Bongo hs to ss

[steapien]

Hi

Does anyone tried spliting coil in humbucker pickup. Friend od mine said that it can be easli done by changing one pot to push/pull. I love neck S sound and wonder if S in bridge sounds very diferrent than H.

 

[Holdsg]

Most folks around here love things stock (no modification)

A Big Al would give you some idea, with 3 single coil pickups

 

[steapien]

Most folks around here love things stock (no modification)

A Big Al would give you some idea, with 3 single coil pickups

Dont get me wrong, I love stock, but te idea is not to change anything. You've got one more tone option, cos You can choose between H and S in bridge position. For most of time I use only neck pickup with steel strings. It gives me sound similar to sheehans, not the same but You got the idea. Probably I will newer decide to make this mod, cos I'm not into electronics, but i'm just curious how it sounds.

 

[JayDawg]

If I remember correctly, I think the first prototype Bongo was a SSS configuration how the Big Al is now but for some reason the SSS did not make the final cut on the production Bongo. Do a search on here and try and find some of the first Bongo posts there were and maybe one of them will say what the Bongo was like with that SSS configuration.

 

[JayDawg]

Hey you know what, I mis-spoke. I went back and did some research. It was the Sterling that was originally a SSS. For some reason I was thinking it was a Bongo. So disregard what I said in my previous post.

 

[Golem]

`

Yes a SC at the bridge sounds very different than a humbucker, as
evidenced by throwing the switch on certain other MM bass models.

You can only do the new wiring that you intend IF the humbuckers
in Bongos are 4-wire, not 2-wire, PUs. There is no reason for them
to BE of 4-wire designs, because MM does not offer coil splitting on
any Bongo configuration, not even on the single-H, where it would
be a nice way to keep the single-H character, but add tonal option.

MM does offer piezo as an added tonal option for all Bongo models
but that is rather expensive.

BTW, even if Bongo humbuckers do have 4 wires each, if you then
split it to single coil, you would be fully vulnerable to hiss and hum,
which are not most people's favorite tonal options.

 

[epitaph04]

Man I'd love a Bongo with a single coil bridge pup.

 

[Golem]

Man I'd love a Bongo with a single coil bridge pup.

Well you can go about sorta kinda 1/2 way there,
if you'd prefer it enuf to forego having any way to
quick-shift back to "normal". Just radically tilt the
PU to favor the rear coil.

 

[tbonesullivan]

I've seen the bongo electronics module, and with the way they are wired, I wouldn't call ANY modification to the electronics simple. There most likely isn't any room to put in a push-pull pot.

 

[uOpt]

I've seen the bongo electronics module, and with the way they are wired, I wouldn't call ANY modification to the electronics simple. There most likely isn't any room to put in a push-pull pot.

Why not? Wiring wise the split is completely independent of everything else. All you need to do is take a wire from between the two coils in a humbucker and shortcut it to ground, using any switch you might like. You don't have to mess with any of the switching or controls that come after it.

Having said that, a split humbucker isn't the same thing as a having a single coil in the first place. Especially if you compare rod magnet single coils and bar-magnet-at-bottom humbuckers.

 

[OldManMusic]

Maybe think about a Game Changer. There's every pickup config you could possibly think of in there. I know the OP was looking for how to mod a Bongo but man, if you looking for single coil + humbucker options, a GC is your dream bass.

 

[tbonesullivan]

Why not? Wiring wise the split is completely independent of everything else. All you need to do is take a wire from between the two coils in a humbucker and shortcut it to ground, using any switch you might like. You don't have to mess with any of the switching or controls that come after it.

yes, and that is really easy to do when the bongo pots are all direct mounted onto a PCB, with no clearance behind to add a push pull pot. The knobs themselves are recessed into the body, which means that the PCB itself has less clearance behind it, so there really isn't much room in there.