Question: Neck pickup on 20th Silhouette

[paranoid70]

Whitestrat, it's more than mild. I have to be careful when using the neck pickup because I get a lot of feedback. I can't imagine why the pickup would be wired as a single coil, but I guess that is possible. I should take a look at it.

Beej, there are plenty of my guitar playing techniques that could be improved. I am self-taught, so that means I had a pretty lousy teacher.

[whitestrat]

Whitestrat, it's more than mild. I have to be careful when using the neck pickup because I get a lot of feedback. I can't imagine why the pickup would be wired as a single coil, but I guess that is possible. I should take a look at it.

Yep, sounds like the SAME problem I experienced. Search for a thread I made on this. Beej and Pete Dubaldo helped me out bigtime. It's just a matter of 2 wired being swapped. Mine was the bridge pickup.

Here you go... Save you the trouble: http://www.ernieball.com/forums/musi...ette-20th.html

[beej]

Hope that's the problem! The 20th is such a killer guitar. No offense meant about anyone's technique

[GHWelles]

No the covers aren't removable. I've tried.

I find the covers are removable, you have to break the solder joints on the underside holding them on.

[whitestrat]

I find the covers are removable, you have to break the solder joints on the underside holding them on.

Ahh... ok ok... Then it was probably me not daring to break open the cover.

[paranoid70]

Below is the information Pete provided for Lionel's earlier thread. I guess I need to understand a few things.

First, is this for just the pickups, or does this have something to do with the Piezo? (Mine has no piezo). Second, where are these boards located? Are they just under the pickups, are they hard to get to?

I am assuming then that this is the way the PCB should look. Thus, if my guitar is wired differently, then I would get all that noise with the neck pickup?

If I take these photos and description to a good guitar repair guy, should he know what this all means, and how to make it proper?






Here is how the factory wires the original pickups in the 20th Anny Silo - these photos are correct, even though they do not match the color stamped on the board. It has to do with the way both pickups are wired for the middle toggle position.

A - White & Ground from neck
B - Green & Red from neck
C - Black from neck
D - Red to toggle
E - White & Ground from bridge
F - Green and Red from bridge
G - Empty
H - Black from bridge
I - Brown to toggle

If you connect the Green & Red from the bridge to position G (empty) instead of position F you will get a single coil from the bridge pickup. Double-check and make sure you have these wires in the correct position (position F)

The same goes if you take the Green & Red from position B and wire them to the unlabeled pad directly below B - you will get a single coil from the neck pickup.

It's easy enough to solder on the wrong pad while wiring/rewiring the pickups.

[paranoid70]

Hope that's the problem! The 20th is such a killer guitar. No offense meant about anyone's technique

None taken beej, I know you were joking and so was I. Truth is, when you are self-taught you develop some really bad habits. I know that and am OK with it.

[Warg Master]

You should just send the guitar to me... SIMPLE and EFFECTIVE!

[whitestrat]

First, is this for just the pickups, or does this have something to do with the Piezo? (Mine has no piezo). Second, where are these boards located? Are they just under the pickups, are they hard to get to?

Whoops! This IS for the pickups only, but this is a pic of the piezo control PCB. The PCB in the non-piezo is a lot smaller. I don't have pics for that.

I think you SHOULD bring it to EBMM CS for a peek.

[paranoid70]

Just a little update. I sent the 20th back to EBMM for service and it was indeed a bad pickup at the neck. They replaced that and also did some work to the frets to give it a proper setup. (I always had a lot of fret buzz despite having a local guy set it up and doing some tweaking myself.) It is most definitely better than ever! The "tapping" effect is totally gone and the bridge and middle tones sound much much much better than before. Also, there is no more buzz and it plays just great.

I bought this guitar second hand about a year ago. I thought it was good, but didn't quite get all the ravings other users gave it. I played my Silo Spec much more often. Now that the pickup is working properly, and it's setup just right, I will have to say that yes the guitar is awesome. Before, the middle position was really nothing special... now I see what everyone is talking about.

I don't know what the original seller or merchant did to the guitar, or if something happened during shipment across the US and back and back again. I guess that is the risk one takes when buying a used instrument over the internet. Regardless, I am very happy with the work. Good job again guys.

[whitestrat]

I bought this guitar second hand about a year ago. I thought it was good, but didn't quite get all the ravings other users gave it. I played my Silo Spec much more often. Now that the pickup is working properly, and it's setup just right, I will have to say that yes the guitar is awesome. Before, the middle position was really nothing special... now I see what everyone is talking about.

Play around on cleans with the tone knob on any of the 3 positions...

now you understand why I have 3 of these and Dizzy has 2.

[D.K.]

Lionel, how could You ... FORGET ME!!!!

But that's not quite true anymore - my trem 20-th has the hum-from-hell / steve's special combo and a push-pull installed. And THAT does sound great!!!