SBMM JP150 Mod Questions and request for opinions

[jackflack]

Greetings all,

I have purchased a Sterling by Music Man JP150. This is my first Sterling/Music Man purchase and I'm just blown away by the quality and playability. That being said, I'm also a bit of a tinkerer and can't leave well enough alone a lot of the time.

My thinking was that a set of Illuminators in this thing would make it sound that much better and get me closer to the JP15. I also though it would be cool to coil-split this thing for some spanky tones and giving me more tonal options.

What say ye?

--------------------------------------------------------

OK, now question time.

1) Can I coil-split with the Illuminators?
2) Can I coil-split with the existing JP150 hardware or will I need a different pot?
3) Would coil-split have to be wired to volume pot or can the tone pot be used? ( I REALLY like the fast action of the current pots, so I would hate to lose that...at least in the volume knob)
4) Is the JP150 setup for regular spaced or F-spaced pickups in the bridge?

I know that's a lot, but I figured this would be the best place to get the info I'm looking for.

Thanks in advance for any and all input.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

Greetings all,

I have purchased a Sterling by Music Man JP150. This is my first Sterling/Music Man purchase and I'm just blown away by the quality and playability. That being said, I'm also a bit of a tinkerer and can't leave well enough alone a lot of the time.

My thinking was that a set of Illuminators in this thing would make it sound that much better and get me closer to the JP15. I also though it would be cool to coil-split this thing for some spanky tones and giving me more tonal options.

What say ye?

--------------------------------------------------------

OK, now question time.

1) Can I coil-split with the Illuminators?
2) Can I coil-split with the existing JP150 hardware or will I need a different pot?
3) Would coil-split have to be wired to volume pot or can the tone pot be used? ( I REALLY like the fast action of the current pots, so I would hate to lose that...at least in the volume knob)
4) Is the JP150 setup for regular spaced or F-spaced pickups in the bridge?

I know that's a lot, but I figured this would be the best place to get the info I'm looking for.

Thanks in advance for any and all input.

Welcome aboard!

1) Yes, you can coil split with the Illuminators
2) You will need to use a push/pull or push/push pot to control when the Illuminators are split. If you don't want to use the active boost then you can rewire the existing volume push/push pot to split the Illuminators
3) You can wire a coil split to any push/pull or push/push pot located in any location.
4) F spaced pickups in the bridge, regular spacing in the neck

Good luck!

 

[Bob Whiting]

Are the pickups in the JP150 active or is it just the volume boost, thinking of removing the active parts, never really cared for active and batteries

 

[Nhoj]

Greetings all,

I have purchased a Sterling by Music Man JP150. This is my first Sterling/Music Man purchase and I'm just blown away by the quality and playability. That being said, I'm also a bit of a tinkerer and can't leave well enough alone a lot of the time.

My thinking was that a set of Illuminators in this thing would make it sound that much better and get me closer to the JP15. I also though it would be cool to coil-split this thing for some spanky tones and giving me more tonal options.

What say ye?

--------------------------------------------------------

OK, now question time.

1) Can I coil-split with the Illuminators?
2) Can I coil-split with the existing JP150 hardware or will I need a different pot?
3) Would coil-split have to be wired to volume pot or can the tone pot be used? ( I REALLY like the fast action of the current pots, so I would hate to lose that...at least in the volume knob)
4) Is the JP150 setup for regular spaced or F-spaced pickups in the bridge?

I know that's a lot, but I figured this would be the best place to get the info I'm looking for.

Thanks in advance for any and all input.

youre welcome here Sterling by Music Man Users/Owners Around The World Public Group | Facebook

some in the group modified theirs

 

[Jock2]

Welcome aboard!

1) Yes, you can coil split with the Illuminators
2) You will need to use a push/pull or push/push pot to control when the Illuminators are split. If you don't want to use the active boost then you can rewire the existing volume push/push pot to split the Illuminators
3) You can wire a coil split to any push/pull or push/push pot located in any location.
4) F spaced pickups in the bridge, regular spacing in the neck

Good luck!

Hi Pete,

In your reply above, you note that if someone is upgrading the pickups in a Sterling JP150, it's F spaced for the bridge and regular/standard spacing for the neck. I've acquired the F spaced Crunch Lab for the bridge and am looking at a Liquifire for the neck. Just for my own information and knowledge, can you advise why there is different spacings for the bridge and neck pick ups? Many thanks.

 

[DrKev]

Gibson traditionally used a narrower string spacing at the bridge than Fender guitars. So, most humbuckers had polepieces spaced to the narrower Gibson string spacing, single coil poles have a wider Fender spacing. When people started putting humbuckers on strat-derived guitars, humbuckers were offered with the wider spacing so the pole pieces line up better with the strings (F-spaced, F for Fender). Only necessary for the bridge pickup, though it makes virtually no difference to difference to the sound at all, it's almost entirely cosmetic.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

Hi Pete,

In your reply above, you note that if someone is upgrading the pickups in a Sterling JP150, it's F spaced for the bridge and regular/standard spacing for the neck. I've acquired the F spaced Crunch Lab for the bridge and am looking at a Liquifire for the neck. Just for my own information and knowledge, can you advise why there is different spacings for the bridge and neck pick ups? Many thanks.

The string spacing increases (widens) from the nut to the bridge. A standard spaced humbucker in the neck slot better aligns each of the pole pieces under the strings, while a wider F-spaced pickup in the bridge position better aligns the poles under the strings in that location.

Note 1: the regular and smy2d Steve Morse guitars use a standard spaced pickup in the bridge because he prefers the slightly different sound of it (BFR versions with 2 HH pickups may be different, I never checked that).

Note 2: the Sonic Ecstacy pickups for JP were manufactured as F-spaced only, for both bridge and neck pistons.