Question Music Man Cutlass pickups

[Gomnana]

I'm strongly thinking about getting a cutlass. I really want a S-S-S strat style guitar, and this looks like the best bang for the buck out there.

I'm a little worried about the silent circuit system though. I understand the pickups are designed for the circuit, and that the guitar does not output any sound when the battery dies. What does this mean for people like me who like to change pickups?

I know I'll probably love the pickups, but the question is: Is it even possible to change a pickup in this guitar?

 

[DrKev]

Of course it is!

If you are capable of soldering and following a circuit diagram for your new pickups you can easily install the new pickups on the original pickguard and just unsolder the silent circuit connections. Certainly a good tech can do it with no difficulty.

Another idea would be to buy a new pickguard from Music Man and install your new pickups (and new control pots) to that and leave the stock pickups and silent circuit intact on the original pickguard. That way you can relatively easily switch between the two when ever you wish.

 

[Fro]

You may like the stock pickups, I certainly do.

 

[dalto]

I agree with everything above. The stock pickups are excellent but if you want to swap pickups you can either wire up a new pickguard or remove the silent circuit from the existing pickguard.

 

[walterw]

Hello all, first post here!

I've got the exact opposite question; in front of me is a lovely new cutlass SSS that I'm trying to reinstall the original pickups back into, silent circuit and all. The bare knuckles that were in it only had two wires while the EB pickups have red, white and a separate shield wire.

The bare knuckles had significant hum even with the battery in, so I'm not sure they were even installed correctly, and it's not clear at all which pads on the board are the right ones. I'm guessing the pickup grounds go to a different place than the shield ground, so as to engage the SS?

 

[DrKev]

Welcome to the forum Walter!

See the Customer Service links in my signature below. You can email or phone and ask them to send you a schematic.

 

[beej]

As Kev says, you should talk to the experts there.

But generalizing, the shield are usually grounded, while the pickup ground is wired to one of the Silent Circuit outputs for noise cancellation. Or at least, that's how it is with the older Silent Circuit. (I haven't had the opportunity to play with the new version yet.)

 

[walterw]

As Kev says, you should talk to the experts there.

But generalizing, the shield are usually grounded, while the pickup ground is wired to one of the Silent Circuit outputs for noise cancellation. Or at least, that's how it is with the older Silent Circuit. (I haven't had the opportunity to play with the new version yet.)

Right of course; my issue is just knowing which of the myriad unlabeled pads on the SS board take which pickup grounds, as well as which of the two non-shield wires (red and white) is in fact hot and which is ground. I've got an email in to MM but no response yet. Anybody here have any clues?

 

[walterw]

Well I emailed them again and got a response quick!

Just to close the loop, here's the Music Man Cutlass SSS wiring diagram: