LukeIII 2022 Pickups and preamps and issues and stuff..

[guitarnerdswe]

Yeah thanks, 6.79k And yes, the neck pickup only reads 6.85k which is why both pickup volumes were similar.

That's so weird. 6.85 k is really high for the neck. You gotta let us know how all this ends up, it's a real mystery.

 

[Adder]

That's so weird. 6.85 k is really high for the neck. You gotta let us know how all this ends up, it's a real mystery.

If I wiggle the wires around on the Neck pup I can get both the coils to connect and I get 11.70K and 5.2H and, sorry I meant 5.85k and 2.33H for Neck single coil reading.
Bridge is dead on one side and reads 0, 6.85k and 3.18H






For comparision, my Dimarzio SD Bridge reads 13.22K and 5.42H
And Neck PAF Anniversary reads 7.47K and 3.72H

 

[GoKart Mozart]

Shorts in pickup coils can happen. One of the DiMarzio Transitions in my LIII developed a short a few months after I bought it new; of course MM took care of it under warranty.

 

[Adder]

Shorts in pickup coils can happen. One of the DiMarzio Transitions in my LIII developed a short a few months after I bought it new; of course MM took care of it under warranty.

Yes. That appears to be the only issue. The guitar is still the best playing guitar I have ever owned, and I have had a few. Once the pickups are sorted it will be killer.

 

[Rbg]

While there out get some BK in there

 

[guitarnerdswe]

If I wiggle the wires around on the Neck pup I can get both the coils to connect and I get 11.70K and 5.2H and, sorry I meant 5.85k and 2.33H for Neck single coil reading.
Bridge is dead on one side and reads 0, 6.85k and 3.18H

View attachment 41821

View attachment 41822


For comparision, my Dimarzio SD Bridge reads 13.22K and 5.42H
And Neck PAF Anniversary reads 7.47K and 3.72H

Ah, sorry. I might have misremembered the neck as being around 10.5 k instead of 11.5 k, my bad! the Duncan pickups, how did they fit physically in the guitar? Like the leg length, pickup height. I'm toying with the idea of putting something more PAF-ish in mine.

 

[Adder]

Ah, sorry. I might have misremembered the neck as being around 10.5 k instead of 11.5 k, my bad! the Duncan pickups, how did they fit physically in the guitar? Like the leg length, pickup height. I'm toying with the idea of putting something more PAF-ish in mine.

So both Dimarzio and Seymour Duncan pickups have threaded lugs so you can mount onto pickup rings with the springs. You have to drill out the threads so you can screw the lugs onto the guitar body with the black wood screws. That’s the only mod you need to do with Dimarzio. The older LukeIIIs have smaller lug cut outs, so if you have one of these, and you want to use Seymour Dunc pickups, then you will have to cut the square lugs back a bit. The pickup height seems fine. there was a blue sponge spacer in the bridge cavity, perhaps to raise the pickup a bit, which I reused. This is not present on the neck side.
You have to take out the board to get to the solder pins. It’s a bit fiddly TBH, as the pins are very close together. But, you can do it if you have a quality soldering iron and know what you’re up to.
I’m not a fan of ‘active’ anything so this battery business for eq would not be my first choice if I was designing a guitar. That said, it works just fine.
Now that I have delved into this a bit, I might explore pulling out all the electronics and going all passive. I don’t need the boost.
I did that with an active eq Warwick Jazzman Bass, the results were clear organic sounding rawkuss bass tones. But I’ll have to think about this some more before I start pulling things apart like Eddie… Lol.

EDIT:
Anyone else think these look Snazzy?

 

[Rbg]

looks surprisingly not bad

 

[guitarnerdswe]

So both Dimarzio and Seymour Duncan pickups have threaded lugs so you can mount onto pickup rings with the springs. You have to drill out the threads so you can screw the lugs onto the guitar body with the black wood screws. That’s the only mod you need to do with Dimarzio. The older LukeIIIs have smaller lug cut outs, so if you have one of these, and you want to use Seymour Dunc pickups, then you will have to cut the square lugs back a bit. The pickup height seems fine. there was a blue sponge spacer in the bridge cavity, perhaps to raise the pickup a bit, which I reused. This is not present on the neck side.
You have to take out the board to get to the solder pins. It’s a bit fiddly TBH, as the pins are very close together. But, you can do it if you have a quality soldering iron and know what you’re up to.
I’m not a fan of ‘active’ anything so this battery business for eq would not be my first choice if I was designing a guitar. That said, it works just fine.
Now that I have delved into this a bit, I might explore pulling out all the electronics and going all passive. I don’t need the boost.
I did that with an active eq Warwick Jazzman Bass, the results were clear organic sounding rawkuss bass tones. But I’ll have to think about this some more before I start pulling things apart like Eddie… Lol.

