• Ernie Ball
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St_G

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Dec 21, 2016
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151
Pulled out the pcb and put in 500k pots (SD "Smooth Turning", if you're curious).

I've actually only wired up the neck pickup so far, but when I went to check my work by plugging in and testing for signal, it devolved into over half an hour of noodling and wankery because HOLY CRAP YES.

Honeymoon period, to be sure, but really liking what I'm hearing so far. I can still get the 250k sounds by rolling down (to my ears about a third down, not half, but I don't remember enough about the specifics of logarithmic pots to say for certain) the tone knob, but now have access to honest-to-fictional-deity chime. And for someone whose tastes and style were irreparably formed by various jangle-pop bands, that's important.

I'm very curious to see if this cures the all-3-pickups setting of its "Strat with a head cold" problem. Will report back.
 

NickNihil

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Mar 28, 2021
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Nice! Did you put the original pickups back in or are you still rocking something else?
 

St_G

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Dec 21, 2016
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This is what I've got:

Neck: Fralin Firebird @7.5k
Middle: Lollar Firebird @7.6k
Bridge: DiMarzio Minibucker previously in the middle, theoretically a DP-168, whose output I've seen listed anywhere from 8.25k-12ish.

If I could remember where I left my multimeter, I'd check.

I've got everything set so the volume levels are actually pretty even across all 3, but there's definitely a big cut to the highs going into position 1. It's... remarkable.

As for the All-3 setting: it's better, but I'm not totally sold. I may re-wire for normal Strat (or Goldie) switching.



Nice! Did you put the original pickups back in or are you still rocking something else?
 

NickNihil

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Mar 28, 2021
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It's starting to increasingly seem like the better option would be to go Strat wiring with an add bridge push pot. Someone else suggested that to me on another thread (you may have seen it) so I might get the bridge+neck position on the Goldie. That would also make available the all 3 position so all pickup options between the 2 guitars are covered. I might just pull out that circuit board and rewire the Goldie. Keeping the 250k pots, as that guitar is plenty bright.
 

St_G

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Dec 21, 2016
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151
Yeah, it's a classic 7-sound Strat mod. Over the years, I've learned that there is such a thing as "too many" options for me, but I (obviously) understand the desire to tinker.

I find myself thinking about reversing the phase of my middle pickup, to turn the weaknesses (a bit of unwanted lower-mid woof) into a strength (filling out the bottom of am otherwise VERY thin sound). I did it by accident when I first installed the Fralin, and it was actually pretty cool.

Or maybe I'll just desolder one of the pickups from that setting (probably the bridge?). I don't know.

In any case, nothing I do from here can really really be called "de-mudding." The mud is gone. It's still wild to me that Annie Clark chose to pair such dark pickups with 250k pots. She must have be working with a VERY bright and fizzy rig at the time.
 

racerx

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Mar 10, 2021
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Yeah, it's a classic 7-sound Strat mod. Over the years, I've learned that there is such a thing as "too many" options for me, but I (obviously) understand the desire to tinker.

Maybe you should look into getting a Synth or forty - might be able to occupy your time :p
 

St_G

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Dec 21, 2016
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Ha! I actually have a little Novation Mininova collecting dust in my office. I'm an even worse keyboardist than guitarist.

Maybe you should look into getting a Synth or forty - might be able to occupy your time :p
 

St_G

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Dec 21, 2016
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151
After some further experimentation, I believe I've settled on a group of five sounds that cover the most ground in a way that is pleasing to me*. Because EBMM trims unused tabs from their switches, and I don't have any other superswitches with that long-ass lever, I had to arrange things in an exceedingly unintuitive order, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

1. Bridge Minibucker (which is actually the old middle)
2: Middle Firebird
3: Neck Firebird
4: Split Middle Firebird + Split Bridge Minibucker**
5: Middle Firebird + Neck Firebird

If I can source a new switch, I'll redo things to have a more intuitive, Strat-like layout, but I'm very happy with the sounds. Finally, this masterfully built instrument has five sounds I actually want to use. It started with 1 1/2 (I really WANTED to like the all-3 setting, and with enough low shelving eq, I almost did).

*- this is at LEAST as idiosyncratic ast original. I'm not suggesting it's objectively better, just better for me.

**- this required using the fourth pole of the switch, which is excluded from the stock wiring, just because it had all of its contacts intact.
 

