Cutlass RS SSS HB swap....

[silverman]

If an owner of an SSS cutlass were to buy an extra HB slotted pick guard, and in the interest of easy swapping, 2 extra single coils too, would that owner be forgoing both the silent circuit and the buffer in this new setup?

Secondarily, If this owner were to simply swap in a HB from another manufacturer, yet retain the original neck and middle single coils, would this owner be able to enjoy the benefits of both buffer and silent circuit systems in all pickup positions as if it were a HSS from the factory, or would this owner be forgoing these systems on the aftermarket HB, yet keep them on 3,4 and 5 positio0ns?

 

[DrKev]

I don't have a schematic or knowledge of what the SSS insides/circuit board look like but based on what I know of how my HSS works here's my two cents...

We can freely swap and change pickups for anything we like and retain the silent circuit and the buffer. And on my the HSS it seems that the silent cicuit can be adjusted down to zero and therefore can be happily used with hum cancelling pickups if need be. I suspect that the buffer cannot be bypassed if using the stock pots/circuit board though it may be possible to bypass the silent circuit if needed.

Incidentally, all recent Cutlasses are routed HSS, so you can drop a humbucker in there no problem, though some of the earlier SSS instruments (pre-2018) were routed SSS.

As always, contact customer service and ask them for a wiring diagram for the SSS version and any advice that they can give you.

 

[silverman]

this was helpful. I just realized that you wouldn't even need the silent circuit for position 1 anyways, considering a humbucker is already hum canceling. But it sounds like you could use the silent circuit for position 2, and the buffer would still work to match the output between settings. Pretty cool.