Wiring questions - 1 Humbucker, 1 Volume.

[Chuck H]

Here's a couple of fun ideas that are somewhat analogous to the thread. First is the "no load" volume pot I mentioned before. You would use a normal 16mm dual pot. Very easy to access the back wafer for modification.

Second would be a push/pull pot. In the down position it would be a stock circuit just like 500k pots and a .022 tone cap. Shown with the "simulated" tone control I posted before. In the up position it would bypass the volume and tone circuitry and connect the pot directly to the output jack.

And if you wondered just what difference "no load" makes, I did a simulation of what would be a high output humbucker with the normal circuitry and then direct connection. No load gives a whopping 8dB boost @ 2.5k. And it's a resonant peak so it would do really fun things with harmonics. The actual resonant peak frequency could be different depending on the actual pickup and, believe it or not, the length of your instrument cable. My simulation used a generic 20' cable.

[LostAlone]

Here's a couple of fun ideas that are somewhat analogous to the thread. First is the "no load" volume pot I mentioned before. You would use a normal 16mm dual pot. Very easy to access the back wafer for modification.

Second would be a push/pull pot. In the down position it would be a stock circuit just like 500k pots and a .022 tone cap. Shown with the "simulated" tone control I posted before. In the up position it would bypass the volume and tone circuitry and connect the pot directly to the output jack.

And if you wondered just what difference "no load" makes, I did a simulation of what would be a high output humbucker with the normal circuitry and then direct connection. No load gives a whopping 8dB boost @ 2.5k. And it's a resonant peak so it would do really fun things with harmonics. The actual resonant peak frequency could be different depending on the actual pickup and, believe it or not, the length of your instrument cable. My simulation used a generic 20' cable.

It would actually be quite interesting to hook up the push-pull circuit. If nothing else it would be instructive to me as a budding tech/luthier. Having a guitar that is fairly easy to work on, since it's just taking the pickguard off, and that I can drop in a pickup of whatever sort, hear it when it's traditionally wired, hear the brighter tone too, and hopefully tell the difference.

If nothing else, it would be nice to be able to tell by ear when I've wired it correctly in another guitar. And a chance to maybe develop my tone-voodoo skills 😋

[Chuck H]

If nothing else, it would be nice to be able to tell by ear when I've wired it correctly in another guitar. And a chance to maybe develop my tone-voodoo skills ��

That's the spirit

The pull pot would be an extra "feature" on what is intended to be an ultra simple design. But it would add a lot of versatility too. Since you're a gain player, if, for example, you were to plug into a more vintage type amp and wanted to overdrive it this option would be the bees knees. And in a higher gain type amp it shouldn't sound so much brighter as just more upper harmonics for all those weird noise tricks we like. I thought you might like it as an option.

[Fluoroscope 5000]

All due respect, but the idea of the simplest path to the amp doesn’t really apply because the amp input has a load on it anyway, and guitar cable capacitance affects the resonant peak. Simplifying pathways does make sense inside an amp via noise, phase-cancelations, ect. Using more or less resistance via the total number of various pot values in a guitar simply affects the height of the pickup’s resonant peak, as Chuck H pointed out.

The one 250k Volume pot on EVH’s PAF pickup has the same effect as two 500k pots. One of the coils on that guitar was reportedly shorted by the early 80’s, so the sound after that was the sound of one ~2.5H coil (with the high end roll off Steel poles cause). It’s like a slightly fatter sounding Strat pickup with a mid dip, as I understand. Where the resonant peak was is anybody’s guess, but there was surely more harmonic sparkle. I actually did that on an Ibanez Roadster back in the mid 80’s in which I had swapped the stock high inductance HB with a standard PAF type. I knew nothing of how EVH got his sound at the time -- spooky action at a distance? I still have an impromptu cassette recording of it through a 70’s HiWatt “Custom 100W” 1x12” combo (with only two GE 6CA7 tubes).

With one volume pot, you are stuck with the sound of the pickup unless you use a bleed C+R for bass reduction or what not. Certainly that can be fine for a lot of things, but I’d at least opt for a PAF type with thinner wire for stronger fundamental punch with a smoother high end. Rumor has it EVH had rewound his PAF with 43AWG wire, but who knows? The GFS “VEH” bridge PUP in my XV-585 has 43AWG wire, and it does a great EVH sound through the right amp models. The warmth and punch of the stronger fundamentals, midrange clarity, and smooth high end are key elements. It only comes as Gibson pole spacing, but that’s what EVH had and it’s a cheap solution that sounds great.

If you are interested in a bit of simple versatility for it, you could use a fairly low capacitance cable b4 the first preamp stage; say 200~300pF with a 500k volume pot for a nice sparkling clean sound, and use a ~1nF cap on a 500k tone knob to get a strong ~2kHz peak when rolled down for high gain lead sounds with some sweet musical options in between. If the poles are the same width, I'd definitely get the neck VEH version for better 4kHz+ chime/sparkle when the tone knob is up. Just roll the tone knob down a tad if it’s too chimey, or wire a 500k R over one of the pots. A 250K tone pot offers substantially better adjustment sensitivity, so I'd do a 250k tone pot with the neck VEH. Either way, the sound with the tone knob at 0 will be virtually the same as with the bridge VEH, but with the peak freq just slightly higher. If the peak is too strong with the knob down, you can add a resistor in series with the tone pot after you find the spot on the knob you consider the most boost you want and have measured the R value there. 5~10K might do. There are of course other ways to go, but that’s a cheap & easy solution. FI, you could just use a 250k P/P volume pot and wire the 1nF cap + resistor on the switch for two distinct pickup tones that could cover a lot of ground. The opposite approach is to use an ~8H inductance pickup with a Wilde “Q-filter” for mid-scooped/high-sparkle options, which can even cover a neck pos tone. Not sure what other high Inductance pickups have thin wire, but the 8H twin blade Wilde ‘L90’ is a “go to” for that setup. Best of luck with whatever you decide.

[Brian W.]

Since the 70's one of my main guitars has been a Flying V that I modded for 1 bridge pickup with 1 volume and no other controls. Simple and sounds great. I also have other guitars [some Fenders] that I modded for one volume and no tone pots. This means I pay attention to the sound of the pickup as both a "lead" sound and "rhythm" [when the volume is backed off a bit] so sometimes changes may need to be made. Sometimes the A5 magnet in that humbucker will be swapped out for a A4.
For the type of stuff I usually play this arrangement works fine...however, sometimes I'll use an archtop guitar for some swing / blues stuff and I use the stock two- pickup models. It's all fun!