Silhouette Special Humbucker Mod

[Steve Nukather]

I have never liked the Dimarzio virtual vintage humbucker that comes stock in most Silhouette Specials. Low notes lack depth and punch. Weak, tubby sounding, not enough clarity. The overall frequency spectrum seems constricted. Earlier today I set about deconstructing one of my Silhouette Special humbuckers to learn more about its design shortcomings.

After leaving the pickup out in the sun for a few hours to soften the wax potting, I carefully removed the screw poles and 4 baseplate screws. With the baseplate off, I found Dimarzio's 'Airbucker Technology' which is nothing but cheap plastic spacers used to insulate the bar magnet from the pole pieces. I removed the plastic spacers and repositioned the magnet to touch the slug poles like a traditional humbucker. Then, I used a 2" piece of nickel plated steel bass guitar string to fill the gap between magnet and screw poles. This arrangement increases transfer of magnetism from magnet to pole pieces. Reattached the baseplate, reflowed the wax, then soldered it into my Silhouette Special and fired up my amp.

Huge improvement. The pickup is far more articulate. Output is increased, and the bass response is punchy and solid. Sounds like a proper humbucker now. I will be leaving it installed and playing it regularly. Highly recommended mod if you're looking to get more power out of your Silhouette Special.

 

[Flash Gordon]

Interesting mod! Any audio/video to accompany?

 

[Bob123]

Without inundating you with technical information, I am firmly confident you are experiencing "placebo effect". You dont "increase magnetism" you will go into magnetic permeability which is entirely dependent on many things. Only ways to "increase magnetism" (on a pickup) are to increase the coil count, add a charge, or use a stronger magnet; none of which you have done. Output will certainly not have changed.

Whatever effects you may be hearing are on the electrical side, not the mechanical. Increase/decrease of resistance, whatever... Im wondering if you simply fixed some defective wiring...

Not trying to rain on your parade, but your post is coming off as "technical" without being so, and others may damage a pickup trying to "copy" whatever it is you found. Also, "hours in the sun"? 13 seconds with a hair dryer would work as well. The wax is soft enough anyway, you can push right through it on most humbuckers I've messed with.

 

[DrKev]

Without inundating you with technical information, I am firmly confident you are experiencing "placebo effect". You don't "increase magnetism" you will go into magnetic permeability which is entirely dependent on many things. Only ways to "increase magnetism" (on a pickup) are to increase the coil count, add a charge, or use a stronger magnet; none of which you have done. Output will certainly not have changed.

Sorry Bob, DiMarzio's Airbucker technology separates the magnet from the coil slugs/screws to reduce magnetic pull on the strings, which also reduces output. Dimarzio say this gives tonal differences over simply using a weaker magnet. When the magnet and slugs are in contact, there will be an increase in magnetic field that the strings move through, which will induce a larger current, i.e. more output.

You are technically correct that it will not "add magentism" if we view the pickup as a whole, only using a stronger magnet could do that. However, a pickup is an induction device not an electromagnet, so adding extra windings will not change magnetic field, nor will 'adding a charge' (which doesn't mean anything in this context).

Yes, the is always a danger when doing these things ourselves, we should be careful and realise that we can irreparably damage something. These kind of "home remedies" for tone can be fun to try out but often produce a smaller or less predictable change than what most people need (which is invariably a different pickup). Always nice when people try it and it works out though.

 

[ozzyrules]

You guys are way too technical. Plug it in, turn up the gain & volume on your amp, drink a beer, and it will sound great. Lol


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Steve Nukather]

Without inundating you with technical information, I am firmly confident you are experiencing "placebo effect". You dont "increase magnetism" you will go into magnetic permeability which is entirely dependent on many things. Only ways to "increase magnetism" (on a pickup) are to increase the coil count, add a charge, or use a stronger magnet; none of which you have done. Output will certainly not have changed.

Whatever effects you may be hearing are on the electrical side, not the mechanical. Increase/decrease of resistance, whatever... Im wondering if you simply fixed some defective wiring...

Not trying to rain on your parade, but your post is coming off as "technical" without being so, and others may damage a pickup trying to "copy" whatever it is you found. Also, "hours in the sun"? 13 seconds with a hair dryer would work as well. The wax is soft enough anyway, you can push right through it on most humbuckers I've messed with.

No placebo effect here, and I don't own a hair dryer. Wiring is all the same. The transfer of magnetism to the pole pieces is increased because the ferromagnetic bass string conducts the magnetism whereas the nylon spacers do not. Try it for yourself. I have several Silhouette Specials with Virtual Vintage pickups and will be doing this mod to all of them.

 

[Baggedcereals]

My dad can beat up your dad

 

[ozzyrules]

My dad can beat up your dad

Best I've heard in a long time. Bring it back to reality. We really are a bunch of kids here.