Dagnabbit

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Oct 8, 2021
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After some further experimentation, I believe I've settled on a group of five sounds that cover the most ground in a way that is pleasing to me*. Because EBMM trims unused tabs from their switches, and I don't have any other superswitches with that long-ass lever, I had to arrange things in an exceedingly unintuitive order, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

1. Bridge Minibucker (which is actually the old middle)
2: Middle Firebird
3: Neck Firebird
4: Split Middle Firebird + Split Bridge Minibucker**
5: Middle Firebird + Neck Firebird

If I can source a new switch, I'll redo things to have a more intuitive, Strat-like layout, but I'm very happy with the sounds. Finally, this masterfully built instrument has five sounds I actually want to use. It started with 1 1/2 (I really WANTED to like the all-3 setting, and with enough low shelving eq, I almost did).

*- this is at LEAST as idiosyncratic ast original. I'm not suggesting it's objectively better, just better for me.

**- this required using the fourth pole of the switch, which is excluded from the stock wiring, just because it had all of its contacts intact.
So glad to hear that you’re happy with the results! I’d love to hear what it sounds like now, but I understand that’s probably hard to capture easily.

I have been enjoying my Goldie so much that the OG hasn’t come out of its case in a bit. I suspect it’s going to sound extra dark to my ears the next time I plug it in.
 

Fantomaz

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Jan 23, 2022
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Belgium
This is all very interesting! Any sound files would be super welcome!

I am also in the process of "de-mudding" my HHH St vincent. I really like the sound of the pos5 bridge+neck and I am a bit worried to loose that so I will do my first attempt with the pcb.

The pickups are a hand wound set of unpotted four wire alnico V firebird type construction with a "silver" foil cover (7k br, 6,7k m, 6,4k n)

I really like the sound of the goldie but the pickups are unavailable and I cannot justify buying a second St Vincent even if it is my favourite gigging guitar.

I will post files when the soldering is done. st vincent foil s.jpg
 
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Fantomaz

Member
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Jan 23, 2022
Messages
21
Location
Belgium
After some further experimentation, I believe I've settled on a group of five sounds that cover the most ground in a way that is pleasing to me*. Because EBMM trims unused tabs from their switches, and I don't have any other superswitches with that long-ass lever, I had to arrange things in an exceedingly unintuitive order, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

1. Bridge Minibucker (which is actually the old middle)
2: Middle Firebird
3: Neck Firebird
4: Split Middle Firebird + Split Bridge Minibucker**
5: Middle Firebird + Neck Firebird

If I can source a new switch, I'll redo things to have a more intuitive, Strat-like layout, but I'm very happy with the sounds. Finally, this masterfully built instrument has five sounds I actually want to use. It started with 1 1/2 (I really WANTED to like the all-3 setting, and with enough low shelving eq, I almost did).

*- this is at LEAST as idiosyncratic ast original. I'm not suggesting it's objectively better, just better for me.

**- this required using the fourth pole of the switch, which is excluded from the stock wiring, just because it had all of its contacts intact.
Do you know exactly which coils in which order are involved in pos 5 neck+bridge in terms of series vs parallel, phase relationship etc?
 

fbecir

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Well, I like to spend an afternoon with my soldering iron ... but for "de-mudding" a guitar, an EQ pedal can do wonders !
 

Fantomaz

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Jan 23, 2022
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Well, I like to spend an afternoon with my soldering iron ... but for "de-mudding" a guitar, an EQ pedal can do wonders !
Merci François pour ce précieux conseil.

The St Vincent HHH is a great guitar but it has very dark electronics, probably because Mrs Clark designed it this way around 2015 when she was into super heavy processing.
Some 500k pots would probably be enough to "open" the original dimarzios but I would like something with more character and less output.
Closer to the more recent "goldie" version of the St Vincent.
Eq before a guitar amp is a tricky proposition: the "muddy" frequencies are around 200-500hz, to "de-mud" you need to either cut at 200-500hz or add around 2-6khz and you need to cut/add quite a bit, something like 6-10db.
These are not "nice" or "easy" frequencies and 10db is a lot of cut/boost!
The result is often "ice picky".
Eq pedals are generally not very high quality and add lots of noise and hiss.
I'm happy if it does the trick for you though.
 
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fbecir

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Fantomaz, I don't want to spoil the fun ;) . I also like to tinker with my guitars (and also I build some pedals ... just for fun because I have already too many pedals 😳).
I have always an EQ pedal with me when I do not play on my amp. An EQ pedal can save the day (or the night) if the backline is not what you expected.
The Maxon EQ pedal (GE601) is really good and quiet (even when you boost strongly some frequencies).

Good luck with your soldering
 

Fantomaz

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Jan 23, 2022
Messages
21
Location
Belgium
"Fantomaz, I don't want to spoil the fun ;) . I also like to tinker with my guitars (and also I build some pedals ... just for fun because I have already too many pedals 😳)."

2760 posts! J'ai écouté ton band et je comprend mieux.
 
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