Replace pickups in a silhouette special?

[jptortor]

Hi everyone,

I have swapped pickups in my guitars before, but wondered if it would be any harder to do in a silhouette special due to the silent circuit. I wasn't sure if that would affect the job in any way.


Thanks,

Jason

 

[imastratoholic]

subscribed. I've wondered the same thing.

 

[Jack FFR1846]

Just swap one wire at a time and you should be fine. The gnd on each single and a hum coil goes to the silent circuit. I believe (haven't checked recently) that the middle is not RWRP, so you want to match that or you'll add noise that the silent circuit takes out.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

Beej will have the answer to this, he's done a few swaps with silent circuits and even added one to his Morse guitar.

 

[beej]

My ears were burning ...

It's not too difficult to do. The middle is RWRP (so you get hum-cancelling from the pickups in the notch positions), and its ground is wired to the inverting output of the Silent Circuit (different to the one the neck/bridge pickups are wired to).

As Jack said, easiest is to put everything back exactly as it was, and you'll be good to go. Might need to adjust the level of the Silent Circuit once you're all done, for maximum hum-cancelling.

 

[DrKev]

The middle is RWRP (so you get hum-cancelling from the pickups in the notch positions), and its ground is wired to the inverting output of the Silent Circuit (different to the one the neck/bridge pickups are wired to).

Yes indeedy. Oddly enough, on the Silhouette Special only posn 5 (neck PU on it's own) actually uses the silent circuit. Every other position on the switch is a hum-cancelling combination, including the middle (no 3) position which is the neck pickup in parallel with one of the bridge coils. The middle pickup is not actually used on it's own.

IIRC (I don't have the schematic to hand) everything is wired to the appropriate part of the Silent Circuit via the super 20-gazillion combination 5-way switch, which simplifies any pickup swapping. That is unless you want to change the wiring combinations, in which case you'll need a large pot of coffee, a stack of pencils and erasers and box of aspirin (well I do anyway).

 

[Rufedges]

It depends on what year it is,..........they changed the switch a little bit in I want to say March of 2011,.....I have the wiring diagram for Silo Specials w/ a build date after that time frame............email A.J. on the forum with the SN of your guitar, he will hook you up quick.