Noise-Free Pickups & Silent Cirtcuit

[beej]

Long time reader, first time caller ...

I'd like to upgrade the stock pickups in my Sil Special (SSH) with some noise-free singles and a new humbucker. (Man, I love that guitar. Equally as much as the Morse on the stand next to it ....) Bill Lawrence pickups, for anyone interested.

Here's the issue- with noise-free singles I'll be inducing hum in the 2 & 3 positions, due to the split HB. Is there any way to get the silent circuit to work in this configuration? (E.g., can I put it in parallel with the split bridge first, and then put that in parallel with the single?, etc.) If so, does the silent circuit need to be "tuned" in any way?

Any of you guys done this?

Thanks in advance.

 

[beej]

Well, I figured it was a longshot- didn't know if anyone had tried this.

How about his- I haven't taken the pickguard off yet, and I'm wondering if wiring up the silent circuit is straight-forward. Are there just two leads, like a dummy coil? Is it wired in series with the noisy pickup, or in parallel? Anyone played around with it?

Thanks,

Beej.

 

[dwf1004]

Think we'll leave this one for Jon to grab, unless we have another guru around here that coudl take a swing at it?

Hang in there, beej...we'll get ya fixed up!

 

[beej]

Thanks Darrell ... holding on ... !

Man, this guitar feels like a million bucks. I was a EBMM convert after buying (an autographed) Morse, but adding the Sil Spec to the collection has put me over the edge.

How long can I hold out before buying an Axis or Petrucci ... ?

 

[dwf1004]

Beej, after consideration of this issue, along with personal insight as to what we're dealing with, which is modifying an EBMM guitar out of EBMM spec, it'd be best if I retracted the suggestion of EBMM helping/offering advice, and offered my apologies for the false help expectation.

This wouldn't be in the best interest for EBMM at this time; it's not that they don't want to help you, moreover they want to avoid a situation of giving OK's to install equipment in their guitars that, in the EBMM spec, are not kid tested and mother approved. It's just like talking to your Toyota dealership about taking out a stock Corolla engine, and replacing it with a 454 big block. Aside from them saying "don't do it", how much help would you expect them to give you in a situation where they could bring liability on themselves? (Car dealerships are never helpful anyway, so that's a self-defeating question...)

That's exactly what the issue is here, an avoidance factor of possible future issue.

Scenario:
One of the fine folk at EBMM tell you that it's OK to take out the stock pickup, and put in pickup A, B, or C, and you do. Something goes wrong, and the Silent Circuit gets waxed. Guess who you're talking to first? You got it...EBMM. And if finger pointing comes into play* ("well, their name here told me that it was OK, and now it's not...what are YOU going to do about it?")

* no implications, just expanding on the scenario

You get the idea, and understand the position, I'm sure. It could get real messy real fast.

I'm glad that you're happy with the guitar overall, though...feel free to join the rest of us in our passion for these fine pieces of art. However, in the aspect of help regarding the SC outside of the EBMM boundaries, I would offer up either seeking a response from someone here that might have done similar on their own, or that you seek out a local luthier/repair shop to assist you.

Sorry for the confusion, and best of luck on your mission!

 

[ex3.8]

Long time reader, first time caller ...

I'd like to upgrade the stock pickups in my Sil Special (SSH) with some noise-free singles and a new humbucker. (Man, I love that guitar. Equally as much as the Morse on the stand next to it ....) Bill Lawrence pickups, for anyone interested.

Here's the issue- with noise-free singles I'll be inducing hum in the 2 & 3 positions, due to the split HB. Is there any way to get the silent circuit to work in this configuration? (E.g., can I put it in parallel with the split bridge first, and then put that in parallel with the single?, etc.) If so, does the silent circuit need to be "tuned" in any way?

Any of you guys done this?

Thanks in advance.

I have a set of Bill Lawrence's on my strat. I have got 2 L280's and a an L500L in the bridge position. They are very silent but. I still love the sound of my silo special. The silent circuit is just a coil. There is a trim pot type thing that you can tweek. Mine was dead on (i had to touch it). I wanted to swap pick ups at one point but i applied the "the grass ain't greener" theory and kept'em

 

[beej]

Darrell-

Thanks, I appreciate your frankness and EB's position here! I guess I'm kinda swimming upstream on this request, and it occurs to me that maybe I shouldn't mess with the silent circuit and risk damaging it.

ex3.8-

You're right in that the sound of this guitar is excellent as is! It's just that I'm trying to get "my" sound out of it, and having used BLs in some of my other projects I swear by them these days. (To me they're the best PUs on the market.)

Guess the answer for me is to rig up a second pickguard with my new configuration. I'll just swap it for the original, then I'll be able to go back to the factory config without any real hassles!

Thanks to all for their help.

 

[OrangeChannel]

Thanks Darrell ... holding on ... !

Man, this guitar feels like a million bucks. I was a EBMM convert after buying (an autographed) Morse, but adding the Sil Spec to the collection has put me over the edge.

How long can I hold out before buying an Axis or Petrucci ... ?

not long....

Beej.....where did you post prior? Snapcase board?

Late!

Jon Z.

 

[beej]

Hey John,

> where did you post prior?

Naw, this is my set of posts on this board. Not familar with the Snapcase board.

- Beej.

 

[dwf1004]

beej,

Thanks for your understanding.

In today's society, situations like these can become very volatile; most people get irrational because the company that they just paid X amount of dollars to won't help them to change the product out of company spec to suit their personal needs. They also don't take the time to understand WHY the company won't help them, and that just makes things worse.

I'm glad to see that you're not in that category. You seem like a well-rounded, rational guy, and we need more like you in the world today.

As before, best of luck on your mission!

 

[beej]

Thanks man- that's really nice of ya to say.

(Un)fortunately, I've had experiences on the other side of the table- where people are mad that I can't modify my products to suit them. So I know where you're coming from.

Thanks again for the great support. This is a great board- I'll be spending more time here.

- Beej.

 

[dwf1004]