Eds 1275 copy has whacky wiring!

[voxeylady]

I got one of those chinese copies of the double necked SG and I gotta say... it's not bad for the money. I'm left handed and not well to do... so this was seriously the only option for me. Gibson doesn't even MAKE left handed ones.

That said... it is decent... but... there's lots of little issues that irk me. Some were easily fixable (poorly filed nut, bad set up/intonation) typical stuff that's crap on a lot of guitars... But other things I need help with!

I'm not sure how the wiring on a real one operates but this one basically seems to have.. Volume & Tone for one neck. Volume and Tone for the other neck. Ok... that's cool. On the bottom is a 3 way selector between necks (top/both/bottom) And in the middle past the bridge is a 3 way switch which I presumed and read was a typical toggle selector that operates the usual neck/middle/bridge pickup positions... for both necks. My ears confirmed this.... however....

In 12 string mode.... the pickup selector works perfectly. I hear three distinct sounds as one would expect. In 6 string mode.... the pickup selector does nothing.... and it sounds as though its hardwired in middle (possibly neck) position. I do not care for this sound for my leads... and this really bugs me. I basically have no way to have bridge only.. for my 6 string stuff... which is what I would want 90% of the time.

This is my theory as to WHY this happened... They probably used an Epiphone model to copy the wiring... Because the epiphone has a 3rd toggle switch... in between the neck pickups.. so you have a separate pickup toggle for each neck... Which... I think is a brilliant addition... but it does not exist on the Gibson. My guess is that they copied that wiring... but then in order to make it aesthetically appear more like a Gibson... simply omitted that extra toggle... Thus creating the problem I have now.

My question is... what do I do about it? Any diagrams or explanations would be most appreciated. I'm curious to hear the thoughts of anybody who has an actual one and/or is familiar with them.

Thank you!

Julie

[voxeylady]

Here's a few pics of the pickup toggle in question if that helps at all. Any other pics that would help, please let me know! :-)




You can see how I bottomed out the neck pickup to try and combat the sound... It's still overwhelmingly neck sounding. :-\

[Chuck H]

The attachments aren't working (for me). A wiring schematic shouldn't be too difficult but it depends on whether or not your guitar has the right switches in place. I'm in the camp that figures it's a copy, probably not real collectible, so add a switch to give each neck independent pickup control. Someone would still need to design a diagram. A short Google search didn't reveal much.

[voxeylady]

It's definitely a copy. Of that I have no doubt. I specifically commissioned these people to make it for me. (so I could get a lefty and still have both arms and legs)

Yeah that's what I'm thinking... it seems to me they just copied Epi wiring... and then omited the 6 string pickup selector... Their communication skills are so piss poor, I'm not even going to attempt to ask. I asked them to shave the heel down and they didn't. I asked em if nickel hardware were possible and they damn near cancelled my order over it. lol

But yeah... in which case, maybe I aughta just do a little drilling and solderiing... and reintroduce that missing pickup selector. I just need to know how exactly I should go about the wiring. :-P

I dunno why the attachments don't work... I'll try again?

[Chuck H]

Well... After some head scratching and a Lazy Sunday afternoon on MSPaint I'm offering the only solution I could come up with to make your guitar work as intended with only two switches. There are two rubs. One is that the control pots are wired backwards. Many old Gibson models do this for independent pickup control. The drawback is that it grounds the pickup but leaves the amp input floating. This usually means there is some hiss even with the guitar on zero. The other rub is that I had to lift grounds as a means for pickup selection. This means that coils will be "floating". That is, bobbins that are not in use will be connected to the hot lead indirectly via other pickups and components with no termination at the other end. There is the possibility of added emf noise. Since these bobbins are still wired as humbuckers, and hoping the guitar is properly shielded, the noise should be insignificant. I hope. I've floated bobbins for the sake of custom switching before and the results were good. So I remain hopeful. Here's a diagram/schematic. It assumes the guitar is equipped with the standard Gibson style switches.

[Chuck H]

Found it. Here's the schematic for the two switch model made by Gibson. It uses special switches. I haven't been able to find anyone selling them. That doesn't mean they're unobtainable, just that "I" haven't found them.

http://www.gibson.com/Files/schematics/EDS-1275sch.PDF

[voxeylady]

Ok this ones gonna take some thinking. X-) Thank you so much!

