Replacing a SC with a HB in a guitar with "Silent System"?

[Carl M]

I have ordered a Satch Track to replace the neck single coil in my Silhouette Special which has a Silent System. Will it fit straight in or do I need to rewire it because it has a Silent System?

I will also try to connect it to have coil split in the neck+mid position, if I can work out how to do that.

 

[DrKev]

The stock neck single coil is grounded through the silent circuit, so to put the Satch Track in you just ignore the silent circuit. Hot wire from the Satch Track goes to same place the hot from the single would, ground side of the Satch Track goes to ground. Dead easy!

Is this going in a HSS or SSS Silhouette Special? Note that in HSS Silhouette Specials, position 3 is neck single with split coil bridge.

The split coil stuff complicates things but is doable. Also I don't know which way the humbucker should be wired to be in phase with anything else. There is no industry standard and DiMarzio isn't consistent between traditional single coils and their virtual vintage noiseless singles. I can't tell you how this will go. You may have to try it and some wires if it doesn't work out.

Reach out via DM if you have any questions. I can fire you the schematics of HSS Silo Specials.

 

[Astrofreq]

The Dimarzio hum cancelling sounds intriguing. Is the hum cancellation built into the pickup? I have a guitar with a noisy neck pickup I’m debating swapping out. Thanks.

 

[DrKev]

The Dimarzio hum cancelling sounds intriguing. Is the hum cancellation built into the pickup? I have a guitar with a noisy neck pickup I’m debating swapping out. Thanks.

The DiMarzio Area and Virtual Vintage pickups are two coils stacked on top of each other with AlNiCo 2 magnets. They sound like real single coils (I've used all three of the Area pickups at one time or another) and they are dead quiet. I felt the output was a little lower than standard single coils but the magnetic pull is also very low so you can happily raise them higher than you would traditional singles with AlNiCo 5 magnets. Personally after 5 or 6 years of the Area 58 being my go-to neck pickup, I decided to go back to traditional singles with the silent circuit. Not as silent, sure, but I'm happier with the little bit of extra output (could be placebo effect in action) and AlNiCo 5 pole pieces give just a little more "bitey" on the top end. I would give the Area 61 another go if I had it, and I've never tried the Virtual Vintage 54 pro or Virtual Blues, and the Injectors were good enough for Lukather and Paul Gilbert.

 

[Astrofreq]

Thanks so much Doc! That helps a ton!

 

[Carl M]

The stock neck single coil is grounded through the silent circuit, so to put the Satch Track in you just ignore the silent circuit. Hot wire from the Satch Track goes to same place the hot from the single would, ground side of the Satch Track goes to ground. Dead easy!

Is this going in a HSS or SSS Silhouette Special? Note that in HSS Silhouette Specials, position 3 is neck single with split coil bridge.

The split coil stuff complicates things but is doable. Also I don't know which way the humbucker should be wired to be in phase with anything else. There is no industry standard and DiMarzio isn't consistent between traditional single coils and their virtual vintage noiseless singles. I can't tell you how this will go. You may have to try it and some wires if it doesn't work out.

Reach out via DM if you have any questions. I can fire you the schematics of HSS Silo Specials.

Thanks. I see, the silent system is attached to the ground side of the pickups.

It's a HSS and will become a HSH as soon as I receive the black cover. (Black STs were sold out everywhere in EU, so I had order a white one and order black covers separately.)

I think that I can work out the STs phases, but any ideas on how to connect as humbucker in position 1 (neck only) and coil split in position 2 (neck/mid) and 3 (neck/bridge split coil) to keep everything except position 1 (neck only) as close to stock as possible. I really like guitar the way it is. I just miss a neck HB.