EBMM Cutlass SSS. Anybody installed noiseless pickups without silent circuit?

[jodokus31]

Hi Folks,

First post. Hello everyone.

I have bought an older modell of the EBMM Cutlass some months ago and generally I'm quite pleased with it. It plays very good and the tune stability is much better than my old fender strat.
But, the pickups are really bright (almost ice-picky) and a bit cold and they also are not exactly silent on 1-3-5 positions. I am also not so happy, that the buffer makes fuzzes and treble booster very problematic. jack ormans pickup simulator is not the same. Compared to my Tele without buffer, it's not very pleasant.
Regarding the humming, I also tried to adjust the trimpoti on the board, but it rather gets even more noisy.
Regarding the brightness, I can dial out the tone, but then the sound gets too flat and squeaky. I tried to lower the pickups, (increase distance from strings), but it doesn't do what I hoped. The only way is to adjust the amp accordingly and then I get great sounds, but I really don't want to redial my amp to match the guitar too much.

So, I wonder, if anybody has installed different noiseless pickpups, f.e. the Fender Ultra Noiseless and also skipped the Silent Circuit. (My fender tele has ultra noiseless tele pickups and I'm quite happy with them)
I wonder, if the pickups Fender Noiseless are too tall as they are staggered. Unfortunately, I was not able to find anything via google regarding that (cutlass + noiseless pickups). Rather, that people had problems in other guitar with the height of staggered pickups. Or they used different pickups in the cutlass.

Are there are other tipps, different pickups options, which are better?

Thanks & have a nice day.

 

[Musikron]

You absolutely 100% should dial the amp to the guitar. Why the reluctance to do that?

 

[jodokus31]

I have an EBMM Axis and it's a lot darker, like a lot. If I want to play them both simultaneously, it's getting tough. But also my Tele is quite fat, but not dark. Compared to that, the Cutlass is quite fizzy, I have to change tone to at least 6, if not lower.

Anyway, i'm not sure, what to do. But I really would love to hear somebody, who tried different noiseless pickups

 

[beej]

So, you're always going to have a bit of hum present with real single coils. The silent circuit dials some of it out, but it won't be 100%. Just the nature of the beast. You can definitely install noiseless pickups if you want. But if so you'll want to wire them in w/o the silent circuit. It's not too hard to do.

That said, many noiseless pickups are still bright like traditional single coils. Unless you specifically go for darker sounding pickups, you're going to have to accept that your amp settings aren't going to work perfectly for both guitars.

I'd say it's pretty important to adjust your amp to suit the rest of your signal chain (guitar, cables, buffers, etc.). It would take more work to have all your guitars sound identical so your amp settings stay the same

 

[jodokus31]

So, you're always going to have a bit of hum present with real single coils. The silent circuit dials some of it out, but it won't be 100%. Just the nature of the beast. You can definitely install noiseless pickups if you want. But if so you'll want to wire them in w/o the silent circuit. It's not too hard to do.

That said, many noiseless pickups are still bright like traditional single coils. Unless you specifically go for darker sounding pickups, you're going to have to accept that your amp settings aren't going to work perfectly for both guitars.

I'd say it's pretty important to adjust your amp to suit the rest of your signal chain (guitar, cables, buffers, etc.). It would take more work to have all your guitars sound identical so your amp settings stay the same

It's not that I despise the bright sound, but I cannot help myself, that it sounds a bit too spikey. I have to basically change the settings of the amp to complete opposite side. Increase Bass and Mids and reduce highs and presence. I also don't have a problem with adjusting the amp, but it's just too much.
When I tested the guitar I was like, yeah, thats really nice and clear, but it's just too much after some months of testing.
Additionally, the problem with the buffer before fuzz and treble boost is bothering me. I knew it, before I bought it, but already played with the thought to change pickups, if it doesn't work satisfying enough. As I said, the rest of the guitar is outstanding compared to my old Fender strat.