EDIT:
Anyone else think these look Snazzy?

View attachment 41824

I think it looks really cool! It's a nice change from the stock all chrome look.

Damn, I forgot that I had to drill out the pickup screw holes. Not a big fan of having to do that. Are your Duncans custom ordered, or did you flip the magnet in one of them to get hum cancelling in the split positions?

 

[Adder]

I think it looks really cool! It's a nice change from the stock all chrome look.

Damn, I forgot that I had to drill out the pickup screw holes. Not a big fan of having to do that. Are your Duncans custom ordered, or did you flip the magnet in one of them to get hum cancelling in the split positions?

Hey guitarnerd, Standard Duncans - the Bridge is not F spaced tho. Not sure what you mean about the humbucking on other positions. The Duncs should buck in all positions according to the wiring below, always two coils.

 

[Rbg]

What about 2 and 4?

 

[Adder]

What about 2 and 4?

What about them?

 

[Rbg]

maybe I misunderstood you, but you are saying that there always two could in series in all positions, but as I according to the schematics above you get two single coils in parallel in 2 and 4.

 

[Adder]

maybe I misunderstood you, but you are saying that there always two could in series in all positions, but as I according to the schematics above you get two single coils in parallel in 2 and 4.

Yes. Two single coils in series = 1 humbucker. Where do you see the parallel wiring? Can you share the wiring diagram?

 

[beej]

In positions 2 and 4 the coils are in parallel. (Which is still humbucking.)

In position 3 the humbuckers (2 coils in series) are in parallel.

 

[Adder]

In positions 2 and 4 the coils are in parallel. (Which is still humbucking.)

In position 3 the humbuckers (2 coils in series) are in parallel.

I see that now. Thanks.

 

[guitarnerdswe]

Hey guitarnerd, Standard Duncans - the Bridge is not F spaced tho. Not sure what you mean about the humbucking on other positions. The Duncs should buck in all positions according to the wiring below, always two coils, always in series. Very clever by MM, actually

View attachment 41828

If you use standard Duncans (or Dimarzios), positions 2 and 4 won't be hum cancelling, since both active coils have the same magnetic polarity. So you have to either flip the whole pickup, just the magnet, or order a custom one to get hum cancelling.

On the factory pickups, the neck is reverse magnetic polarity.

 

[Adder]

If you use standard Duncans (or Dimarzios), positions 2 and 4 won't be hum cancelling, since both active coils have the same magnetic polarity. So you have to either flip the whole pickup, just the magnet, or order a custom one to get hum cancelling.

On the factory pickups, the neck is reverse magnetic polarity.

Was the Dimarzio transition neck reverse magnetic polarity when they were used in the luke? I'm guessing they must have been.
Thankfully flipping a humbucker magnet isn't too difficult.

As an update, MM are replacing the Bridge pickup under warranty. So I just have to put them back in and check em out.

 

[guitarnerdswe]

Was the Dimarzio transition neck reverse magnetic polarity when they were used in the luke? I'm guessing they must have been.
Thankfully flipping a humbucker magnet isn't too difficult.

As an update, MM are replacing the Bridge pickup under warranty. So I just have to put them back in and check em out.

I'm fairly sure the Transition neck was the one that was reverse polarity. I know that the Axis SS has its neck flipped, and it makes more sense to flip the neck.

Nice! Hope you'll like it when you get it.

 

[Adder]

So I received the new MM bridge pickup and installed it. It is better than the first defective one but still no where near the Super distortion and does not sound like your MM pickup Guitarnerdswe. So I’m giving up with MM pickups.
Have ordered some Dimarzio transitions and will try these.