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zabba

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 1, 2004
Messages
60
Location
Las Vegas
On a Sillouette, I replaced the H-S-H pickups with a set of EMG actives.
It increased the sustain and output ,
The tones became more pure and clean which makes it even more versitile when driving the FX box.
There was no grainyness to the sound, as has been reported with older EMG pups.
However the output was not Quite a strong as I anticipated, and the pure clean was a little too sterile for my liking.

After doing some research it Was obvious that it was suffereing from a phasing problem with the Humbuckers.,I often run all three pups together , which should Kick a--, but it was missing the target .
The bridge(H) pup and the middle(S) pup sounded fine
The neck(H) and middle(S) sounded good
But All Together It was no stronger than the bridge pup mellowed out.

So I decided to
on the bridge Humbucker.
There are several approaches [/list]
  • Physically turn the pup around, end to end
  • Unsolder the active leads and reverse them
  • On the EMGs the pup is plugged into the wiring harness
Not that I am lazy, but the simple solution is my preferred.
So I flipped the plug over
Fortunately the plug was easily turned with the ground in the center.
This did not not alter the electrical polarity, but had the effect of reversing the phase from the pups.
I "ain't" no electrical genius so if this is incorrect , feel free to correct my explanation of what was changed.

The point being the power output went way up , to where I expected it would be ,
when I hit the "panic button" and activate all 5 pups simultaneously.

An Added bonus is that the sound quality of the Sillouette is brought out.
The undertonres and personality are more distinctive than ever , the sterile sound created by the reversed phase was cancelled and the tonal expression inherent within the guitar design was amplified.

My thinking is that iinitially, the two Humbuckers were Humbucking each other , or cleaning up the sound by cancelling each other out , t
They were phased in such a manner that the output of each was canceling the other and now the phases are additive and in sync.
 
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NorM

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 18, 2003
Messages
4,177
Location
Tucson
:) Good to hear from you again Zabba.

The stuff you talked about is fantastic. I always had enough power at the amp to where output of the guitar was not a real concern. Perhaps I should pay more attention in the future. On one of my EMGed silos I did flip the neck pup so the active coil of the humbucker is closer to the neck and that helped. I am thrilled that you are expiermenting to find the best sound for you. I need to get my tools out and not be afraid to try something different. Good Strong work you inspirer you.

<Chappo Doffed>

Can yo post a pic please
 
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zabba

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 1, 2004
Messages
60
Location
Las Vegas
Norm
It is nice to stop in and see so many familiar personalities.
Have been learning more about music and improving my skills.
Sometimes things come quickly at other times it is slow.

The polarity and phasing is not hard to figure out, but there are so many variations to wiring a guitar , yje issue becomes complex.

The 5 position switch is a real brain drainer , It has 4 sides and 5 positions for each side. The combinations of a H-S-H pickup mixture are ........well ......errrr
It is intense.
I have found some inconsistencies in my readings about what is in phase and out of phase, But am getting it down to wheather a Humbicker is in combination with a single pole or another Humbucker, Running all 5 pickups is somewhat rare but the setup is easy ,
I have put together a guide on how to determine what is going on in a guitar, all that is needed is a magnet from an old Pickup to help determine polarity, then the 5 position switch, wiring is checked to see if the wiring is phased properly for the pickup combibationd a player wants.

Still after detaiks and wiring diagrams for various pickups and guitars.

I noticed Wang Master was asking about pics, I am not sure if the request is directed towards me or your fabulous guitar collection???

A side note, I visited the World's Largest Selection of Guitars it is in Vegas, and it is the Worlds Largest, they had 4.000 guitars on display , 2,000 they were working to put an display and were expecting a shippment of another 3,000 in a week.

A nything you can imagine they had,
I liked the metal looking guitars , chrome, Aluminum, Brass,
Dobros
Spider looking guitars
Guitars that looked like a naked woman
All types of legendary guitars that I have only read about
If you ever get to Vegas it is worth going thru it.
One Bummer is , they don't want people playing them
You can buy a variety of carved wood bodies and necks to build your own style, some of the wood was awesome, you could look at the grain and know it would add to to the sound quality.
Get back to you in the near future

Damn another Verbose short note.I
 

NorM

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 18, 2003
Messages
4,177
Location
Tucson
The pic comment was directed at you. My guitars are on page 24 (or so) of the picture sticky thread.
 
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