[voxeylady]

Gosh I'm still a little confused by this. Could you remake that in your easier to understand style.... like with idiot labels for me? lol And the colored lines helped too. Any sort of special parts or wires needed would be good too. :-) thankyouthankyouthankyou. :-D <3 I'm not folloowing where.. sometimes there's one line that splits into two... does that mean I have two wires or is there some kinda special wire thats like a Y that I'm not aware of? lol I'm new to this kind of advanced wiring but I'll get it! :-D

[Chuck H]

I rearranged the drawing. Your photos show that you have the "other" Gibson switches. The ones that are shorter and have the ground tab on the opposite side of the hot tabs. So I changed the switch drawings. The wiring should be easier to follow. Obviously you don't have a tab on the pickup leads to join three wires together so you'll either need to just twist them together, solder and shrink tube them OR you could screw a small terminal strip into the control cavity so you have a place to join things. Radio Shack sells them. But it's easier to understand where things go now. The diagram shows that I've layed out the controls as they would be on the guitar. The switch and pot tab locations assume you are looking at the BACK of the guitar. This assumes you'll have the pick guard flipped upside down. So it's as if you are looking at the back of the pots and switches.

The original 1275 schem DOESN'T use the inverse wired pots for independent volume control. That means that with both necks in use, turning one neck all the way down would kill both necks. My design doesn't do this, but it does raise the low signal noise floor a little. Since you'll probably never use both necks at the same time, if you don't like the independent controls you can just swap the two ungrounded tabs on each volume pot to make it more like the stock wiring. But try it my way first

[Chuck H]

I hope you try this out. If it works well I will have achieved what it seems no one else could. The wiring of a 1275 with two standard switches. Everything I find in searching show three switches other than the stock schematic that requires a special switch. And then there's the independent volume controls that I added. Tre custom All this provided the noise floor is acceptable.

[voxeylady]

Thank you for taking the time to do this... ya know I think the fact that other schematics I found were not labeled... confused me cause I'm left handed... So the pups are backwards ya know.. and the tone/volumes go counterclockwise to turn up etc. This is nicely labeled. Thank you!

Actually I do use both necks at the same time frequently. :-P I wanted to make a point of not being like everybody else who uses one. :-P Especially for clean stuff.. It's really cool to have the 6'er on like... 2 volume... and have the 12 neck all the way up... and play on the 6... and hear it magically make its own reverb. It sounds gorgeous! Altho when I'm playing dirty I wish it were just a 2 way switch. :-P

The necks do interact with each other quite a bit when both on. Like... say I have a loud rucous sound on the 6.. and the 12... indvidually... but then when I put it in middle position the volume tapers a bit... Likewise when I turn the 6 volume down... the 12 gets louder and vice versa.

I found they had wired both 6 string pickups directly to the volume pot. I simply disconnected the neck pickup and now it screams the way I like! I was getting so flustered and gave up on doing anything better.... But I will try your way when I go to replace all the wiring (its cheap thin wiring and cheap pots... thats all gonna have to be replaced) I'll do everything from scratch. :-)

Thank you sir!

<3 Julie

[voxeylady]

While I was at it, I moved the tailpieces to be about 3 inches closer to he neck. I was askin' all over about string brands that would be long enough for the existing tailpiece placement and all I found were D'Addarios which I loathe... and also they only come in 10 gague (for 12 strings) so that was a big no... Now I can put whatever damn strings I want on there. :-P Maybe I'll put some pony stickers or somethin over the old hole... lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q6SoXTW8Uc <---- me messing around. So ya know your efforts are not wasted on a strummy strummer girl. :-P I'll have to make a video of me playin' the 12'er. :-)

Julie

[Chuck H]

Pony stickers. I need to get some too. Actually, I'm sort of the MTV generation. Being about thirteen when it started. So, in that head, I've always sort of wanted a Hello Kitty guitar At least a pink and white Strat.

Oh, and my efforts are never wasted. I do this stuff for fun and it just gets better if it actually helps someone.

EDIT: Nice vid BTW. Being as your asking about a 1275 I didn't take you for Karen Carpenter. On the issue of the output dropping when both necks are in use. That's normal and will continue to happen. If you wanted independent pickup switching for either neck, that will definitely require a third switch. But it would also make for a more ideal wiring with no floating coils.

[voxeylady]

I think a third switch is what I'll end up doing. It's a really smart addition I think... that Gibson should incorporate. They moved the tailpiece up quite a bit for practical reasons... so why not the third switch? *shrug*

[voxeylady]

And thanks! :-D Here's my proper music if you're interested. :-)

https://soundcloud.com/chaos-11/sets/posh-demos

These are the demos with me playing pretty much everything (except bass and some of the backing vocals) :-)