Taylor Standard Humbucker wiring ???

[Electricdaveyboy]

Got a Taylor Standard guitar with paf style humbuckers here.
The owner does not like the tone of the guitar wehn plugged in.

I was shocked wehn I opend those pickups.
They carry a bid neodym magnet same size as a PAF magnet and special plugs alike some thing used in a TV or computer.

[ShannonH]

wow

That's pretty interesting. Kind resets my understanding about what size neo's to use. I am doing some similar connectors for one of my guitars that I swap pickups in frequently, but I'd not do it in a retail sale guitar like that. Thanks for sharing.

[Joe Gwinn]

I was shocked whehn I opened those pickups.
They carry a bid neodym magnet same size as a PAF magnet and special plugs alike some thing used in a TV or computer.

The picture was too blurred to be understood. Looks like the camera moved during the shot.

[David Schwab]

They use neos? Are you sure? And why are you shocked? Does everyone have to keep copying old Gibson designs?

I had one here for a setup last year. I thought it was a nice sounding guitar. It had a nice sounding tone control as well. I didn't take the pickups out and look at them.

I especially liked the circuit board setup they used for the controls. The bridge was a real PITA to adjust!

What doesn't your customer like about the tone? I'd guess some of that is because the guitar is partly hollow. To me it sounded pretty much the same plugged in.

[ShannonH]

cost savings

Now that I see the other end, I can see how they would save a ton with those plug adapters for the wire, versus handwiring each individual wire in the cavity. It's an interesting and valid solution.

[David Schwab]

It does save on wiring time. The trend seems to be toward solderless connectors. Even Gibson is doing that. EMG is using a solderless harness on their X series pickups.

I think the owner should see the Taylor for what it is. It's not a Les Paul wannabe. It's got an interesting tone somewhere between a solid and hollow body. Too many people want to get the same tone from every guitar they own. He should find the unique tones in the Taylor first.

Otherwise changing the pickups for something else might work, but it will still have that hollow character.

[Electricdaveyboy]

....

Yo David,
the guitar sounds verry harsh and hard.He plays a Tele and strat and wants the Taylor to use without radical ampsetting change.

First I thought they use A5 in combo with AWG 42 but the bobbins look as they used verry thin wire and took the neo to boost the volume.

Wehn he brought the guitar in we talked about a magnet change but now it
seems that I have to wind a new pickup set and so I need the conector adapters to make the change removable in chase he wants to sell it.

I was shocked because those pickups have such a traditional look.

[Joe Gwinn]

When he brought the guitar in we talked about a magnet change but now it seems that I have to wind a new pickup set and so I need the connector adapters to make the change removable in case he wants to sell it.

Those connectors look like standard single-in-line circuit-board headers and cable connectors with 0.025" square pins on 0.100" centers. These are widely available from electronics distributors for small dollars.

[belwar]

Got a Taylor Standard guitar with paf style humbuckers here.
The owner does not like the tone of the guitar wehn plugged in.

I was shocked wehn I opend those pickups.
They carry a bid neodym magnet same size as a PAF magnet and special plugs alike some thing used in a TV or computer.

As a company that makes a direct competition to taylor guitars, I am somewhat biased. However, I will throw in a few cents.

The comments I regularly hear from dealers is that the pickups just dont sound right which in turn poisons the guitar. The magnets are neo's and they are so big they exert so much pull on the strings deadening the strings ability to ring. The sucess of the guitar (which does look quite nice) is hampered by the pickup aparently.

Taylor has really been on a propriety kick, using all of thier own hardware - which I think is a good thing - but im not sure how much testing went into this.

[David Schwab]

Yo David, the guitar sounds verry harsh and hard.He plays a Tele and strat and wants the Taylor to use without radical ampsetting change.

That's interesting. The one I had here didn't sound harsh at all. It was very similar to one of my guitars with 2 humbuckers. I didn't play it for too long, but I got all my usual tones through my rig. I do like bright humbuckers though.

I liked the hardware, but I don't think it's a very attractive guitar. The body shape is pretty boring.

[Possum]

...

What is the gauss of that neo? I would think those would be insanely high power to use in a pickup, imagine the amount of string pull you'd get.

I question the use of those connectors, I bet there is signal loss happening. You commonly see quick connectors in Epiphones, bigger than those and really cheap.

I was sent this tip by the author of this thread, and I do use these connectors for prototype quick swapping. These are very small and I could find no losses running them through Extech testing, and ear listening. Quite handy, a little difficult to solder but worth the effort.
Quick-change pickup tip - My Les Paul Forums

[Electricdaveyboy]

.......

pickup bobbin says artec.

[automan]

Artecsound.com <Acoustic professionalist group>

[David Schwab]

What is the gauss of that neo? I would think those would be insanely high power to use in a pickup, imagine the amount of string pull you'd get.

You would think so, but it doesn't happen. If they used neo rod magnets for the poles, then yes, but when you are charging poles like this you will get a much lower gauss reading at the poles.

As an example, I use neo magnets that overload the sensor on the DIY gauss meter. (I have another sensor that will handle them, but haven't implemented it yet). So K&J list the surface field as 4871 Gauss on one of the magnets I use. I use two of them. However when I take a reading right at one of the blades I get 690G. I've got a plastic bobbin Strat pickup with alnico rods that reads between 866 - 1011G on each pole. Which one is going to pull more on the strings?

I actually found this to be quote surprising.

I question the use of those connectors, I bet there is signal loss happening. You commonly see quick connectors in Epiphones, bigger than those and really cheap.

There is no signal loss via connectors. If there were you would loose signal in all your electronic equipment, since they are often full of such connectors. You don't hardware your guitar to the amp, do you?

It's easy to test the resistance with a meter. You wont see any change.

It's probably a very standard connector and shouldn't be hard to find at all.

[Mark Hammer]

The connectors look VERY much like the ones that have been used to connect CD-ROM drivs to sound cards for years.