SR5/HH Modification for Series-Parallel

[bgavin]

First, many thanks to EB for building me a great bass!

My brand new SR5/HH in Sunburst/Tort/Rosewood arrived after a 3 month wait. Bass Northwest did the order, and setup, and the bass is fabulous. The tonal variety is quite wide, and all are very usable for my playing style. This bass is everything I wanted it to be, and no disappointments at all.

Here is the question: can a series-parallel micro switch be easily installed in the Bridge pickup wiring?

Series-Parallel seems to be the only trick the HH cannot do, compared to the SR4/H.

Thoughts?

 

[bovinehost]

This bass is everything I wanted it to be, and no disappointments at all.

Bruce, I'm glad to hear it. I know you've been waiting on this one a while.

No idea about the mod (I somehow doubt it's easy) but congratulations on the bass, which of course doesn't exist without the obligatory photos.

Jack

 

[bgavin]

I'll put up some nice photos over the weekend. I'm SUCH a sucker for sunburst and tort. I am so impressed with the fit and finish... congrats to the builders at the factory. Entirely worth the wait and expense.

I'm still chuckling over my fingers getting lost after playing 4-bangers for so long. Eyes are lost too, have to play scales out loud and call the notes. The 5th string made me blind... can't "see" the notes on the frets anymore.

I have excellent soldering skills at the micro level, so I'm curious if series/parallel is the difference in the SR5 not having the class 'Ray tone.... or, if there is a pickup difference such as Alnico vs. Ceramic. That cannot be cured with a switch.

Perhaps the techie can pipe in, and tell me what the factory configuration is (I assume series), and if there is a phantom coil under the bridge pickup.

 

[bovinehost]

I can think of a few guys who could answer those questions, but we're facing a long weekend....my bet is they're long gone by now.

BTW, Bruce, you know there's a Huge Desert Fiesta at the end of this month for all the forum members?

Palm Springs area - this is our third year for a Forum Bash and they've all been unbelievable.

Just so's you know.

Jack

 

[Big Poppa]

Im sure if you went there and promised to keep those secret picturesof dudley at the zoo he would give you a hint.....

 

[midopa]

The dual pickup models have some crazy wiring going on. I know the SR4 HS has like a four or five pole 5-way switch inside. If it's the same for the SR5, I'd imagine it'd be pretty difficult without doing some serious soldering and/or without messing up the switching.

Anyway, welcome and looking forward to the pics!

 

[phatduckk]

interesting. ill have my dad check out my SR4 HH. he's an electronics whiz of about 40 years. he's invented stuff, done stuff at a huge company thats resulted in patents etc. if its got wires he can figure it out.

its not the same bass but ill see if can come up with something. if he can ill have him mod my bass. lol

 

[bgavin]

Jack, thanks for the invite. Palm Springs is a days' drive from Sacramento, but closer than Texas!

All, what I'm asking to understand is the pickup itself having the capability (wires) to support series/parallel switching.

For example, if the pickup is the same one used in the SR4/H, the answer would be yes. The factory installs in in the SR5/HH and simply does not wire the second circuit.

If no, SR4 and SR5 are different pickups, then more clarification is needed. Does the SR5 pickup have two sets of wires, or is it hard-wired internally? Is there a phantom coil, and so forth.

[ Edit ]

Can I do a pickup swap of the bridge pickup, to use the Alnico type instead?
I want my new HH to get the classic 'Ray tone in position 1.

 

[Rano Bass]

All, what I'm asking to understand is the pickup itself having the capability (wires) to support series/parallel switching.

.

If no, SR4 and SR5 are different pickups, then more clarification is needed. Does the SR5 pickup have two sets of wires, or is it hard-wired internally? Is there a phantom coil, and so forth.




The pickup on SR5's HH are wired in series and cannot be modded to parallel, it is internally hard-wired and doesn't have a phantom coil.

Maybe you could order a set of the alnico pickups used on the 20th SR5's which are wired in parallel but i doubt it since those are exclusive to that model.

Hope that helped.

 

[bdgotoh]

The pickup on SR5's HH are wired in series and cannot be modded to parallel, it is internally hard-wired and doesn't have a phantom coil.

You are right that they are wired for series but with the way they are wired you could do parallel. The #2 and #4 switch positions give you a single coil from each humbucker so the wiring is there to the coils. The problem is one of flexibility: you've got to give something up to go parallel and only have one 5 way switch.

 

[bgavin]

The addition of a Radio Shack 275-626A micro toggle switch will handle the switching. I've used this successfully on my P basses.

Experience with series/parallel on my P shows the series configuration is much louder and more ballsy. Parallel is less loud and more bell-like clarity.

All I'm really interested in, is getting as close to the classic SR4 vibe as I can with the new bass.

 

[bgavin]

...congratulations on the bass, which of course doesn't exist without the obligatory photos.Jack

I put pix up in the sticky at the top of the forum.

Link to Hi-Res Photo Directory

The above link is the directory that holds all the photos I took of the new bass. Each is about 1.5 MB, so they do take some time to load.

The other SR5 photos in this directory are some crappy shots I did of my other SR5 before I picked up the Nikon D200. Too bad I don't still have that bass, so I could compare it to the new one.