I read somewhere, that the silent circuit could be skipped by wiring the pickup ground to real ground (of the jack). Is that true? That's might be worth a test. At least, in case the controls are still working. I would like to know the difference with and without silent circuit.

I probably order a second pick-guard with different controls and try different pickups without the circuit. That way, I can get back easily.
I just hope, I don't have to dig into the guitar body to fit in the bigger pickups.

Thanks for the tips

 

[beej]

Sure, well there are a million pickups out there- you should absolutely find the ones that suit you best.

Yes, if you wire the ground of the pickups to ground (and not the Silent Circuit's virtual ground), it will take it out of the circuit. However if the buffer is the issue, you'll probably just want to wire it all up passively, in which case a second pickguard sounds like a good idea.

 

[DrKev]

I used DiMarzio Area noiseless singles in my Silhouette Special for 5 or 6 years. I thought they sounded very good, especially the Area 58 (in my opinion). Completely noise free, a little lower in output than "real" vintage single coils but that didn't bother me.

 

[jodokus31]

I used DiMarzio Area noiseless singles in my Silhouette Special for 5 or 6 years. I thought they sounded very good, especially the Area 58 (in my opinion). Completely noise free, a little lower in output than "real" vintage single coils but that didn't bother me.

Nice tip. I was looking at Fenders and Laces so far. But those look also very fine. Probably better, from what I hear.

Regarding ordering the replacement pickguard. I live in Germany and musicman ships it only to US. And I did not find anything anywhere else. Not even Ebay or Amazon. Does anybody know, how to get replacement parts elsewhere than US?

 

[beej]

There are other sources in the US beyond Music Man. For example, Music Man USA Cutlass & Stingray Guitar Models - Pickguard Planet.

 

[jodokus31]

There are other sources in the US beyond Music Man. For example, Music Man USA Cutlass & Stingray Guitar Models - Pickguard Planet.

Wow, thanks. I message them, if they also ship to Germany.

EDIT: They do. I ordered one.

 

[jodokus31]

I want to give an update:
The pickguard arrived sometime after christmas.
I also order 3 pickup:
Bridge: DiMarzio DP408 Virtual Vintage 54 Pro
Middle: DiMarzio DP 416 Area 61 BK
Neck: DiMarzio DP 415 Area 58 BK
I probably would have taken the Area 67 for middle, but it wasn't available at all in Germany
I also oder the Freeway Switch 5B5-01, which has 10 positions, instead of 5
I used copper shielding for the inside, not sure, if it matters, though

The result is great, the pickups have more flesh to it, while still being brilliant, I would say, more dirty/bluesy, but the original ones were very clear and clean.
For reference, with original pickups, I had my tone knob always at arround 6-7, now I have it at 10 all the way. I really like trebles, but original pickup had just too much for me, sounded almost fizzy and hifi like.
I can use fuzz pedals and trebleboosters just fine.
They have less humming and noise overall.
The 10 way switch is surprisingly useful, I get sounds out the guitar, which I didn't expect. Some humbucker like sounds, when pickups get wired in series and some more acoustic, when all three are wired in parallel

I think, it was worth for my taste.

 

[beej]

Nice! That sounds like a fun project. Let's see a photo

 

[TripHazard]

Yeah, we need photos

 

[jodokus31]

Here are some
Forgot to mention, that I also added a treble bleed cap/res:
680pF/430k IIRC. Sounded best to my ears

 

[DrKev]

Great job!

 

[jodokus31]

Thanks all, also for the tips!

 

[TripHazard]

That looks ace with the black covers on

 

[DrKev]

For future reference, the extra shielding is not necessary. Music Man have conductive paint under the color coat, which is grounded by the lug screwed into the side of the cavity. The DiMarzio noiseless singles are as quiet as any humbucker you'll ever have. The extra shielding won't hurt at all though so no need to go pulling it all out either.