's leaving home" which was pretty stunning but not that tricky.

But it is taking a lot of work. I did a bit of classical many years ago, but not played much fingerstyle in a while. I used to have some things up my sleeve when I did play in bands when something would go wrong and you had to fill in a bit of space...always handy to have something...

The big thing that pushed me was when people see all these guitars and such and say, "oh, you play guitar, so play me something"...it really is a fair enough question, a few blues licks of some shredding is not really going to cut it with your average non-guitar player...

So, I started to learn and even occasionally write a few things that gets the point across...there should be more of it...otherwise, there are sometimes awkward moments. It justifies the tinker I do!

[4real]

hey there

just a quick reply...spent the evening filing away at the nut on this guitar, doing a bit of intonation for the set up...so at least the thing is kind of playable and can get a bit of a better idea how it really sounds and the control set up and success...

All seems to work out ok...all settings are pretty useful...the controls are in a logical location, but wonder if the "best". The phase switch is the easiest to reach, but of the least use. The coil splits and such have quite a bit of effect, but back away from reach...but it's much of a muchness, it really is more of a set for a song kind of thing, and you can get 3 radically different settings with the selector if one chooses.

I did try and work out with a compass what the magnetism of the poles and splits are...a bit inconclusive. The guitar is extremely quiet even when split...but it seems like they are like, not opposite coils. It splits to the two inner coils and the pickups fitted as one might expect (leads on the lower side exit of the pickup) so...a bit more exploration there.

The Bridge pickup parallel thing also is a little inconclusive. It actually seems to be brighter with the switch in HB mode...hmmm...however both positions are quite different...interestingly the volume hardly drops at all between them...

The split sounds are great, there is the closest to a strat "quack" with the two pickups split and inner coils and several other positions...the phase switch can add to the effect as well in some position and registers of the guitar.

So...certainly happy with the result of the twenty-dual scheme and range. The guitar is coming along, getting a good setup is often painstaking work...but I'm still filing away at the nut. The action should be able to get pretty low, the neck can be adjusted to dead flat with no twists...must have got a good one. It's an unusual guitar, probably about the quality of a epiphone in terms of construction. The bridge cost as much as the guitar pretty much...Kahler...but is quality. Still setting up the trem, it's fixed at the moment while setting up and of course the nut will need work.

I fit wilkinson tuners, but I suspect I will want to upgrade...I thought I could go cheap and use the locking nut, but working on an alternative. If so, locking tuners will have to be the go.

For the nut, using the standard thing, but with a trem, the strings on an LP not only go across the nut but pull to the side. I have been thinking of making a kind of truss rod cover with the ball ends of strings used as little wheels to help the strings go straight over the nut and take this side strain off them...the result should be a massive improvement in fiction for tremolo use and tuning at this critical area compared to without...I like to try some little 'innovation' each time I build something...will let people know how that goes.

Need to find or make back cavity covers for the thing...on the look out for materials...seem to be tricky to locate, but perhaps I should just make the things.

Otherwise, if I get over this flu, I will endeavour to make some clips of the guitar sounds and some pics of the wiring process that might help people considering doing this kind of thing...

thanks again for all the help support and diagrams that made this thing work...first go!

[4real]

Project is slowly progressing, got a new Tusq XL nut in white (used to only be in black) and been fining away...so the guitar is a pretty good player but still getting tweaked.

The sounds are still great...but it would appear that the split sounds are not humbucking in combination. Still a very quiet guitar, but perhaps I should address this.

I am imagining it is a matter for spinning the magnet...however, would I get the same effect (as the coils are all slugs and so identical) if I just turned the neck pickup around? What wiring mods would be needed to ensure the phase wasn't also reversed by this process...or if I wanted to keep the two inside coils as the option selected.

When the new tuners arrive, or sooner perhaps, I was thinking of working on this aspect. Am I on the right track by spinning the pickup?

It would also be neat to be able to get local parallel on the neck pickup...but i am suppose this would be too much to ask for!!

...

Anyway, it continues...hopefully as the project draws to it's final outcome, I will do some recording of clips for the various selections as this guitar is great at demoing what this scheme can do as well as the sound of things like splits and local parallel and the global series and even phase options. So far I have not found any 'bad' or weird options and although some can sound similar, with the combination of options and the mixing available on the 4 knob layout, there's always more than even the 22 sounds might imply...truly a great scheme!

[JohnH]

4real - yes the diagram was done assuming one pickup had a reversed magnet, which was part of getting two screw coils togther to be humcancelling. I assume your magnet polarities are both the same on the pair of pups, and you have open coils, so screw/slug differences will be less. You can fix the huimcancelling by taking the two coils on one pickup, and swapping the screw coil leads for the slug coil leads, but keeping them electrically pointing same way, by which I mean the hotter wire on each coil currently will remain so. So phase will not be affected, but the single coil selected will be changed to that which humcancells with the other pups single mode. All combos of two coils on this guitar, in and out of phase, both from one pup or one from each, and in series or parallel should be humcancelling.

EDIT - just checking, apart form the humcanceling, are all the combos that should be in-phase, actualy in-phase with regards to the tone? ie that should be all settings without pulling the phase switch. If there are any issues with that, then they can be fixed within this wire swapping process.

cheers

John

[4real]

Thanks John...

Yes, all functions as expected and described from your diagram and the design...it sounds great and has no phase issues...

The two inner coils are selected for split mode...unfortunately this is not humcancelling...however, the whole guitar in all modes is extremely quiet, largely due to the amount of shielded cable throughout (though the cavities are not shielded.

I quite like the inner coils, almost a strat like quack with this selection.

So...I guess the first plan would be to reverse the neck pickups wires and see if that is humcancelling as it should be...not entirely sure which two pickup wires this might be, so perhaps I will need to do a bit of experimentation to get it right...(unless you could identify them on the drawing )...it might be a good inclusion in the diagram as I initially missed all teh magnet spinning part in the fine print!

That way, I will be able to determine if this is humcancelling and compare the sounds of the inner and outer coil split that will result from this mod.

If this is humcancelling and works out ok, but I prefer the sound like it is now with the inner coils selected....I will attempt to take out the neck pickup, turn it around (the lead should be long enough...the pickups are identical I believe) which should give a similar effect to turning the magnet...so now the inners will be split (as now) and humcancelling.

Also, really appreciated the treble bleed mods on this, these add an invaluable control on this guitar, the pickups are very hot and can sound a little 'muddy' up full, but backing off the volumes really brightens them up nicely and they sound really good like that. I almost left them off, and took a bit of effort to find the right components, but it was worth it I believe.

I got a new nut for it, a graphtech Tusq XL teflon in white and it is far superior and easier to shape...so more playable, but still could go a little lower before gluing it down. Awaiting more parts, cavity covers, strap buttons and locking tuners and a bit of cosmetic stuff yet to go, but a fine player already.

Still very impressed with the local parallel option and worth the inclusion, shame it isn't possible on both, but if you have 'everything' in something like this, it gets way too messy to be that practical. I might consider such a scheme though next time as an alternative with perhaps different pickups.

So...besides the quirks that are only to be expected, it is amazingly quiet and versitile range of sounds and see the wiring side of things to be a great success and well worth the efforts all round.

Again, thanks...

pete

[JohnH]

OK, given that hmcancelling is the only issue, then lets fix it by moving the neck coils wires. Assuming coils connected using colours as on the diagram, swap red with black, and swap green with white, leaving bridge untouched. That should fix it, but check out if it sounds different.

If you wish, you can rotate the pup to make the selected coils closer together, and that does not change phase or humcancelling.

The methodical guitar wirer might choose to make a reference sound clip first, before making the change!

The bridge parallel sound is the main addition that Borsanova added to this design, within the context of the 4 p/p switches. I cant see how to add it to the neck as well, without another switch, but then with such a switch, that is possible in several ways, using an extra toggle.

cheers
John

[4real]

Thanks john, will have a go as soon next i have the iron out...the color codes are different of course, but I will be able to work with that from the diagram and connection points.

I am awaiting plastic to make the cavity covers for a bit, and was impressed with your slide switch mods on the back of the selector plate on your LP as a concept.

So, I wouldn't rule out such a switch to say convert the HB's to a local parallel mode or such...I can see such things could be easily made pretty unobtrusive and work to set the "mode' of the guitar.

The parallel mode is just a nice silent almost single coil sound, slightly louder than the split and of course noise canceling alone...perhaps a touch more 'body' to it. These pickups are a bit hot, and the kind of stuff I play mostly requires a clean and precise kind of sound. So, it would be kind of cool to have a scheme that could switch the mode of a guitar to a nice clean gretch like twang to fire breathing overwound rock monster, on the back of the guitar somewhere.

Still, the guitar does perform as is, and such ideas may require 'starting over'...so left perhaps for another day. I had 'visions years ago of such a thing with little dip switches inside, but the more conventional slide switches on the back have a lot of potential to make this kind of thing a reality...cheap and easy too and ideal for the LP back plate kind of guitar to be stealthy.

ta

pete